NEWS BY EURO NEWSROOM

First run down the world’s longest ski slope 22.08.2007

MOUNT ST. ELIAS (Alaska)After an enormous effort, two attempts and despite lethal dangers, two Austrian skiers from Kitzbühel, Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann, have conquered the highest peak in the world that drops straight down to sea level - the 5,489-metre Mount St. Elias in Alaska.

Compared to Mount St. Elias, peaks even as high as Mount Everest might appear as dwarves. Even though it is only “5,489“ metres high, Mount St. Elias has an immense vertical relief as it rises from the sea level. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world (8,848 metres) but it is only about 3,500 metres above the surrounding Tibetan highlands. Axel Naglich, an architect and extreme skier from Kitzbühel, was already the first to ski down new extreme routes on Mount Cook in New Zealand three years ago and Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus four years ago, Europe’s highest mountain. Naglich (39) has long had his eye on the Pacific giant, Mount St. Elias.

Now, on his second attempt and in two sections, Naglich and partner Peter Ressmann, have become the first to ski down the world’s steepest slope, a 5,389-metre descent on a run of about 20 kilometres from the summit to the sea. There was no margin for error down the mountain with its steep ice-covered slopes of up to 60 degrees and endless fields of glacier crevices. They also had to stay completely focussed down the run as they were confronted by a constant threat of falling rocks. For the expedition they spent a total of 11 days ascending the mountain and three days descending. It was the ultimate fringe experience for the multi-talented sportsman: “The stress and strain is overwhelming, and the life-threatening dangers are omnipresent on this mountain.“ Some of the heaviest snowfalls in the world can take place in that part of the world, and once they were forced to shovel the snow like mad to stay alive before abandoning their campsite to flee to the safety of a snow cave. An American expedition team trying to become the first to ski down the mountain several years ago never made it. Both skiers died and their remains are under the ice on a slope near the summit.

Naglich and Ressmann are proud of the Alpine dimensions of their endeavour; they were the 13th expedition to the summit and the first to succeed in reaching the peak of the “monster“, as Naglich described it, in the last five years.

Famous Austrian cameraman Gerald Salmina filmed the expedition and the documentary is expected to be released next year.“

Quotes:

“Once I didn’t bring my skiing gloves into the inside tent overnight. It took me an hour the next morning before I could get them on again. I wouldn’t have made it down if I hadn’t been able to get them back on,“ said Axel Naglich.

“At one point I could feel Axel’s steps even though he was 50 metres in front of me because the snow was so hollow and unstable on the summit slopes,“ said Peter Ressmann.

“It’s probably a world record for skiing but we didn’t ski down the mountain to get into the Guinness World Records book...“ said Axel Naglich.

“It feels special and you can deeply appreciative how great it is to be alive when you come close to losing it every once in a while,“ said Axel Naglich.

Pictures available free of charge for editorial use: Vitek Ludvik for Sports&News