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Skiing is one of the most thrilling and daring physical activities out there. Unlike other sports, where the field is outlined by man, here skiers are at the mercy of topography. That’s why some areas are infinitely more dangerous than others, and can only be tackled by experienced athletes. A nerve-wracking video, part of the 2016 film project La Liste shows skier Jérémie Heitz descending the Ober Gabelhorn, a near-vertical slope in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland.
“If you ask any kid to draw a mountain, it’s going to be a portrait of the Obergabelhorn,” said Heitz in the documentary Nevia, which explores the complexities of skiing a mountain like this. The north face of Ober Gabelhorn, the one Heitz can be seen descending on the video, has a steepness of 55° on average, although it gets even steeper at the end.
The angle from the video actually makes it look even more vertical—almost like a free fall. Rather than gliding through the snow, Heitz descends in careful yet lightning-fast diagonal moves. As he approaches the bottom, he gets to widen his movements. And despite how stressful the path looks, he makes it in one piece, with an amazing story to tell.
For more thrilling insights into the world of skiing, you can follow Heitz on Instagram.
A nerve-wracking video, part of the 2016 film project La Liste shows skier Jérémie Heitz descending the Ober Gabelhorn, a near-vertical slope in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland.
h/t: [Reddit]
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