Full send. It’s a phrase you hear around the hill and in après haunts. The short of its meaning, as it applies to the hill, is to go big…throw everything you have at a run, a hit or a feature. At its heart though is a more deliberate and purposeful way of looking at the world—a mindset where one goes all out on a challenge without hesitation or guarantee of success. You go for it because it is worth going for. That was the motivation behind this season’s Descent to Rise Above challenge.
Asking skiers and riders to collectively post a BILLION vertical feet in a single season is no small ask. But when the prize for doing so is raising $50,000 for mental health and wellness, well…you go for it.
And go for it we did.
Through a late start to the season. Through the almost 300” of snow that eventually arrived. Through the rugged purity that is realized from pursuing a bit of greater good by grinning through lift rides pelted with peppery winds and powder turns ridden with raucous laughter.
Over 14,000 people engaged in that pursuit and after Last Chair on Sunday, May 4th the vert counter read 801,847,933.
Full send—you go for it because it’s worth going for. It is a way of rethinking the What, Why and How we come together as skiers and riders. There’s the obvious. But then there is the less-than-tangible such as the smiles reflected in the beads of condensation slinking down a cold glass and the memories made in the après hours. The community we all live in together for 150(ish) days a year. And as a bit of luck and determination would have it, we were able to convince our partners in the Better Here Fund that smiles, memories and community actually have a vertical value—one that just happened to convert to 198,152,067 feet.
Thank you all for the vertical, smiles, memories, and most of all, for your community. We’ll be posting the top three vert getters from each New England state and New York and getting them their hard-earned SHWAG shortly. And because of them and the other 13,981+ people who sored their legs this season, $50,000 will be going to our friends at NFI to help them in their continuing mission of providing community-based care for children, youth and adults in crisis. They are the ones on the ground bringing help to those in need and your turns shone some light on what they do and the communities they serve. Thank you.
So who sent it the fullest? Check out the top three vert getters from each qualifying state below.
| First Name | Last Name | Vert | Location |
| Jim | Roettger | 2,329,707 | VT |
| Mark | Bean | 2,027,766 | VT |
| Elizabeth | Walker | 1,861,860 | VT |
| Daniel | Heffernan | 1,450,743 | MA |
| Stephen | Lewis | 1,310,139 | MA |
| Scott | Sneath | 948,333 | MA |
| Kurt | Jackson | 784,975 | NH |
| Diane | Stone | 761,729 | CT |
| Regan | Page | 712,617 | RI |
| Randall | Benson | 656,549 | NH |
| Jonathan | Morris | 607,907 | NH |
| Steven | Caione | 523311 | NY |
| Perry | Seelert | 500431 | CT |
| Michael | Foye | 466340 | CT |
| Jonny | Bioteau | 402908 | RI |
| Patrick | Holland | 365651 | ME |
| Patrick | McCarthy | 353981 | ME |
| Zach | Bioteau | 337002 | RI |
| Alan | Mukamal | 295420 | NY |
| Matthew | Troyansky | 257513 | NY |
| Evelyn | Mccarthy | 225590 | ME |
Full send. What challenge will the 25/26 season bring…?
