Featured Picture: Sam Smoothy | Skier: Mali Noyes
Mali Noyes might simply be the hardest-working skier within the business. A former College of Utah medical pupil and present oncology nurse, the Salomon athlete nonetheless manages to pursue careers each in medication and snowboarding. She’s been steadily making her title in steep snowboarding for a number of years now, checking off strains from Alaska to British Columbia and again house in Utah.
Her resume is intensive, her ardour is limitless, however even for Noyes, her aim this season was a lofty one. It was an concept that propagated again in 2023, and at last cemented itself this winter. In March, she got down to ski the 93 hardest strains within the Wasatch Mountains… in file time. Psychotic? Perhaps. Inspirational? Actually. And after an extended chat with Noyes detailing her expertise, it grew to become clear that the snowboarding was maybe the least necessary a part of this complete accomplishment.
The Wasatch Mountains appear as if a serrated wall, cascading upward out of the Salt Lake Valley. Unsurprisingly, these gargantuan constructions harbor among the most difficult snowboarding within the continental U.S. During the last three many years, many of those strains have been effectively documented. Maybe essentially the most notable assortment is printed in a ebook titled ‘The Chuting Gallery,’ revealed in 1998 by skier Andrew McLean.
The steepest strains in ‘The Chuting Gallery’ stand as much as any competitors. That’s why checking off all of them as quick as humanly potential is an outrageous aim. “It occurred throughout our 900-inch [snow] yr in 2023,” mentioned Noyes when pressed in regards to the thought’s origin. “The whole lot was so stuffed in, and I began to assume ‘how briskly might I ski these if I put my head down and went for it?’”
Others have tried, with skiers like Noah Howell and Caroline Gliech conquering the entire ebook over a number of years amidst different tasks. SLC native Mark Hammond held the established completion file at 5 months, and thus, Noyes knew her time to beat. Whereas a choose few of the strains embrace slight variations, the ultimate variety of runs she settled on was 93. Sure, 93 of the steepest chutes, couloirs and faces within the Western U.S. all skied in underneath 5 months; that was the aim.
The concept grew to become paramount for Noyes, like an insatiable itch. It stayed together with her all all through final winter. As Utah’s snowpack by no means fairly aligned, she selected to spend ample time exploring the peaks round Golden, British Columbia, together with her boyfriend; skier, horse-kicking protester and Pit Viper aficionado Spencer Harkins. (That’s an influence couple of snowboarding if there ever was one.)
Whereas some would spend years making ready to try a venture of this magnitude, Noyes mentioned she was carried out ready by the point winter rolled round in late 2024. Nevertheless it wasn’t and not using a little motivation. “Cody [Townsend] actually gave me that final push. I’m so fortunate to have him as a pal and mentor. In December, we chatted and he reiterated that the situations won’t ever be excellent, so I ought to simply do it. I took that to coronary heart and got down to give it a shot this winter, it doesn’t matter what,” mentioned Noyes.
As time marched on and January ticked away, the situations in Utah’s backcountry had been removed from excellent and didn’t enhance shortly. “It was aggravating,” Noyes chuckled. “We had a number of persistent weak layers, however fortunately I used to be in Golden [B.C.] and bought to ski so much to start out the season.” She remained optimistic and patiently waited for the Wasatch snowpack to heal.
“The perfect recommendation I bought was from Greg Hill,” mentioned Noyes. The legendary ski mountaineer informed her, plain and easy, “‘Go, and in the event you fail, you’ll be taught from it,’ is actually what he mentioned to me.” Hill’s recommendation struck a chord, and similar to that, she was off. Fittingly dubbed Undertaking Speedy Fireplace, Noyes began her journey to ski these 93 strains in file time on March 12, 2025.
The duty shortly proved to be a foreboding beast. ‘The Chuting Gallery’ strains are littered all through the Wasatch, on many various faces and features, creating a variety of situations. When traversing this a lot terrain, the mountains are all the time making an attempt to kill you. There’s no method round it. However surrounded by a gifted staff of ski companions, together with the one and solely Sam Smoothy, Townsend and Harkins, Noyes used collective knowledge mixed together with her personal intimate information of the Wasatch to navigate safely.
The psychological weight was substantial in the beginning, and that nervousness didn’t simply subside. “As I began the venture,” Noyes recounted, “I might summit a line and instantly spiral. I used to be consumed by ideas of all the opposite strains left to do, the altering situations, my very own security… it wasn’t a wholesome begin.”
However on day 10, the crew tried one of many extra formidable strains within the assortment, Medusa’s Face on Mount Olympus. With out exaggerating, it is a large, steep rock slab. You want constant, heavy snow for it to fill in. In different phrases, snowboarding Medusa’s Face in a well timed method is absolutely out of your management. Mom Nature will resolve when, for a short window in time, it’s doable.
This lack of management tremendously anxious Noyes. “We had 4 days,” she mentioned. “We bought fortunate and after snowboarding that I felt just like the preliminary weight was lifted, and I knew I might do it.” There have been ample onerous occasions after Medusa’s Face, however she now felt prefer it was all inside her grasp.
“Don’t get me unsuitable, the ‘f*ck this’ moments had been nonetheless bountiful,” Noyes mentioned with amusing. “I had three shut [avalanche] calls in a row, and that sort of stuff can mentally break you.” She had determined early on that it was essential to do a couple of line at any time when potential in a day. After all, that carries a brand new set of risks. Fatigue, altering climate, variable situations and extra are all amplified once you’re transferring within the mountains for prolonged intervals of time.
“It was a lot tougher than I believed,” she mentioned, her vivid tone briefly fading right into a somber demeanor. “I needed to learn to push it whereas discovering the road, all whereas making an attempt to by no means attain the purpose the place I didn’t wish to return out… and I knew that was an actual chance.”
That’s a part of the check that comes with list-based objectives within the mountains. You’re inevitably pressured into less-than-ideal conditions, even harmful ones, all to maintain on schedule. Noyes recounted that she and Smoothy had been on Lisa Falls when an unsuspecting spring storm rolled in and dropped 10 inches of snow in two hours. Pure avalanches started to interrupt unfastened because the duo made their method down in open terrain; a real nightmare state of affairs. “It was a bonding expertise, however one which I by no means care to have once more,” Noyes mentioned. However cooler heads prevailed, and so they made it out unscathed.
In that hardship, Noyes discovered one in every of her best takeaways. “It’s so cliche, however I used to be floored by the sense of neighborhood this led to,” she mentioned. “I get a lot pleasure from these relationships, and to me, that’s the palpable fantastic thing about snowboarding. Drawback fixing and dealing in the direction of this goal with these unbelievable folks from across the globe is one thing I’d by no means commerce. They helped me grow to be extra current, and even having fun with a single flip with them would make the entire day price it. They had been there by way of the top.”
And with immense perseverance, the top was discovered. With winter holding sturdy within the excessive peaks, Mali Noyes completed all 93 strains on April 27, 2025, finishing your entire listing in an astounding 47 days, demolishing the earlier file by three months.
Having had time to digest this maddening expertise, Noyes has discovered a broader profit to her venture that she’s trying to share as she continues her profession. “Christina Lustenberger as soon as talked about this and I like repeating it,” she mentioned proudly. “Each technology of girls has a job, and that’s to boost the bar.”
Noyes continued, “Hilaree [Nelson] confirmed that ladies can lead expeditions. There weren’t many, if any, examples earlier than her. After which folks like Christina began recording first descents. Not only a first descent for a girl, however a primary descent. That’s what I’m most pleased with right here: this isn’t the quickest time for a girl. There’s no asterisk, it’s simply the quickest time. Interval. I’m excited that that is one other notch exhibiting that ladies belong on the highest degree of snowboarding, and I can’t wait to see how the subsequent technology takes it even additional.”
Taking it additional than Noyes is actually going to be an immense problem. That’s as a result of her ardour for snowboarding is only a mirror for her ardour in the direction of life. For instance, close to the top of our speak, the oncology nurse remarked on how she was trying ahead to selecting up extra shifts quickly, and the way she misses the inspiration she positive factors from her sufferers and the reward of serving to them. That is somebody who seems to be to be higher in each facet of life.
Selfless, devoted and aspirational, Mali Noyes is certainly a shining gentle in a ski business consumed by clicks and devoted to the subsequent trending factor. She’s blazing her personal path in essentially the most genuine method potential. That being mentioned, she’s completely proper; some younger girl will ultimately push the boundary additional, and also you higher imagine Noyes will likely be there cheering her on when that day comes.
Keep tuned this fall as Noyes will likely be dropping an in-depth sequence about Undertaking Speedy Fireplace on her YouTube channel.
