The reigning shot ski record holder, Mont-Orford Ski Resort, is in Quebec, Canada, about a half-hour drive from Vermont.
On March 29, 1,460 skiers and riders lined up in an “N” shape on the resort’s slopes to break the record Breckenridge set in December 2024.
Mont-Orford’s event director Noah Hogg said the resort’s shot ski effort was inspired by the competition between Utah and Colorado.
“We just saw the fun event between Utah and Colorado, just the fun back and forth going around, and we thought it would be a great idea to just link the two communities, east and west, north and south, to just have a bit of fun and just bring those two communities together,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” April 18.
The resort challenged the record at its annual end-of-season 1976 apres ski-themed party, surpassing Breckenridge by more than 60 people.
The profits from the event go to La Fondation SKI TA VIE, or the Ski Your Life Foundation, supporting children in sports and education.
“This year, we had about 6,000 people who came for the event. So we thought it would be easier to have all the participants there at once if we did it at the same time as the event,” Hogg said. “What was more complicated was having to figure out how to put all the shots on the skis, having to link them all together.”
He said the skis were connected with carabiners and a construction company drilled holes in all 506 skis for the shots. Overall, Hogg said it was about 70 hours of work.
“All of that was built just so we could easily redo it next year. We try to focus on long term and not just doing one event,” he said. “We'd like to hop in on the train and try to participate with Breckenridge and Park City.”
The two western U.S. ski towns have been battling it out for years, one-upping each other each season. Park City broke Breckenridge’s 2023 record in October 2024 with more than 1,380 people.
Breckenridge reclaimed the world-record title in December with just over 1,400 people lined up on Main Street along 503 skis.
The Park City Sunrise Rotary Club and the Breckenridge Mountain Rotary Club, both community nonprofits, sell tickets to the annual contest with 100% of the proceeds going to local charities.
Both clubs have an unwritten agreement when reclaiming the world title. They only add a few people to keep the competition sustainable for years to come.
Mont-Orford broke the record with about 80 more people than Old Town’s last attempt. Park City is up next in the competition, giving the Rotary club until this fall to plan.
