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Thomas "Racer Tom" Hart, right, presents his second skiing world record certification to Snowbasin GM & COO Davy Ratchford in this undated photo.

Photo Supplied, Thomas Hart

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Thomas Hart celebrates the feat of skiing 4 million vertical feet on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.

Photo Supplied, Thomas Hart

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NORTH OGDEN — Thomas “Racer Tom” Hart of North Ogden officially held the Guinness World Record for “Greatest vertical distance skiing downhill in one year (male)” for just over three months before his documented vertical distance of 2,133,742 meters, or 7,000,468 feet, between Nov. 30, 2023, and April 30, 2024, was obliterated by a challenger.

That challenge to Hart’s record came from Hart himself, re-setting the record with a documented vertical distance of 2,594,866 meters, or 8,513,340 feet and 10.72 inches, between Nov. 30, 2023, and Nov. 30, 2024.

“The first one was a real emotional triumph because it took so long to set the record and then Guinness needed to comb through all of the information, documentation,” Hart told the Standard-Examiner this week. “This one is really — I would describe it as, just that much sweeter.”

Previous to Hart, the record had been 1,836,649 meters, 6,025,751 feet and 3.72 inches), accomplished by Pierre Marc Jette of Canada, who set the record in 2015.

Hart said it felt amazing to be able to raise the bar only months after his original record-setting effort had been certified.

“I’ve successfully raised the male world record from 6,025,000 vertical feet to 8,513,340, so I’m feeling really good about last year and the two records,” he said. “It just feels fantastic to be, not only the current world record holder, but also the previous. To be able to take the record that I set and really bring it up a full notch, it feels fantastic.”

Throughout Hart’s record-breaking attempts, Hart has primarily skied at Snowbasin. With his second record-breaking certification, he decided to recognize the resort for “hosting” him.

“I presented the record and certificate to Davy Ratchford, the chief operating officer for Snowbasin,” he said. “I really felt like I needed to present that record to them. I couldn’t have done it without Snowbasin, so I really felt obligated to share the record with Snowbasin.”

Hart said he has considered attempting other record ski feats but notes some of them could be even more of a challenge.

“I had looked at a couple of them and the bar is set very high,” he said. “For example, the one-day record is just a huge amount — it’s actually over 100,000 meters, which is over 300,000 vertical feet in one day. That would be a very difficult record to break.”

And Hart isn’t done with the vertical distance record, saying he’s in the middle of another attempt at the moment.

“Last year, I reached 3 million vertical feet on Feb. 10,” he said. “This year, on Feb. 10, I’m at 4,400,000, so I’ve taken it up another notch.”

He said he’s hopeful that snow continues to accumulate in the coming weeks to keep him on track to ski into April or May.

“I’m praying for snow,” he said.