Industry News
Earlier this year, SnowBrains covered the remarkable story of four young siblings who set a goal to all ski over a million vertical feet this season. Jeff Gebauer is the father of Liam, 13, Roman, 12, Fiona, 10, and Eric, 8, who all passed the million-foot milestone for the season on February 15.
Reaching the million-foot milestone was something the quartet had set their sights on from the beginning of the season. “The one million vertical was a goal that we all set,” Roman told SnowBrains. “We all kind of had the idea together. We knew it was possible because Liam, our older brother, had done it the season before. That is what encouraged us to go for one million.”
Now, as the season has unfolded, the family has continued to excel on the slopes and has collectively achieved another goal they set: to ski over 10 million vertical feet combined. Together, the distance is more than 8,000 miles, which is more than the diameter of the Earth at the equator.
“After hitting 1,000,000 vertical, the kid’s season goals were amended to 1,320,000 vertical, which is the distance to the International Space Station,” Gebauer said. ” Once they all surpassed the updated goal, they set their sights on skiing 10 million vertical feet combined.
Gebauer has skied every day this season since Steamboat opened on November 23. The kids have skied nearly every non-school day as well, except if they were sick, injured, or the week Fiona got to go to Hawaii with her cousin back in February, right after crossing over one million vertical for the season.
“I just hit four million vertical for the season and my three boys are over 1,500,000 with one weekend left to ski,” Gebauer added. “Fiona is near 1,400,000. Combined we have skied over 10,000,000 vertical feet this season. It feels like one for the record books.”
The feat did not come without some adversity along the way. On December 26, Fiona took a hard fall, tearing some ligaments in her left thumb. She was still able to ski the rest of the morning and went to the doctor in the afternoon to get a splint on her hand. She didn’t miss a day as she was determined to reach her initial goal of a million vertical. In January, during a bitter cold stretch, Gebauer and Eric got frostbite on their noses. Instead of ending the day early, they both altered their face coverings and kept skiing. On March 23, in Crested Butte, Eric broke his right arm wrestling with Roman in the hotel room. He was devastated that his season might be over before he hit 1,500,000 vertical. He didn’t ski the next day as his arm was in a splint but after he got a cast on and clearance from the doctor, he was back on the mountain.
As of last weekend, Liam, who is 13 and just old enough to have his own Steamboat account, sits at number 23 on the leaderboard for vertical feet skied. This is incredibly impressive given that Steamboat’s leaderboard is one of the most competitive in the nation, accounting for 10 of the top 25 leaders at all Ikon destinations. Even more impressive is that the family has skied nine days outside of Ikon Pass resorts. “He is trying to finish on the leaderboard for the season,” Gebauer stated. “I’ve never seen a kid on the leaderboard before at the end of a season.”
The challenge has also been a redemption quest for Gebauer who shattered his leg on Christmas Day in 2021 and was out for the rest of the 2021-22 season and didn’t ski again until January 2, 2023. The injury happened on a tree run when he misjudged a snow drift and he broke his tibia in half with fractures going up into his knee joint and down the tibia. “It’s been very redeeming that in the two full seasons skiing since the accident, the 2023-24 season and this season, I hit four million vertical each season,” Gebauer said. “The last two seasons have been my best ever. I love skiing and skiing with my kids, so I was very determined to get back on the mountain and put the accident behind me.”
Aside from the year he was injured, Gebauer has always been in the top three of Steamboat’s leaderboard for vertical and was the first person to ever log over a million vertical feet in a season on the Ikon App in 2019. He currently sits at number two on the Steamboat leaderboard, while being number three on all Ikon destinations. “I’ve been a part of the community of vertical trackers for six seasons, knowing many like-minded people across Colorado and into Utah and California accomplishing incredible feats, Gebauer said. “I haven’t heard of a family doing something like this before. While I love skiing every day and tracking vertical, nothing makes me happier than skiing with my kids as often as possible.
As the days get longer and the snow starts melting, the lifts at Steamboat will soon stop spinning. However, this story of one father and his four kids skiing over 10 million vertical feet in a single season will stand as a powerful reminder of what’s possible when passion, perseverance, and family come together. More than just an inspiring statistic, their journey was about shared moments, overcoming adversity, tired legs, and the pure joy of chasing turns together. In a sport often defined by individuals, they carved out a legacy as a team—one vertical foot at a time.
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