Industry News
Mt. Brighton Resort, Michigan, is an uplifting family winter destination on the Midwest snow sports scene. Since 1960, skiers and riders from Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Northwest Ohio have accessed its 25 trails and five lifts covering 130 acres for pure mountain fun.
It is here where ER doctor, Will Ellis, 38, resides and calls Mt. Brighton his home mountain. Ellis has five children, four of whom are old enough to ski, and they enjoy getting up to the mountain a few times every month.
However, with only 230 vertical feet of skiing, Mt. Brighton lacks the big mountain vibe of resorts out west. For that reason, Ellis took his two oldest girls to Keystone, Colorado, back in January. They fell into a routine of skiing together for the first half of the day before the kids would go inside. Then, Ellis would try to maximize his time for the rest of the day by skiing the faster and harder runs on the mountain.
When they returned home from the trip, Ellis discovered that his Epic Pass tracks his vertical feet skied and started thinking more about how it was a decent gauge for how hard he rode while alone. It was then that he decided that on his next trip to Colorado in April he would try to see how much vertical he could ski in one day.
Ellis is no stranger to exercise and maintains a baseline level of fitness by running nearly every day. He has even competed in some ultramarathons. “Normally when I ski out west, I ski the first chair to the last chair all day without any breaks,” Ellis said. “But I’m skiing bumps and trees, so I usually end up somewhere in the 40,000-50,000 range for vertical skied.”
For this April Colorado trip, the plan was to ski for five days. The first three days were fun days with the family at Beaver Creek, Loveland, and Vail. On the fourth day, Ellis decided to go for maximum vertical.
On Thursday, April 11, Ellis would end up skiing 99,143 vertical feet at Beaver Creek, Colorado, within the normal lift hours of 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. He did it on 46 lift rides and thanks to perfect conditions, virtually zero lift lines, and only experiencing two lift stoppages, it is the most known vertical anyone has ever accomplished at the mountain. His strategy for the day was to lap the Red Tail run off the Birds of Prey lift. He chose this area because the lift has 2,159 vertical feet and the run has a pitch of 33 degrees, meaning it wouldn’t be too crowded with beginner riders.
Ellis described the day:
“Then came Thursday which was the day I had chosen to see how many vertical I could ski. I was in luck, it was cold enough that the snow wasn’t sticky, there was great visibility, and almost no crowds. I had seen that the prior Beaver Creek ski record for a normal length day was 90,073 feet (Jonathan Boblitt) and a few years later Brodrick Nickens was able to hit 98,669 vertical feet on a sno-go ski bike. I thought that the 90,000 number would be feasible if everything went perfectly but thought that 98,000 would be out of reach. However, about eight runs into the day with perfect conditions, I did the math and realized I could actually break the overall record. At that point it was all focus, I only stopped for two short pee breaks in the woods at the top of Birds of Prey and did not eat or drink anything for the entire day. For every run I had my poles strapped on and pulled myself down the lift unloading ramp and nearly straight lined down Upper Centennial and Red Tail only turning when it was necessary to avoid other skiers.”
Throughout the day, Ellis estimates that, because he straight-lined every run, he spent only two hours actually skiing and five and half hours riding the chairlifts, so from an exertion standpoint it was easier than some days. He even felt good enough to go for a four-mile run afterward, even though he had logged over 51,000 vertical feet at Vail the day prior skiing trees and double black diamonds.
Skiing simply to try to rack up huge verticals may seem rudimentary to some, and Ellis agrees, but this was a different scenario, and he offered this perspective.
“I think a lot of people will have a gut reaction of how boring it would be to ski the same groomer all day and that this is taking away from the fun of skiing. While I agree that this would not be fun to do every day, I had an absolute blast! Bombing groomers is a different kind of fun than my usual choice of skiing in the trees but soaring down Red Tail at 50 mph on a beautiful day with low crowds, great snow, and beautiful views never got old!”
A major congratulations is in order for Will. Although he admits it would have been “amazing” and “perfect” if he had hit the elusive 100,000-foot mark, and probably would have had he not taken any bathroom breaks, that was never his goal. He wanted to see how much vertical he could ride in a day, and he went for it.
As a recreational skier, setting and achieving personal goals is not just about mastering technique or conquering slopes, it’s a journey of self-discovery and growth. Each goal attained, whether it’s completing your first black diamond, perfecting a new trick, or skiing a huge amount of vertical, represents not only a triumph on the mountain but also a triumph within oneself. This can cultivate determination, resilience, and a profound sense of satisfaction. Ultimately, it’s not just about being the best but reaching the peak of one’s potential as a skier and as an individual.
Looks like he tied me from 3 days earlier.
Full disclosure, my buddy Dave has done 101k