Whitefish Mountain Resort Vert Records
The following information highlights some of the rich, recent history of Whitefish Mountain Resort (known from 1947-2006 as The Big Mountain). This page lists the Overall Top 10 skiers as measured by the resort’s vertical (Vert) program. The vert program, which dates back to Thanksgiving weekend 2003, has been keeping track of who has skied the most (in vertical feet) on a daily basis for nine seasons.
The 2011-2012 Season, the ninth of the Vert Era in Whitefish, was won handily by Tony Cooper. Tony battled broken ribs and marginal early season conditions to outpace perennial favorite Fred Frost. Nice job Tony!
Congrats to Fred and Russ Carpenter for making it nine straight Top 10s. And all hail Fred Koenig (new hip and all), joining the Top 10 for the first time. I’d say the new hip is battle-tested now. Welcome.
And welcome back to John Wachsmuth, Steve Calger and Ladies #1 Kay Yobst….all making their third appearance in the Top 10, after a brief absence. Glad you made it back. Enjoy it, you earned it!
This compilation depicts the overall Top 10 Skiers for each of those seasons of the vert program. The data depicted is not official or affiliated in any way with Whitefish Mountain Resort. The data represents the best available information that I could informally compile for historical purposes. I have compiled and shared these pages for the benefit of all who care to know it—for those who appreciate the extraordinary competitors and skiers who comprise these lists. If you see something that you know to be inaccurate, I welcome your constructive inputs to correct the record. Enjoy the memories! JDPF
Recent Historical – 2009-2010 Season
Seasons 1 & 2
Season 3 & 4
Season 5 & 6
Northern Rockies View 
I’m sure you’ve got the data. If you add together ALL the vert data, who has the aggregate most vertical since the inception of the program (think it was 2003-04)? Some of the people in individual years come and go, others may be top 10 or 20 in aggregate but never have been serious contenders in a given year.
Fred Frost is the undisputed “Aggregate” Vert Winner. He’s over 30 million feet since the inception of the program. Chappy is way up there, over 20 million, if I’m not mistaken. John Gibson and Russ Carpenter are in that same neighborhood too.
I only have the data for the Top 15-20 people or so, for each of the early years (Fred Frost gave me his hardcopy, end-of-season WMR Vert Board web-site print-outs. And you are right, there are people who come in, make a splash on the Vert board, and disappear after a year or two.
A lot of skiers, with time, means and opportunity, could knock out 4 million feet in a season, but Fred is the only one who pounds it out, year after year. Good on him. We should all be so fortunate as to stay that healthy and fit, in our senior years. R/JDPF
If I use my own records, rather than the mountains, I’m almost at 13, so I am sure Chappy has more than 20.