Greg Hill completed last march a whole month of intense touring around Revelstoke (Canada) and broke the record of a 100 vertical kilometers in 30 days. That’s for the figures. That’s for the headlines. Because as Greg is telling me about these crazy 30 days, he has a big wide smile. he doesn’t talk about the physical ordeal. No. He describes how great the powder was (most of the time…), how great the skiing was. This is a story of desire. Of exhausting it. And skiing powder.
-How did you get the idea for this record?
-For years, my whole thing was to push my limits, my levels, ever since I’ve been ski touring. I’ve done 3000 m in a day in 2001, the next year I did 6000, the next 9000 m and then 15000. I figured out my daily potential. In 2010, I completed 600 vertical km and I had my yearly limit. So I wanted to maximize what I could do in a month. Fill in the collection! The numbers are only as important as they show how much fun you are having.
-Could you tell us about your first days?
-On the first day, the 1st of march, I skied with my family, it was a good way to start. I carried the skis of my 7 and 8 year old kids. The idea was that I didn’t want to go to the same place twice, it’s more challenging but gives you more explorations. It’s part of the challenge, I had to change everyday. So I put a ski track first thing in the morning and it’s easy for the rest of the day. The first days were ok, with good powder skiing. The 6th to 9th were the worst days of the month : warm and snow. The skiing was bad, my friends didn’t want to stay with me, I was on my own. It was as bad as it can get with rain, the snow was sticking under my sole, I had no one to get mad at except myself and my silly goal! Then it became better.
It was as bad as it can get with rain, the snow was sticking under my sole, I had no one to get mad at except myself and my silly goal!
-You showed a certain talent for communication during your record.
-I filmed on the way down and edit a 10 seconds footage on my way up, to put it on instagram on the spot. It was a distraction.
-How did you feel up there?
-An incredible freedom, with no safety network. The freedom to climb mountains by myself, it’s incredible, you feel like the luckiest guy in the world. In the mountains I don’t believe you should listen to music, so it’s definitely meditation, interspersed with adrenaline on the way down, a good balance, that’s what I like. it’s got this endurance aspect to ski touring, hard and challenging, but you have this reward, skiing powder, it’s exciting. You don’t have the reward in trail running for example, in ski touring the reward is all the time.
Greg zoom in Google earth to show me the GPS path of his runs during one single day. It looks like he was skiing in a ski resort, taking lift after lift.
-Tell us about the powder on the way down!
-My main motivation was skiing! Skiing as much as I could. I did more powder skiing than ever in this month. Of course, you could put your lightest skis, stay on piste all day and do more vertical kilometers than I did, but I wanted to ski. I had Salomon prototype skis, bindings and boots. I maximized the early morning, and ski probably 10 hours a day, not including the drive. I would be like an animal, running everywhere, skiing extra meters going up and down!
-How did your body manage ?
-My body was pretty good. I always have an AT problem, so I was religious on stretching, massaging, relaxing. I ate lots of food, gels, avocado, peanut butter, sandwiches. Every night I wasn’t very social, luckily I have a good family, the kids were just lying on the ground with me as I was stretching.
I started to bend certain safety rules, I was so focused on my goal.
-The snow wasn’t always great…
-After the bad spell, for 5 or 6 days, I was so excited, amazing days, summits, but all that snow was still unstable with avalanche hazard. I started to bend certain safety rules, I was so focused on my goal. On a run called Grizzli, I would normally walk up this section on rocks, it’s safer. But this day I put a skin tracks to make my next lap easier. I never do that. On the second lap, I was talking on the top of the ridge, chatting with a friend, and as we are saying that we should pay attention, one footstep triggers the whole face. It was like a warning. My first run in the morning and half of my skin track got taken out! I take mistakes in the mountain very seriously. I started wondering : Am I being stupid? The avalanche hazard got worse. Suddenly it required all the skills I had developed during those years (Greg is a certified guide, ndla).
Greg Hill lors de son record en mars 2014 (©Greg Hill).
-Did you get scared?
-The 22nd day, I was getting tired. I had long term endurance but no speed. At the end of the day, it was almost night, I went up the face for a last run and after two turns, I noticed I was skiing on a big block moving, I jumped onto another smaller block, I knew my escape route was on the right, I ended up on the crust, safe, with the huge avalanche going by all the way down to the bottom of the valley. That was more than a warning, it was really close and I was all by myself in the mountain. Part of me was full of shame : I’m a dad with two kids. There were questions in my mind : should I stop this? My body was felling ok but my mind kept going on about hazard, an unpredictable hazard. I was walking on eggs for ten days after that, everyday I was going a little mad, wondering : am I talking the right decision?
-How did you end up the month?
-In the end, I was falling apart, doing under 4000 m/day. Near the end, the snow got better stability wise and the last day, I skied a special run. I saw Dan Treadway years ago skiing this run and I’ve always wanted to ski it. As a last run of the month, it was truly special and incredible with 50 cm of powder! My goal was done, the relief of having finally skied that last run… I felt free ! My well of motivation was dry, I didn’t have any desire left.
-And the next day, the 1st of april, what did you do ?
-I don’t remember what I did! I’ll ask my wife, I probably drank a cup of coffee or went skiing with my kids.
-Why did you do this ? I mean the deep reason…
-Partly to make sure I do something with my life. Skiing is a frivolous sport, there’s no real point to it there except enjoying. I wanted to give it a bit more importance. I have to make sure I’m getting better, evolving, I’m 38 years old. It’s easy to go through life and do nothing, lots of people do. This is the way I want to spend my time on earth, do as much as I can. I’ve achieved something. Someone will surely do 110 km, but during that month of march 2014, I did as much as I could. I can say nobody has had as much powder in one month, definitely, what an incredible skiing !
Interview : Guillaume Desmurs