Directed By: Gerald Salmina
Produced By: Gerald Salmina

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A story about four characters, three of them men, one a mountain.

A dramatic and awe-inspiring feature documentary following three of the world's greatest ski mountaineers to the Mount St Elias in their attempt to realize the longest ski descent of the world.

Set against the backdrop of Alaska s dangerous beauty, Mount St Elias is about a visionary borderline experience where unparalleled physical and mental pressure pushes them to the absolute limit. They find themselves in puristic situations, in which heroism cannot easily be distinguished from folly. Situations which can only be mastered if rationality is abandoned and in which courage as well as trust in their own abilities and last but not least luck are used as guidelines.

Two Austrian ski alpinists Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann as well as the American freeski pro Jon Johnston are facing this breathtaking challenge. A team with individual abilities, but also a team of leaders, knowing they literally cannot survive without teamwork and cooperation. Especially Axel Naglich, he unconsciously takes the role of the protagonist due to his authentic personality and, within the permanent struggle not against nature but against himself, polarizes as a strong character. A movie that finally shows why the mountains combine lethal danger and delirious happiness.

The Record
The aim of the expedition is a unique record, which can only be realized on Mount St Elias, as this mountain offers the longest snow covered vertical line of the world, a line which directly ends in the bordering sea, the Gulf of Alaska. The distance of 25 kilometers from the 18.008 ft high summit to the beach of Icy Bay with a massive vertical relief up to 60 degree steepness, offers an adventure which has not been dared ever before. However, before this record decent can be started, the mountain has to be climbed without any technical device. It is the ascent of a mountain with indefinable risk which turns every mountaineer into a loser before a peak ace can ever be realized.

Mount St. Elias
Mount St. Elias is a snow-covered pyramid amidst an archaic ice desert. Storms which grow in China or Japan hit this massive mountain range at full force and thus turn it into one of the world s highest precipitation areas. Up to two meters of fresh snow in one night is just one of many and sometimes unpredictable dangers which turn this mountain into a hardly calculable challenge. Its proximity to the ocean creates rapidly alternating weather conditions with temperatures of 40 degrees below zero up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Consequently the mountaineers have to deal with dense fog ending in disorientation, permanent danger of falling rocks and avalanches and gigantic crevasses which are often only covered by thin snow bridges. Emergency rescues are almost impossible due to an absolute landing ban for helicopters in the national park, the three hours helicopter approach and the steep, high alpine and wind exposed slopes.

Tragedy 2002
The most recent attempt to descend this spectacular line with skies ended in tragedy in 2002. Two American skiers died. Their bodies remain on the mountain as a retrieve is technically impossible.

Producer Gerald Salmina
A unique live feature which is brought to life by the inspiring storyline of Gerald Salmina in his very first motion picture. The unadorned and absolutely authentic scenes in extreme situations get an almost bizarre effect due to the movie-like editing. Spectacular and fascinating mountain pictures which have never been seen before turn it into a lasting and impressive adventure epic. Gerald Salmina is able to free this movie from its genre and lead it into a much bigger one.
(Quote of Dr. Walter Köhler, editorial department of Universum, ORF)

The Production
The documentation – all scenes could only be filmed once – gives a dramatic insight in a denying and misanthropic environment. It is this setting which otherwise invites the viewers from the distance to dive into this bizarre beauty. A contradiction that is deliberately combined via the plot line and fascinating mountain pictures.

A small but highly specialized team, that was capable of capturing the needed pictures under high pressure, guaranteed a successful production. Gerald Salmina, a specialist for spectacular and moreover non repeatable scenes in extreme conditions, not only set a new standard with the help of a “state of the art” cineflex helicopter camera system, but also by the use of permanent helmet cameras for the athletes. Camera operator Günther Göberl adds onto this impression as he is always at eye level with the protagonists and shows pictures from the ascent which would otherwise be reserved for a privileged few.

A combination that produces a closeness to the athletes which was never seen before and opens a new dimension of film making in this genre.