Logging 100 days in a single season is a rite of passage for any skier or snowboarder. Young or old, just about any powder hound has the mark on their bucket list. Colorado’s John John LaConte crossed the accomplishment off his list this past season with 105 days of riding at Vail Mountain…and he’s just eight years old.
“He told me early in the season he wanted to get 100 days, so we set this goal in November,” says John John’s dad, John LaConte, who is a journalist working for the Vail Daily and a longtime, well-documented powder hound himself.
The logistics of pulling off 100 days is probably less complicated for adult ski bums. Living and working at a resort or just calling a mountain town home and holding down a flexible gig, preferably even working a night shift, makes more than three months worth of snowboarding in a season feasible. That’s a totally different challenge to an eight-year-old student though. LaConte says his son made it happen by going “pretty much every day after school.”
“There were some days where he’d be really beat after a full day of school and occasionally he’d fall asleep on the gondola. (He) looked like he was barely even awake when we got off the lifts and start shredding. But then there were other times where, of course, he’d be super stoked, making quick turns, zipping around, just loving it.”
One thing that’s apparent in the short video published by Vail Daily is that the accomplishment really was a team effort. There’s no shortage of young athletes forfeiting their childhood to get a jumpstart on competitive professional careers in sports like snowboarding, surfing, and the list goes on. But this was clearly a bonding experience for the father-son duo, and it looks like the pair had fun together from opening day until the last run of the season.
LaConte actually documented several days this season as a Vail Daily reporter with several of the sessions featuring John John racing around by his side. It’s uplifting. And I think it’s fair to say this 105-day season and the 100-day pin that comes along with it was an accomplishment for both Johns.
