Austria’s infamous Albonakopf is a picturesque mountain—steep, hard to access and covered in spines you might expect to find in Alaska. As the first sunlight grazed the sharp peak on a cold March morning, tension was in the air while our film crew waited for Nadine Wallner to drop into the featured face.

We held our breath as she made a few slow jump turns, testing the snow up top. The snow softened, and she opened it up, ripping big turns down the fluted face. Sluff chased close behind her as she sped down to the valley, thousands of feet below. It was a spectacular descent, but we couldn’t celebrate just yet—it was only the first of five.

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