By Brooke Geery
On April 6, a group of friends gathered to remember local skier Scott Howard in the woods of Killington Resort and celebrate what would have been his 69th birthday. Howard died in June 2022 at age 67, but will always be remembered for his 2018 mission to break the world record for most vertical feet skied in a single season. By skiing 8- to 9-hour days, seven days a week all season long, Howard was able to log over 6 million vertical feet of skiing in a single season. Though the Guinness Book of World Records denied his official entry into the record book because his tracking method — the Trace iPhone app — did not meet its standards, Howard’s legend lives on.
This season, Larry Levack, 69, of Connecticut is on a mission to honor Howard by skiing as many vertical feet as possible and tracking it through the Killington Resort app, where he is on track to hit 4 million feet. He was among those who joined the party organized by Howard’s long-time companion Shari Voghell, which started on Bear Mountain and found its way to Howard’s favorite gladed run, Julio. Though snow levels were low for skiing, Levack reported that the celebration went off without a hitch and the birthday brownies were enjoyed by all.