Tom Wallisch doesn’t mess around. The pro freeskier and 2012 X Games slopestyle gold medalist wanted to do something never done before: complete the longest rail slide on skis in history.
Wallisch had a 440-foot rail made of over 10,000 pounds of steel that was trucked in from eastern Canada and constructed at Seven Springs Resort in western Pennsylvania. For comparison, a standard American football field is 360 feet long, and the previous record was only 241 feet. Upon first seeing the rail, he admitted he might have bit off more than he can chew:
“The first time I saw it, I thought, no way. I made a horrible mistake.”
Wallisch didn’t have much luck to start. He kept sliding further and further down the rail, but was unable to eclipse the full length. He battled mental demons and tried more than one hundred times to achieve the record. Three days would pass, and the rail would fall apart due to weather, but he kept battling.
After the rail was reconstructed, Wallisch completed the slide with relative ease. Here’s what it looked like near the end from his helmet camera:
Wallisch said accomplishing the record gave him “overwhelming satisfaction“:
“It’s a childhood dream come true,” he reflected afterwards. “I’ve been a part of the rail skiing movement for so many years that it’s cool to have some sort of legacy. And to have a record like that, that means something.”
Wallisch’s attitude was just as impressive as the slide. He never gave up, despite failing multiple times, and overcame the rail falling apart. He could have easily walked away, but he persevered, and now his name will be in the record book. That’s pretty awesome.
