On Oct. 7, 2000, Davo Karnicar’s fervor for extreme skiing took him to the summit of Mount Everest. His goal: ski nonstop to base camp, 12,000 feet down — a feat no one had yet achieved.

A skier since his childhood in Slovenia, Karnicar had long ago set his sights on Everest. He had made ski descents from several high peaks around the world; in 1995, he was the first skier to make a successful descent from the summit of Annapurna in Nepal.

“Everyone has a gift,” he told The Times of London shortly before the expedition. “I know how to ski. Someone else might know how to drive a Formula I car.”

Karnicar and his team had spent a month climbing the south face of Everest, and after a few hours’ rest he began his descent in the early morning from just over 29,000 feet. As he went he managed to escape the dangers of collapsing ice walls, strong winds and deep crevasses. At one point, he glimpsed the frozen body of a climber from an expedition years earlier.