Daredevil SKIS down Europe’s tallest ‘vertical’ rock face known as the Troll Wall

This is the stomach-churning moment a self-defined ‘lover of mountains’ became the first person to ski down a notorious vertical rock face. 

Kilian Jornet, 31, spent two years preparing for the most challenging descent of his life on the ‘Troll Wall’, in Norway.

The steep skier spent five hours and 40 minutes climbing up and then skiing down the 5,500ft mountain – known as Europe’s largest vertical rock face.

And he filmed the moment of descent on head cam footage that shows a terrifying drop.

Using picks to grip on to an ice sheet he slowly edges down the rock face but as soon as it levels out he slides using his skis.

Winding his body quickly to the left he slides around a metre down the mountain before switching to the right to descend further.

The red line shows the route Kilian took down the 5,500 feet ‘Troll Wall’ in Norway

The ‘Troll Wall’ is around 5,500 feet tall with an average incline of 55 to 60 degrees – but it looks almost completely vertical.

And Kilian faced sliding powdered snow and huge sheets of ice as he carefully made his way down the potentially deadly mountain edge.

Trollveggen’s mountain wall was thought of as impossible to climb before 1965.

But when a group of Norwegian climbers and another group of English climbers took 14 days to get to the peak on two different routes the site became more popular.

The ‘Troll Wall’ is around 5,500 feet tall with an average incline of 55 to 60 degrees – but it looks almost completely vertical

Winding his body quickly to the right he slides around a metre down the mountain before switching to the left to slide further

Adventurers now climb to the peak before spending the night on the rock face.

Kilian spent hours studying the trail and waiting for the best conditions before becoming the first person to ski down the mountain.

He said: ‘On February 17, 2018 I went to inspect the route. However, I realised at once that the conditions were very favourable. 

‘In steep skiing the conditions aren’t ever perfect, so I realised that I had to try it no matter what. 

‘It was a very interesting yet demanding experience. The upper section is perhaps the most complicated, as they are probably the most vertical 200m that I have ever skied. 

‘Following that, there was quite a narrow couloir of 400m and then 100m of more skiable sections, but which were very icy and steep in parts. 

It’s a very exposed route where you have to fully concentrate, but in the end the result was very satisfactory.’

The adventurer has produced a documentary, called Troll Wall, of his expedition.