Matt Mullin figured he didn’t need to change his sleeping habits, so he just took a one-hour power nap in his car and then hit the slopes at 7 p.m. for 12 straight hours.

Mullin, a Park City resident, won the first ever “12 hours of Snowbird” event by skiing for 12 straight hours on Feb. 18 at Snowbird Resort. The event was a fundraiser for the Utah Avalanche Center (UAC), with 77 participants each paying a $275 entry fee to participate; $250 of each entry fee went to the UAC.

Racing from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., Mullin and his fellow competitors had nothing but clear groomed runs at Snowbird coupled with a full moon and headlamps to find their way down the mountain. Each time racers finished a run, they’d take the 8-to-10 minute lift back up the hill and do it again.

Mullin would eventually be the long-distance champion, having finished with a total of 125,643 vertical feet skied in a span of 12 hours.

“To be out there going full speed under a full moon at night, it was a blast,” Mullin said. “It was a really fun event.”

He had learned about the event through an e-mail from a friend.

“He told me I had to do it,” Mullin said. “It’s a pretty major thing.”

A native of Vail, Colo., Mullin wasn’t exactly born on skis, but pretty close. Both of his parents were ski instructors and he has been an avid skier and outdoorsman since he can remember.

Mullin moved to Park City in the fall of 2002 and is now a real-estate developer, but he said getting back to his old days of ski racing felt good.

“It was fun to be back competing again,” he said.

He said each participant had the choice of routes on several different Snowbird runs during the competition. He added he tried to conserve energy by trying to stay upright during his runs and not turning much.

“Turning is what takes all your energy,” he said.

Mullin was fueled by some energy-based foods and a Subway sandwich his wife brought him at about 11 p.m. Friday. He would continue on through the night, snacking on things like jerky to help his energy level stay up.

Every participant except Mullin and the other two finishers took breaks during the night.

“It’s an adrenaline rush,” said Mullin. “You’re flying down a mountain. It sounds pretty repetitive, to tell you the truth, but I never felt bored.”

He said it was enjoyable to take the lifts up with fellow riders and compare notes with other types of participants competing in the race.

But the silver lining in Mullin’s incredible accomplishment was being able to donate and raise money for a good cause.

“It’s for the Utah Avalanche Center,” he said. “That was big for them.”

The resort had planned to implement a 40-mile-per-hour limit, but Mullin said, one by one, racers began to revolt.

“Everyone broke it,” he said.