{"id":47056,"date":"2021-04-28T18:12:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T00:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/teenager-breaks-north-american-record-for-most-vertical-feet-climbed-in-24-hours\/"},"modified":"2021-04-29T00:12:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T00:12:01","slug":"teenager-breaks-north-american-record-for-most-vertical-feet-climbed-in-24-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/teenager-breaks-north-american-record-for-most-vertical-feet-climbed-in-24-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenager breaks North American record for most vertical feet climbed in 24 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Grace
Grace Staberg of Summit County checks her watch seconds after skinning uphill on skis for 24 hours Tuesday at Copper Mountain. Staberg, who competed in the International Ski Mountaineering Federation World Championships in Europe in the past winter, broke the women\u2019s North American record with 56,153 feet of vertical climbing in 24 hours.<\/span>Hugh Carey\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Grace Staberg said she was \u201cpretty tired\u201d as the first rays of sun hit the slopes of Copper Mountain on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like slowing down,\u201d said the 19-year-old, a few hours after setting a North American women\u2019s record by skinning 56,153 vertical feet in 24 hours. \u201cIt was really helpful to have people who were skinning with me and pacing me for those last four hours. They knew even though I was saying I was tired, I didn\u2019t want to quit. They kept me going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting at 9 a.m. Monday, the ski mountaineering superstar and 2020 graduate of Summit County High School skied up and down Copper Mountain more than 21 times. Paced by a team of friends \u2013 a sort of Who\u2019s Who of Colorado ski athletes \u2013 she climbed from Copper\u2019s Center Village to the top of the Storm King lift at 12,441 feet.<\/p>\n

She just beat the record set by her friend, Boulder\u2019s Rea Kolbl, who climbed 55,045 feet in 24 hours at Buttermilk ski area on March 13. But she fell just short of the 57,890 feet climbed by Italy\u2019s Martina Valmassoi in the Dolomites on March 22.<\/p>\n

\"Grace
Grace Staberg, left, of Summit County skins uphill with Nikki LaRochelle on Tuesday at Copper Mountain.<\/span>Hugh Carey\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

That\u2019s fine with Staberg. She was aiming for a North American record. She\u2019s not sure a world record can be set in Colorado. Valmassoi was climbing a resort with a summit around 5,200 feet. Staberg was starting above 9,000 feet and climbing past 12,000 feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would need about 2,000 more feet of climbing (for the record) and I can\u2019t really look back and identify where I could have made that up,\u201d she said. \u201cThat record is definitely possible, but the elevation really does make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staberg has exploded on the international ski-mountaineering scene in the last two years. Since winning the Wasatch Powder Keg vertical race and the Power of Four 50K in 2019, she landed on six podiums in 19 races in Europe this ski season, including two first-place finishes. She is currently ranked fourth in the International Ski Mountaineering Federation\u2019s World Cup standings. Which is a very big deal for an American.<\/p>\n

Europeans have been racing ski mountaineering contests for generations. Americans have a shorter history, but the sport has blown up in the West, with nearly every ski mountaineering race selling out. Staberg hopes her rising profile in the sport can get more people on the uphill-skiing train.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think backcountry touring and racing are growing and that gives us a lot of hope in terms of having more Americans racing over in Europe in the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Grace
Grace Staberg of Summit County skins uphill on skis Tuesday at Copper Mountain.<\/span>Hugh Carey\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Staberg says she feels less experienced in European World Cup contests, especially when it comes to technical terrain and speedy transitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for sure, throwing yourself into World Cup races is a good way to get that experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Endurance events involving 24 hours of nonstop racing tend to be dominated by older athletes who have years of experience in regulating extended bouts of exertion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my first time ever doing an event through the entirety of the night and frankly, the first time ever doing something, anything, for 24 hours,\u201d she said. \u201cI just really love training and I really love skiing, and I really love going out for long days when I can enjoy the mountains and enjoy my time on skis. I guess that allows me to excel in the endurance events. I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staberg, 19, skied up Copper Mountain more than 21 times in one day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[378,233,28,29,3965,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-47056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alpine-skiing","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-nordic-skiing-group","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47056"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=47056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}