Written by Nick Jacques
I have two major obsessions in life: teaching music and skiing. Since music involves many performances and trips that aren’t happening this year, it has left me with a lot of extra time to ski. In November, I set out to achieve a goal of skiing 1,000,000 vertical feet this season. I achieved that two weeks ago, so time for a new goal.
In February, I saw an article about Jonathan Boblitt’s 90,000 vertical in a day story, and the end of his article stuck with me. It reads:
“But what if you wanted to do 100,000′ in a day? Is that even possible? There is one thing Boblitt could have done to add to his vertical—find a resort that offers both day and night skiing, allowing one to ski for fourteen hours in one day instead of eight.”
I thought to myself, “what if I go out there and show the world that 100,000-vertical-feet in one day IS possible?” So, I took the 7-hour drive to Boise on March 13 and skied for a few hours that evening at Bogus Basin, Idaho, which is open daily until 10 pm with an extensive network of runs that are lit for night skiing. As a partner resort to my home hill of Diamond Peak, I enjoyed the added perk of skiing for free. Once up at Bogus Basin, I headed straight for Superior Express, one of two high-speed lifts with a climb of 1,448 vertical feet in just 3.9 minutes. In one hour, I accumulated almost 12,000-vertical-feet, proving that the goal was achievable—time to head to my hotel room and get some sleep.
With the lost hour from Daylight Savings Time, Sunday came a bit earlier, but I was excited to head out and make this month-long dream become a reality. I loaded my jacket pockets with snacks, an external battery, ibuprofen, and sunscreen, snagged the third chair, and headed to Pine Creek Express, the other high-speed quad that rises 1,800-vertical-feet in just 5.3 minutes. For the first three hours, I took laps on Pine Creek Express and Superior Express, mixing up my runs and eventually skiing every open run on that side of the mountain. The ski area also has restrooms conveniently located several feet from the lift, making that pesky bathroom breaks a non-issue.
Around seven-hours into the day, as I approached 70,000-vertical-feet and feeling minimal soreness, I realized that I was easily going to hit the goal. What did I do? I made a new goal: ski every open run. I began skiing off the peak toward Deer Point Express and Morning Star Express, the other high-speed lifts at the resort that are less efficient in vertical drop. I continued to ski nonstop, using my lift rides as breaks to dig into snacks and check my phone, and at about 8:30 pm under the lights, I achieved the goal of skiing 100,000-vertical-feet in one day. Since I still had a few runs left to ski, I ended the day with a few low-intermediate cruisers off Deer Point Express and ended my day at about 9:30 pm, having skied all open runs as well as achieving 105,000-vertical-feet. In the hotel room that night, I still felt like I was skiing, which felt eerily similar to the feeling you get after being on a boat all day.
Assuming that I would be extremely sore the next day, I took a personal day from teaching to make it back home at a relaxed pace. That next morning, I woke up with only moderate soreness, so what did I do instead? I went back to Bogus basin and spent two hours lapping my favorite runs before making the seven-hour drive back to Carson City.
Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area is a ski area in the western United States, located in southwest Idaho in Boise County, sixteen road miles (26 km) north-northeast of the city of Boise. Bogus is operated by the Bogus Basin Recreation Association, a non-profit organization, on private and leased land in the Boise National Forest. Ski season generally runs from Thanksgiving weekend until the weekend preceding April 15, depending on snow conditions. The area also has cross-country skiing on 23 miles (37 km) of Nordic trails.
- Vertical: 1,790 ft (546 m)
- Top elevation: 7,582 ft (2,311 m) AMSL
- Base elevation: 5,790 ft (1,765 m)
- Skiable area: 2,600 acres (10.5 km2)
- Runs: 91
– 22% easiest
– 45% more difficult
– 33% most difficult - Longest run: Paradise
1.5 miles (2.4 km) - Lift system: 7 chairlifts
– 4 hi-speed quads – (# 1,2,3,6)
– 3 double – (# 4,5,7)
– 4 magic carpets - Terrain parks: 1/2
- Snowfall: 100–200 in (250–510 cm)
- Snowmaking: portable, for patching
- Night skiing: 5 chairlifts – (# 1,2,3,4,7) until 10 pm – 7 nights / wk, 165 acres (0.67 km2)
congratulations on your accomplishment! if you are looking to take it up even further, consider fast lifts and long hours in Keystone and Crotched Mountain. I think Epic pass record is something like 140k
Saw a dude drop over 120k vert in a single day at Keystone in ‘19. Santiago lift down Starfire all day and the gondola at night. Keystone is a vert treadmill*
*midweek with no lift lines
Congratulations and thanks for sharing the adventure with us!
So Rad and great job! You can also do this at Squaw, I did a 100k vertical day there in 2007. 40 runs on KT-22, 10 runs on the night tram.