Supplied Photo, Thomas Hart

Thomas “Racer Tom” Hart celebrates 5 million vertical feet skied in this undated photo during his world record attempt.

Supplied Photo, Thomas Hart

NORTH OGDEN — There is officially a new king of the mountain along the Wasatch Front — and he may only be getting started.

At the end of July, Thomas “Racer Tom” Hart was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as having broken the record for “Greatest vertical distance skiing downhill in one year (male)” over the course of the 2023-2024 ski season. Hart skied a documented vertical distance of 2,133,742 meters, or 7,000,468 feet, between Nov. 30, 2023, and April 30, 2024, at Snowbasin Resort.

Hart, a retired Minnesota native who has called Utah home since age 35, told the Standard-Examiner that it was an exciting ski season.

“The ski season was much more fun than I ever imagined possible,” he said. “I skied 150 of the 151 days that Snowbasin was open, and most of those days I skied from open to close. It was so much fun, I don’t know how else to describe it. It was kind of like being a kid and told by your parents that you can ride your bike all day long outside, just please return home at the end of the day.”

At Snowbasin, Hart skied the equivalent of 6,735.7 miles.

“If I take a run and it’s 2,000 vertical feet, it’s usually about 2 miles,” Hart said in March. “The vertical feet isn’t straight down — it’s at an angle — and certain resorts are steeper than others. Snowbasin is about almost exactly 1,000 vertical feet per mile.”

The day Hart passed the previous record — which, at the time, was 1,836,649 meters (6,025,751 vertical feet and 3.72 inches) and held by Pierre Marc Jette of Canada since 2015 — came on a notable date.

“I beat the record — eclipsed the record — on the day of the solar eclipse,” he said. “I hit 6 million vertical feet, and then later that day I went past the previous record.”

Hart had to submit several pieces of documentation during the certification process, including a cover letter summary, several forms, witness statements, GPS files for every day, news media accounts, video, photos and a daily log.

Certification officially arrived for Hart’s record on July 31.

“I had submitted on June 20,” he said. “It was the longest six weeks of my life waiting for them to contact me.”

He said it was an emotional moment when he received the certification.

“I was just speechless that I had finally achieved the record,” he said.

However, the current record may not be long for this world — thanks to Thomas “Racer Tom” Hart.

“I skied 7 million vertical feet, which is what I submitted for the record, but I actually skied over 8 million vertical feet for the season,” he said. “After Snowbasin closed, I skied a little more than 1 million vertical feet at several other resorts. I was able to meet several of the other ‘Big Vertical Skiers’ — that’s what we’re known as, Big Vertical Skiers — from Colorado and Utah.”

With all that was required for him to submit, it was easier to send in the Snowbasin information first, he said.

“I do intend to submit, at a later date, the rest of my vertical feet,” he said. “But the amount of information and documentation that I had was really overwhelming, so I decided that I would just submit for Snowbasin to keep it as simple as possible. There was 274 pages of documentation that I submitted.”

Hart said he intends to submit the remaining vertical feet documentation for review in the coming weeks.

Even if certified, this updated record may also fall quickly if Hart has any say about it.

“The more I can ski, the more I enjoy it,” he said. “I definitely will be going after my own record. When I submit for the remainder of my (2023-2024) vertical, I’m will be submitting another application for next year. The goal is to build on this record, and I really think it’s possible.”

He pointed out that there is no guarantee of success, thanks to competition and nature itself.

“I’ve got a bullseye on my back and I know that — there will be other Big Vertical Skiers going after my record,” he said. “Some seasons are better for big vertical than others. For example, our ’22-’23 season was not real good for big vertical because we received so much snow. I’m certainly not going to complain about powder days, but last season was really just a wonderful season. There was a lot of snowfall, but it was really good for getting a tremendous amount of vertical average every day.”

Whatever happens to his record from here, Hart said he’ll always remember receiving that email July 31, 2024, certifying him as the holder of a Guinness World Record.

“I had been checking my emails every day and got used to not seeing anything from them,” he said. “All of a sudden, I opened up this email … and it said, ‘Congratulations,’ and it went on to say I set the new world record.”