Kim Ross is undeniably one of Colorado’s best female skiers. Balancing her skiing with her graduate degree has been quite an act, but Kim still manages to be the envy of most of us with full-time jobs. Even more inspiring is Kim’s streak – 144 consecutive months of skiing. This summer, I marveled after my first “endless winter” in a few years. But, that pales in comparison to Kim, who has now had 12 of those, and hopefully many more to come! On November 5th, I had the opportunity of celebrating with Kim on her 12-yr skiing anniversary, riding lifts at Loveland ski area. While asking a few probing questions, I realized Kim had fantastic stories to share. So, here’s Kim’s story, in her own words.

Kim making her way up on the lift for her 144th month of skiing. All photos by 14erskiers unless otherwise noted.

1) So, you started this streak in December 12 years ago. Do you remember that first December ski day? Tell us about it.

I was living and skiing in Bozeman, Montana in 1999 when the streak started. It was the end of fall semester and I was absolutely swamped; I knew I couldn’t ski until after finals. I worked at Bridger Bowl at the time, but they rarely opened before mid-December. Back then I didn’t have the monthly thing going, and early season that year wasn’t particularly snowy. However, our neighbors to the south were spinning lifts and about to get hammered by a big storm. So, on the day of our last final, a friend and I packed the car and headed to Grand Targhee. That week I skied the deepest powder I ever had up until then in the area known as Mary’s Nipple, just outside Targhee’s boundary.

Both Kim and I hiking out after a fantastic day skiing Atlantic Peak, July 2011

2) When did you decide that you wanted to start skiing year round?

The streak actually started with an “endless winter”, as we called it. My best friend and I had schemed a plan to depart for the Southern Hemisphere in June of that first year. Our trip to New Zealand was conveniently disguised as a “study abroad” program, but skiing was the top priority. We lived on the South Island for 6 months, outside of Christchurch (where we “attended” classes) so we could be closer to the ski fields of Arthur’s Pass. After the semester ended, we traveled to the North Island to climb and ski the active volcano Mount Ruapehu. We looped up through the tropical paradise of the Bay of Plenty before returning to the South Island, where we headed for the 12,000-foot peaks around Mount Cook and the Fox Glacier. When we returned home to Montana around Thanksgiving, we had skied every month of the year and began our third winter in a row just as the Northern Hemisphere ski season began.

Kim drops in to the Wine Bottle Couloirs on Treasury, outside of Crested Butte, 4th of July 2010

3) When you first started skiing year-round, did you envision yourself still doing it 12 years later?

I certainly didn’t imagine I would keep the streak going for 12 years. After the “endless winter”, the streak stood at 18 months or so. June and July are pretty easy months to make turns in Montana, but August and September presented a problem. So, each summer my partner and I planned late summer trips to find at least 2 days of summer skiing. Sometimes it was as easy as driving to Mount Hood in Oregon, and skiing the lift-served Palmer Glacier for back-to-back days on August 31st and September 1st. Other times, it was more ambitious (and expensive), like when we traveled to Smithers, B.C., or Las Leñas and Bariloche, Argentina. When I moved here, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able continue, but it turns out I’ve been able to ski year-round in Colorado for 6 straight years now.

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