Every day for the last month, Greg Hill has got up, put on his skis and put in a hard day's work on the mountain. Sounds fun, except for one thing. Greg is doing all the ascents himself. Hour after hour, day after day, he's been hiking up hills, often in deep snow —always in the deepest backcountry — in a bid to clock an almost super-human target of 100,000 vertical meters.Along the way he's nearly been avalanched, struggled to eat enough food, screamed abuse at himself to keep himself going. But here's the good part — he's also skied some of Canada's finest powder and some incredible mountain lines. But at five days before the month's end, he still had almost 20,000 m to cover. “Access is the biggest hurdle to my goal right now,” he says. “That and a tired body!”Greg isn't just counting the meters on a well-groomed trail with the lightest set-up. He's skiing off the beaten track, in fat skis. And bagging mountain summits. “This is about exploring and pounding vertical in different areas,” Greg told us before setting off. This weekend, Greg will put in one last heroic effort to achieve his goal. “No sun in the forecast and lots of vertical to go,” he blogged on his website.Stay tuned to find out how he got on. You can also check out Greg's latest posts on his Facebook page. main photo: ©zooom.at/Markus Berger

The words 'crushed' and 'crashed' may only have a single letter of difference between them, but they have an entirely different meaning. For Greg Hill, 'crushed' is how his body is feeling now that he's over half way to his March Madness goal of 100,000 vertical meters.'Crashed' is what he did to his snowmobile en route to a back country tour last week. Before you worry, the snowmobile prang was a just a small setback on the route to that day's 3,500m of climbing, in which Hill and a few friends toured the Gold Range of Revelstoke, not far from Hill's Canadian home. And while 3,500m of ski touring may seem like a pretty full day to the average backcountry explorer, to Hill, it's just another day in March. Starting March 1st with the highly ambitious goal of a 100k month, Hill has been racking up ascents with the tenacity of a man possessed. Along the way, there have been wicked ski lines – and a few wickedly close calls, such as when Hill set off an avalanche that actually ended up sliding over the same area he'd just skinned up. In hindsight, Hill analyzes the situation and the decision. “I think that part of my goal was clouding my judgement, wanting to set a track that was quicker for me to get vertical, versus harder and more tiring but safely in the rocks,” says Hill. “It was a huge avalanche that swept down 300+ meters. The mountains gave me a stern warning that I should not be too confident out here and be wary. Especially as I push towards my goal,” he tells us.Currently, Hill has accumulated over 60k of his 100k goal, with multiple days of 4,000m+ of vertical, in everything from sunny conditions with fresh powder, to pure, near white-out storm skiing – and while not every day has allowed him to bag a summit, he's scored a few. Overall, the cumulative effort of such an endeavor is starting to catch up with him. “I wondered at what point of this mission that I would wake up completely crushed. Sore, tired and not wanting to get out of bed. Walking down the stairs to let the cat out was painful. I am intimidated by stairs today!”Nevertheless, the crazy Canadian's March Madness is set to continue. After taking the 20th of March to rest, he's already back on the skin trail, going, up, up, up – all the way to 100,000m. Follow Greg Hill's March Madness on his blog. All images ©Bruno Long.

Sooner or later every adventure hits its challenges — and that's proving the case for Greg Hill. The ski mountaineer is almost half way into a 31 day mission to ascend 100,000m and he's been averaging a vertical ascent of over 4,000m a day since the beginning of the month. While lots of snow is good news for those big smile-inducing descents, it's been making the ascents a lot less fun for Greg.  “Days five to seven were really bad and hard days,” he says. “The temperatures were a little warm and the snow very wet, the mountains were going through a state of change and avalanching regularly — some very large. I needed to play it very cautious and stay in the trees. The options were limited and some very uncomfortable days happened.” One of the biggest problems, as Greg's recent Instagram post makes clear, is the build-up of snow under the skis.“It added massive weight and progress was hard. I was screaming really loud obscenities to make myself feel better!” On Sunday Greg took a much-needed rest day to allow for the avalanche danger to subside. “When the dust cleared the skiing has been great. The last two days have been off the charts! Great powder skiing, glaciers, summits and loving the days.” So far Greg is on track but uncertain weather next week is a cause for concern. The body is also holding up for now. “It's as hard as I imagined, requiring me to dig deep. For 10 hours a day I pretty much hike all day with small intervals of great skiing. The body is feeling the repetitive motions —I'm having to do lots of stretching and eating.” One thing that will help Greg in his 'March Madness' quest to ski 100,000m is your support. Follow him via Instagram and Facebook. You can also find more adventure on our own Facebook page. Top picture ©Bruno Long.

Almost a week in to his challenge to ski 100,000m in a month and Greg Hill has put in an amazing performance so far. He's made some big ascents and powered his way through a lot of local powder.“I yearn for bigger summits and more wild lines but the powder has been incredible,” he tells us. In the first four days, Greg has been ski-touring between 9-11 hours a day, covered a daily average of 27km (horizontal distance) but over 4,000m of vertical. There are a lot of mountain lines. On the first day he summited Mt Mackenzie, 2,459m, near Revelstoke. His wife and two kids were there to greet him. “Being able to share my first summit of this challenge with my family was priceless after such an excursion,” says Greg. “Days 2, 3 and 4 have been days of incredible powder skiing - deep and steep lines through trees, pillows and chutes, so it's been fun.” Greg was thinking about putting in a rest day or whether to carry on while conditions were still so good.“It's easy to remain psyched and motivated when every run is so great,” he says. To follow Greg's progress, stay tuned to our Facebook page. We'll be making regular updates.

Greg Hill plans to ascend 100,000m in a month. It's a challenge that will test his mind and body to the absolute limit and demand all his powers of endurance to succeed. As yet, he doesn't know if it's possible. In March Suunto ambassador Greg Hill will attempt to ski 100,000 vertical meters. That's up, as well as down. If he pulls it off, it will be an awe-inspiring achievement. What makes it all the more challenging is that these will not be repeated ascents on well-groomed pistes at his local ski resort. Instead, in true Suunto style, the ascents will be made in the heart of Canada's backcountry wilderness. Greg will be exploring new lines and making first descents. Nothing will be repeated. “I've always been curious about my human potential and to see what I can do,” Greg says in his new video about the project. “I'm a little scared. There are avalanches, there are injuries, there are lots of things that could happen. But I'm going to try.”  But if there's anyone who has a chance of pulling it off it's Greg Hill. In 2010, he skied 610,000m (2 million ft) in a year. He has also skied 15,000m (50,000ft) in a month. He'll use his Suunto Ambit2 to record his ascents. The challenge – in which he’ll struggle to eat enough food to maintain body weight while burning thousands of calories per day – will almost certainly be a first in ski mountaineering. It will require him to spend every waking hour of every day climbing, skiing, eating and traveling and will also involve considerable logistical planning. “It's intimidating,” he acknowledges. The challenge will take place in the 38-year-old's backyard — a remote part of British Columbia, Canada. It's the ideal playground. “There are so many un-skied mountains and lines in the Canadian wilderness around my home. It's just waiting to be explored,” he says. Check out the video and Greg's website for more details on the project. We'll also be sharing updates on our Facebook page.