Steamboat skier solidifies title as ‘King of Vert,’ first to reach 20 million feet tracked on IKON app
In six years of tracking, Steamboat Springs resident Joe Brougher has eclipsed the 20 million vertical foot mark, the equivalent of 7.5 roundtrips from Earth to the International Space Station.
Brougher surpassed the 20 million target at Steamboat Resort around 9 a.m. on Feb. 3. It is believed he is the only person to ever officially track that number through the IKON app.
Brougher, now 58, was first made aware of the IKON app in mid-December of 2019 while riding a chairlift. The app, and its popular ski tracking function, was released to the public a month prior.
“I started tracking my skiing more as a curiosity, but then a couple days into it I saw there was a place for a leaderboard opt-in…” Brougher said. “I started watching it over the coming weeks through December and all of a sudden I realized I was in the No. 2 position both at Steamboat and nationally out of all IKON locations.”
Hungry for the top spot, Brougher set out each day to chase the national leader, Jeff Gebauer, who also hails from Steamboat Springs. Gebauer began tracking 10 days earlier and refused to give up the top spot.
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“I did everything I could to try and catch this guy,” Brougher explained. “Every day we would be 1,000 feet more than the other at the end of the day, we were just killing each other but I could never close the distance. He could always ski just enough to keep me 10 days apart.”
Ultimately, Gebauer was first to reach 1,000,000 vertical feet skied on the IKON app in 2019. Brougher managed to find Gebauer on Facebook through a story celebrating Gebauer’s achievement written by the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
“We’ve become really good friends,” Brougher said of his relationship with Gebauer. “We ski together virtually every other day and we both share stories of us looking at our phones thinking, ‘oh man this guy never gives up.'”
Brougher ended the 2019-20 season in the second-place position. He was determined to come out even stronger the next year.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all North American ski resorts delayed their 2020-21 opening until Dec. 1. The leaderboards were all even, everyone was back to zero.
The race began and Brougher shot out to an early lead. That December, he became the first in IKON tracking history to reach one million vertical feet in a month.
Brougher slowly found himself averaging one million per month and managed four million vertical feet in that season alone. That winter, Brougher was officially crowned the ‘King of Vert’.
Last season, Brougher once again achieved the top ranking at winter’s end, this time being first to ski five million vertical feet in a season. He is actively ranked No. 2 on the leaderboard for 2024-25 with over 2.7 million vert tracked.
In his 580 days of tracking, Brougher has ridden 11,596 chairlifts; skied down 42,109 trails; traveled a distance of 18,142 miles and spent 2,672.4 hours skiing. His most-skied trail is High Noon, having done so 4,080 times, and he has ridden the Sundown Express lift more than any other at 4,056.
Brougher’s biggest single-day skiing was just over 70,000 vertical feet, though he believes it is possible to get around 85,000 — something he hopes to achieve this winter. His fastest-recorded million took 18 days of tracking.
Brougher keeps an elaborate spreadsheet of his statistics each day. While poring through them, he is always amazed by how much more efficient he has become over the years.
“In the 2019-20 season, I only had two days over 50,000 vertical feet. Those days almost killed me,” Brougher said. “Trying to figure out how to get 50,000 feet back then was mind-boggling. Last season, I had 63 days over 50,000.”
The key to gaining vert quickly, according to Brougher, is patience. He says the mountain is changing minute-to-minute and the crowds are forever moving. Learning which runs to ski and what lifts to hit at what time has become a skill for Brougher. He compares it to a puzzle.
“When I look back over all these years of tracking, that’s where I’m like ‘Wow, I’ve learned the mountain very well,'” Brougher said. “I’ve learned its heartbeat and its personality. It is fun to be able to do that.”
Brougher was adamant that the hardest time of year for accumulating vert is the first few weeks of the season when the mountain is normally held to just Christie Peak Express laps. The best time of year runs from mid-January through the end of February before the sun begins to melt any snow.
Preparedness is another key factor in vertical success. Brougher has learned to bring a backup charger to keep his phone battery alive. He also keeps heaters around so his phone doesn’t over-freeze. His pockets may be filled with snacks, two liters of water and anything else he might need day-to-day. He allows himself one 30-minute break for food.
Reminiscing on his 20 million foot journey, Brougher is very appreciative of Fleischer Sport’s ski tuning, Steamboat Resort’s chairlift operators — who cheer him on with each passing milestone — and most importantly his wife, Kelly. “I promised I wouldn’t make her a mountain widow this year,” Brougher joked.
In March, Brougher will be heading back to Indiana where he and Kelly spend their summers, so he does not foresee himself topping the leaderboard this year. Looking ahead, he hopes to earn his first Steamboat Resort Belt Buckle next winter — a prize earned for skiing every single day in a given season.
Brougher said he can’t see a future without skiing his heart out in Steamboat Springs each winter. Maybe one day there will be stories about him hitting 100 million vert.
“I hope I’m doing this when I’m 70,” Brougher said. “Maybe I won’t be going 50,000 feet per day, maybe I’ll back off, but I hope to be skiing and enjoying the mountain as long as I can, as long as I’m healthy, the rest of my life.”
This story is from SteamboatPilot.com
