"Born to ski from Everest": Slovenian who made the first descent from the roof of the world

"I'm absolutely happy and absolutely tired," says a man in a yellow ski suit, moments after skiing down from the "roof of the world."

It is October 7, 2000, and beneath the suit, glasses, and large backpack lies Davorin Davo Karničar from the mountain town of Jezersko in the far north of Slovenia.

Over snow and glaciers that disappear underfoot, from Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth at 8.850 meters, to Base Camp at 5.340 meters above sea level, he skied continuously for five hours, something no one in history had ever managed to do before.

"In some places I had to ski very fast to escape the cracking ice."

"This mountain is always full of surprises, and it was a shocking experience when I saw the body of a dead man on the way," he said at the camp after the descent, wrote the BBC.

But records were nothing new for Karničar.

Nor was the descent from Mount Everest his first encounter with the Himalayas, a mountain range in Central Asia that is home to nine of the world's 10 highest peaks.

Together with his eight-year-younger brother Andrej, in 1995 he became the first Slovenian to conquer the 8.091-meter-high Annapurna peak in the Himalayas.

Immediately afterwards, the first people in world history descended from this peak on skis, writes Radio Television of Slovenia.

"At that time, Davo had already said that his next challenge was skiing Everest, although Annapurna was 'old school' expedition, completely different from Davo's in 2000, which was science fiction for me at the time," Andrej Karničar tells BBC Serbian.

The very next year, Davo attempted to ski down Mount Everest, but was prevented from doing so by a snowstorm that killed eight people.

American mountaineer John Krakauer wrote a book about this accident. Into Thin Air, and the same topic is covered in the film Everest.

"Davo survived, but he lost two fingers on his hand - he was taking off his gloves to fix something on the equipment and his fingers froze," says his brother Drejc, as he is called in Slovenia.

In 2006, Karničar became one of the first people in history to ski from all Seven Peaks (Seven Summits) - the highest points of all seven continents on Earth.

"Everything went much easier after Everest, because the peaks of other continents are less dangerous," Stipe Božić, a Croatian alpinist and friend of Davo Karničar, tells BBC Serbian.

'A kind of madness'

In addition to Krničar, the four-member expedition to Mount Everest in October 2000 included friend and compatriot Franz Oderlap, and a duo of local guides Ang Dorje and Pasang Tenzing.

Brother Andrej, today the mayor of the Jezersko municipality, was not with them because he lost most of his toes during the climb to Annapurna.

"He was uncompromising, he knew what he needed, a true leader of that expedition, a very dominant man - everything had to be the way he imagined it," recalls Andrei.

The expedition was "excellently organized," because "many factors had to coincide" for it to be successful, which Davo knew, he adds.

"He stated several times that he was 'born to ski down Everest', he really felt it and for me that is the strongest fact about him," says Andrej Karničar.

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His brother attempted the first, unsuccessful climb of Mount Everest from the north side, which he used as a lesson, so in 2000 the expedition moved along the south slope.

They arrived at 8.850 meters above sea level after four days, between six and seven in the morning, the text says. Everest magazine abroad.

When the sun rose, Karničar started to descend.

He had to be extremely careful on the four-kilometer long and demanding road.

"We were very surprised by the amount of snow we found."

"The Hillary Step (a rock at 8.790 meters high), steep ridges and huge amounts of snow that threatened to trigger an avalanche are the main features of the first continuous ski descent from the highest mountain in the world," Karničar described.

The descent that the Slovenian made was considered "crazy" by many at the time, recalls Stipe Božić, who went on expeditions with Karničar to Annaputra and K2, the second highest peak in the world.

"But top mountaineering achievements are a kind of madness, especially when you consider the steepness of the sharp ridge and the dangers of sudden slips," Božić describes.

Almost two decades later, Karničar would explain that he had always been motivated by ambitions that seemed unattainable and dangerous to many.

"When we set ourselves difficult goals, the main motivation when we go to the mountains should be the experience itself."

"But my motivation is to do something that no one has done before, to be the first."

"For this reason, our path is not a square, but a circle. Man is constantly exploring," he said in documentary film Unstoppable.

Karničar's 2000 feat was unusual because it was filmed by cameras along the trail he was skiing on, as well as on his helmet.

Hundreds of thousands of people in more than 70 countries watched the endeavor online.

The official expedition website where the footage was broadcast had registered more than 650.000 users, the London-based newspaper wrote at the time. The Guardian.

The footage was "fascinating," says Stipe Božić.

Slovenian director Miha Kačič met Karničar 18 years after his descent from Mount Everest.

He decided to make a documentary about him.

Kačić believes that the filming and broadcasting of the 2000 expedition was "revolutionary", but also that "two things were not in line with today's times".

"First, he did all this only for honor and glory, he did not become a millionaire, and he even left the skis from Everest to the local Gorenjska Museum, even though the Italians offered him a million euros for them," Kačič tells BBC Serbian.

Secondly, he continues, the equipment was far worse 25 years ago.

"He had problems with the batteries on his helmet, and at 7.000 meters the equipment froze."

"He told me that he always had his camera on on difficult sections, because he knew people would doubt whether he had skied there," Miha recounts.

'All or nothing'

Growing up in the Slovenian Alps, Davo skied and dreamed of the highest peaks since he was a child.

He was one of five children, and his father, Andrej, was also a skier, instructor, and member of the mountain rescue service.

His six-year-old brother Luka was the first Slovenian to ski from an altitude of more than 7.500 meters above sea level, which he achieved at the Summit of Communism in what is now Tajikistan, says Davo's younger brother Andrej.

Luka was a role model for Dav, but he died in 1997 as a mountain rescuer in accident at Okrešlje, also in the Alps, near Jezersko.

"It was a hard blow," recalls Andrei.

The deaths of close friends twice stopped Karničar from his ambition to ski from the summit of K2 in Nepal, the second highest mountain in the world.

When he attempted it in 1993, Slovenian alpinist Boštjan Kekec died in a "terrible tragedy," recalls Stipe Božić, a member of the expedition at the time.

Although he was an "incorrigible dreamer," he had to give up, he adds.

The death of Franz Oderlap, his best friend and companion on most of his most demanding expeditions, "completely stopped" Dav in 2009, also near the summit of K2, says Andrej Karničar.

"Davo then said he wouldn't go to the high mountains anymore."

"Five years later, however, he said he had to ski from the top of K2, it really bothered him," he recalls.

Davo, he says, was an "all-or-nothing man" and managed to continue his campaigns, despite the blows.

"He was always looking for a challenge and his boat was never still," says Andrej.

Almost a decade later, Davo is featured in a short documentary Unstoppable explained how he succeeded.

"Many of my friends have lost their lives in the mountains and in those moments you don't think too much, you just feel that you've had enough... suddenly the fear becomes too great, so much so that you don't have the courage to go anywhere."

"But time heals all wounds, and you even feel a stronger need to preserve the memory of someone who was by your side until yesterday."

"It's the most sincere way to preserve the memory of such people," Davo said.

Insecurity is not the equipment you take to the highest mountains in the world, he believed.

"If before the expedition you think you won't succeed, if you have even the slightest doubt, you're just going to try, then you have to stay in the valley and safely enjoy the beauty of life," he said.

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'Mountain Man' and the 'irony' of death

Director Mate Kačič wanted to make a documentary about the human side of mountaineering, and he began this endeavor in 2019.

Davo was "tough back then, he wouldn't let anyone near him and everything revolved around the mountains," Kačič recalls.

"He had a huge ego, but there's no other way to achieve what he achieved," he adds.

He was not "a city man, but a man of the mountains," and he explained this to Kačič with a simple example.

"He always told me, 'Remember, when you go up a mountain, you have a friend holding the rope for you. If he lets go, you die.'"

"If you go to Ljubljana with a friend for a coffee, when you get up and leave, he can say anything about you. Go up there and you will meet friends who will give their lives for you," Kačič recounts.

For the film, they filmed Dave in the places where he achieved his greatest success.

They went to the peak of Kala Patara in the Himalayas, and then to Denali, the highest peak in North America, from which Karničar planned a new descent.

"Unfortunately, I injured my ankle during the Denali expedition and we were unable to reach the summit."

"To show him I was worth it, I walked 30 kilometers with a leg like that," Kačič recalls.

When Karničar saw that the Ljubljana native would not give in, he decided to abort the mission and head back.

"In the end, he told me, 'You're not weak,' which for him was the height of romance and respect for me."

"He was a father figure to me back then," Kačič describes.

Davo worked as a ski instructor, mountain rescuer, and a passionate hunter in his native Jezersko.

After all the expeditions and walking the fine line between life and death, Davo Karničar died practically on his doorstep.

While he was cutting wood in the forest near his family home in Jezersko, "a tree fell on his head and he died on the spot" on September 16, 2019, his brother Andrej recalls.

"A great irony. After everything he experienced and survived, he died that way," he says.

Today in Slovenia, "it's hard to meet someone and say their last name without people immediately mentioning Dav."

He was particularly pleased with the feat of Polish alpinist Andrzej Bargil, who last week became the first man to ski down Mount Everest without using an oxygen tank.

"That makes what Davo did, and all of us with him, even more important," says Andrej Karničar.

Watch: Pole becomes first to ski down Mount Everest without oxygen tank

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