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In an achievement that redefines grit and grace in the world of ski mountaineering, Mali Noyes has set a new benchmark by skiing 93 of the steepest lines in Utah’s Wasatch Range in just 47 days, demolishing the previous record by three months. But for Noyes, a Salomon athlete and full-time oncology nurse, the accomplishment was about much more than speed.
Dubbed Project Rapid Fire, the effort was born from a 2023 idea sparked during a 900-inch snow season. Noyes set her sights on “The Chuting Gallery,” a famed list of Utah’s hardest lines first published by Andrew McLean in 1998. These are no average ski runs—these are couloirs, cliffs, and chutes carved into the jagged peaks that rise from the Salt Lake Valley, each with its own unique hazards and demands.
“This wasn’t about being the fastest woman,” Noyes commented. “It’s just the fastest time. Period.”
Supported by ski luminaries like Cody Townsend, Sam Smoothy, and her partner Spencer Harkins, Noyes tackled avalanche conditions, mental fatigue, and grueling back-to-back objectives with quiet determination. “The mountains are always trying to kill you when you’re moving that fast,” she reflected. “It took everything I had to stay safe and present.”
Among the most daunting moments was skiing Medusa’s Face on Mount Olympus—an iconic slab only skiable during a short window of perfect conditions. “We had four days,” she recalled. “Getting it done lifted a huge weight off me.”
Throughout the mission, she leaned into her background in medicine, using discipline, risk assessment, and compassion—skills honed as a nurse caring for cancer patients. “My patients remind me every day why life is worth fighting for,” she said. “That same spirit kept me pushing in the mountains.”
Noyes’ record-setting push is not just a personal milestone—it’s a defining statement in a sport that’s still catching up to its female talent. “Every generation of women in skiing has a job,” she said. “Ours is to raise the bar.”
With Project Rapid Fire now complete, Noyes is looking forward to some rest—and to returning to hospital shifts that inspire her just as deeply. “Helping someone through their hardest day is its own summit,” she smiled.
In a culture of noise and narcissism, Mali Noyes has emerged as something rare: a skier with strength, soul, and a purpose that goes far beyond the snow.
Ski the World!
Source: Freeskier
