The Longest Run: How a Colorado ski bum skied every day for more than eight years

by Rainer Hertrich, Devon O'Neil (With)

From November 1, 2003 until January 10, 2012, Rainer Hertrich, a middle-aged snowcat groomer from Copper Mountain, Colorado, skied every day for 2,993 consecutive days. Before his streak, the longest run on record was 365 days by a British journalist and his French girlfriend. Hertrich's wild, globe-trotting journey captured the heart of Olympians and ski bums alike, many of whom say his streak will never be matched. It only ended when doctors discovered a near-fatal heart arrhythmia and ordered Hertrich to stop skiing. In this memoir, coauthored with ski writer Devon O'Neil, Hertrich tells of his family's emigration from Germany, his unlikely rise to fame by way of a now-defunct ski area in Estes Park, Colorado, and story after hilarious story from a life lived on motorcycles, in tents, aboard sinking boats, and, of course, on big mountains worldwide, always chasing adventure. By turns heartwarming, inspiring, and laugh-out-loud funny, Hertrich's commitment to skiing transcends the snowy lifestyle and shows what is possible when someone devotes his life to a simple, liberating strapping skis to his feet and schussing downhill on snow.

114 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2015

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you started skiing before you started school, if you grew up building flip jumps in the woods when Wayne Wong was the man, if you’ve skied day after day for weeks at a time from opening to closing through blizzards and rain, if you’ve run a snow cat at 4:00 am or spent the day freezing as a liftie, if you’ve ridden a motorcycle cross country and lived out of a tent as I have, then you will probably like this book. The book is too short and has some holes in the timeline, so what? It’s just a book about a ski bum, and I loved it.

[David Gooldy · Rating 4 out of 5]

From one ski bum to another, this book is the recounting of a daily life upon the snow. Ski bums are in a world of their own (and they know it) and have a unique and beautiful outlook on life and nature around them.
Rainer speaks very clearly about his daily drive for vertical feet, and the extensive planning which went into his journey for 100 million feet, and the record for the most consecutive days skied. In addition, Colorado natives will not be able to help but smirking as he talks about Colorado ski history, and the extensive growth that Colorado resorts and mountains have gone through over the last half century.

I am looking forward to a sequel from Rainer soon, for as a friend I have the inside scoop on a new challenge he has endured over the last two years, the amputation BTK (below the knee) of his left leg following years of G-forces and abuse inside a ski boot. Just last month, I skied alongside Rainer, 18 months post-amputation, as he began his climb back onto the mountain, starting once again on green runs as he takes on Copper Mountain with a prosthetic.

The Longest Run is a must read for all Coloradans and ski bums alike!