Noah Dines Crushes Uphill Skiing Record - Climbs 3.5 Million Vertical Feet

Adventurer Noah Dines broke the World Record for uphill skiing in one year amassing an impressive 3.5 million feet of skiing in 2024.

Noah Dines Summits Mount Hood / Jeremy Jones

In the world of adventure skiing chairlifts are not required or needed. This type of skiing, referred to as uphill skiing, skinning or alpine touring, requires specific bindings and skins. The bindings allow the heal to release for ‘walking’ uphill, and ‘skins’ adhere to the bottom of the skis which prevent the ski from sliding backwards. When the skier gets to the top of a run, they simply take off the skins, secure the binding heal, and take off. Jumping on a chairlift fits some days, but skinning provides a great workout and gratifying adventure. Noah Dines is a badass and skis uphill – a lot. He just broke the record for vertical feet gained in one year set by Aaron Rice in 2017, by over 1 million feet.

The former record holder, Aaron Rice, averaged close to 7,000 vertical feet of climbing (and skiing) per day over one year. He crushed it by achieving 2.5 million total vertical feet. His accomplishment, documented in the short film ‘2.5’ created by Tyler Wilkinson-Ray, set the standard before Noah Dines set his 2024 goal. Dines started his uphill skiing journey on January 1, 2024, and chased winter around the world to find epic skiing. He surpassed Aaron Rice’s vertical high-mark toward the end of August. With four months of great skiing ahead of him, Dines kept traveling and climbing while notching another 1 million feet of vertical on his way to a total of 3.59 million vertical feet. This vertical gain represents the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest over 100 times in one year. This record could last a very long time.

Noah Dines / Fischer Skis

Editor for Gearjunkie, Will Brendza, recently caught up with Dines and wrote an Article on the skier’s amazing accomplishment.

When asked about quitting after he broke the Rice’s record, and his personal of goal of 3 million vetical feet, Dines commented: “No. I always had a reach-goal of a million meters, (3,280,000 feet). So, I always had that number in my head. But 3.5 million is … My original plan had been to ski 9,090 feet a day for 330 days. So it’s like I had two extra months of skiing.”

And his biggest challenge through the year? “Money. The business side of it has been hard, especially starting out the year and having no idea how things would shake out. That certainly has given me more anxiety than skiing. Skiing, you just put your skis on, then walk. I’ve also definitely battled a lot of heat with our warming climate,” he said.

Finally, Noah talked about what the journey meant to him, and what the future holds. “I’m excited to keep skiing. I’m excited to finish up a little earlier and go drink coffee. And I’m excited to say ‘Yes’ to things, whether that’s just going out for dinner or a drink or something fun, or going to a wedding. There’s been a lot of saying ‘No’ because I’m so focused. And I don’t regret any of it. I think that’s a huge part of doing something like this - if it was easy and didn’t involve sacrifice, everyone would do it. It’s certainly a pivotal moment in my life — the coolest one. It’s been a journey. What I want people to take from it? I’ve been saying this a lot, is you could be me. I am not special. I don’t have that deep athletic background. I don’t have a trust fund. I decided I wanted to do something, and I poured my soul into it. So if you want to do something, you can. And it will be hard and trying, but if you want it, you can have it,” he concluded.

Well done Noah Dines. (Related Article)

Noah Dines / Carter Clark