Homerun at Gartnerkofel

One night under starry skies in February. Finally the right conditions for a first descent up here at Gartnerkofel. The atmosphere is amazing. The perfect moment to take a break and enjoy the moonlit view down into the valley that's called home. No doubt - Alex Huber, this full-blooded freerider, also dreams about traveling to far-away places. Canada, Alaska... that time will come for sure. But for now, some of the best spots with many, yet undiscovered challenges are located just around the corner: in the Carinthia mountains; in Nassfeld-Hermagor; in this scenic and extremely diversified three-border region between Austria, Slovenia and Italy. 28-year-old Alex lives in Hermagor, and every single day ever since he was born the stunning summits of the Carnic Alps lay right before his eyes; eyes that have never focused on man-made slopes.

It's those untracked spaces that he had always been fond of. Now an experienced freerider, Alex yearns for high-alpine areas with many exciting spots to discover: to name a few, Rosskofel's (2,240 meters) N-NE gully, or the eastern ridge of the Winkelturm (2,050 meters), which can only be reached by climbing a via ferrata followed by an overhanging traverse. Or the Kammleiten (1,955 meters) corridor. Or, just now, one of the chutes at Gartnerkofel (2,195 meters), an impressive rock formation part of the main Carnic mountain crest, roughly eight kilometers southwest of Hermagor and bordering Nassfeld in the east. Today, after the serious snow dump, the conditions definitely call for a first descent at Gartnerkofel.

All routes at Rosskofel and Winkelturm are in the shade and look quite windblown. Way too dangerous. Alex and Toni decide to attempt a first descent of the eastern Gartnerkofel through its southern gully down to Garnitzenalm (1,640 meters). Bright sunshine in the early hours of the day. This could turn out to be the perfect day. They skin up to the eastern massif without notable problems and reach the top after as little as two hours. The ridge is also pretty windblown, but the views are incredible, putting all three countries literally at their feet. They take their time, enjoy the scenery and they are a little nervous. Even Alex has never skied any of the chutes up here, and none of the existing maps are very clear about them.

As a result, they don't really know what to expect – especially because things look quite different from up here than what they had inspected earlier from down below. And they realize that dropping into the southern gully from the summit is impossible, at least without climbing gear including chocks, hooks and rope. For now, Alex and Toni decide to settle with skiing down Gartnerkofelscharte and to scout their options from below. The run through the rolling terrain and its bizarre treescapes is real fun. A nice and easy warm-up. Once they are at the bottom, they turn around and look back up. They see three or four chutes, none of them known to ever have been skied before.

One of the two northern chutes of the eastern massif appears to be their best option. The plan: climb it up to reach the southern chute from this side. "Looks like it's only about 300 vertical, so maybe 45 minutes," is Alex's optimistic assumption. They skin up and start to climb. The shady gully turns out to be a lot more demanding than expected and the hike turns into a real torture. After two thirds up the chute, there's no way to get any further on skis. Time to unstrap and continue on foot. But there's a lot of snow in the chute – a hell of a lot of snow, to be exact. Partially sticky, partially soft and windblown. Hiking becomes harder, the pulse quickens and they both push their limits, sometimes stuck to the chest in heavy snow.

No sooner but two hours later, Alex and Toni finally reach the top, soaked and exhausted, but happy about seeing the sun again. They are standing on top of a cornice, just below the summit and roughly 50 meters from the spot that forced them to change their plans earlier. A short break is indispensable: recuperate and gain new strength for the next part of this adventure. "The chute ahead of us is probably around 35 to 40 degrees. We have no clue whether it's skiable and the terrain is not easy. So if we find out that it's not possible, we have to climb back up," Toni comments. They are carefully probing their way into the gully.

"Just a few years ago, before I had a bad accident during a film shoot in Norway, I might have approached this a little differently. Back then, I was definitely more impulsive and daring, and I always took nothing but full risk. But I paid my price with several injuries. Those days are over, and I am far more reasonable and responsible," Alex explains later that day. The yet untouched chute offers both wet and crusty snow in different areas. A small jump and off they go right through the middle of the gully, which seems to be skiable only with lots of snow, which is luckily the case today. Further down, there are two critical spots with unknown exits.

It's kind of a trench right in the middle of the slope, which is necessary to be carefully followed from above, because you don't want to be stuck in it in case some of the wet snow slides in from the top. A little further down, they face a rockslide that blocks their view, possibly ending in a waterfall or cliff. They have no idea how to get through or around this, so the only option is to climb out to the south. At the eastern end of the southern flank, they finally discover a safe and enjoyable option through a side valley for their final descent to the bottom – broad and long slopes that lead them down to Garnitzenalm. They are happy and still adrenalin-charged from this adventurous first descent.

But there's more to max the experience: early in the evening, Alex and Toni return to the Gartnerkofel summit to once more enjoy the incredible views before they finally ski down at night, followed by the moonlight that illuminates the mountains and their eyes.