Skier Nears Goal of Climbing and Skiing 2 Million Vertical Feet in a Year

Revelstoke (BC), Canada - This is the story of one man's ski odyssey, to ski more vertical feet in a year than anyone else in history. Unfolding on some of the world's most remote peaks, it's a story of commitment, perseverance and a personal quest that will test one skier's physical and mental endurance, gear, and avalanche and wilderness survival skills, not to mention his marriage.












Its the Greg Hill 2 Mil, an endurance feat like none other that's being bankrolled in part by online gear retailer Backcountry.com. Hill, a Canadian ski mountaineer who makes his home in Revelstoke, British Columbia, is in the middle of his year-long effort to climb two million vertical feet and ski back down. And hes doing it on steep, powder-covered mountain faces from Alaska to Chile, and lots of high points in between.

You could say that Hill is a numbers guy, but that would be an understatement. In the past he has clocked 50,000 feet of vertical in 24 hours, 80 10,000-foot days in one season, a million vertical feet in one season, and skied the 21 summits of the Monashee Mountains in 21 days.

His feat is what some would call insane. Or impossible. Powering up two million feet is the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest three times a month for a year. Its like scaling each of the seven summits, then starting over again, until youve done it 14 times. For the city bound, its like taking the stairs to the top of the Empire State Building four times a day, every day, for a year.

As if the sheer physical pace and strain on his body, mind, and gear isnt daunting enough, Hill will need to address variable and dangerous snow conditions, foreign cultures and mountain ranges, and the nutritional and hydration challenges associated with living a backcountry wilderness existence.

The quest thus far has taken Hill throughout the Selkirks in B.C. and the Brooks Range in Alaska. Earlier this month he found himself, and his family, camped out in the backwoods of South America specifically Las Trancas, Chile where he, his wife and two small children, spent the remainder of the Southern Hemisphere winter exploring, hiking and skiing numerous unnamed peaks.

There are many points of tension in this real-life saga. How will his body hold up? His mind? His gear? His family life? To date, they are all holding up well. Hill recently crossed the 1.5 million vertical feet threshold, just slightly behind a schedule that requires 5,500 vertical feet a day, every day. But now, the hard part starts, as the wear-and-tear of eight months in the backcountry, plus the anticipation of success, drive him forward and deeper into the mountains.Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

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