Cat Skiing: the Vertical Stuff.

The amount of skiing done in a day depends on the group. Typically, 9 to 15 runs will be skied for a 'total vertical' between 9,000ft. and 16,000 ft. Individual runs vary in vertical drop from about 800 ft and 2000ft. At operations having generally steep terrain and longer runs and which cater to expert skiers only, over 20,000 vertical might be skied in a day. There is no guarantee of a “minimum vertical” in cat skiing. Hence, guides focus on the needs of their group and on finding the best skiing. There is no need to “rack up the vertical”.

Long cat rides are usually broken up into a number of short “hops” that provide short rests between runs but keep guests active.