How a Colorado ski bum skied every
day for more than eight years
About The Longest Run
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 pursuit: strapping skis to his feet and schussing downhill on snow.
Praise for The Longest Run
What Rainer did was monumental. That's about the only word that really does it justice. Anyone who's passionate about what they do will appreciate this book. It was so interesting. I couldn't put it down, I just wanted to keep reading.
-CJ Mueller, member of the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
About the authors
Rainer Hertrich has been called the ultimate ski bum
by the Associated Press and the world's greatest ski bum
by the Rocky Mountain News. He is a skier and snowcat driver at Copper Mountain, Colorado, where he has lived for 33 years. He was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, and grew up in Estes Park, Colorado, at the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. His world-record ski streak also took him to Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and throughout Chile and Argentina.
Devon O'Neil is a freelance journalist in Breckenridge, Colorado. His work appears regularly in Outside, SKI, Powder, and Backcountry magazines and on ESPN.com.
Credits: Jacket design by Nikki LaRochelle, cover photo by Marc Piscotty, back cover photo by Daniel Root.
To contact the authors or inquire about the book, please use the following addresses:
Rainer Hertrich: rainertelecat1@yahoo.com
Devon O'Neil: devononeil@hotmail.com
Past coverage about the streak
ESPN.com (2012), Colorado Summit Magazine (2012), Powder Magazine (2011), ESPN.com (2010), New York Times (2006), Outside Magazine (2006)