After two attempts and despite encountering extreme danger Austrian skiers Axel Naglich and Peter Ressmann have conquered Mount Saint Elias in Alaska.

The pair, from Kitzbühel, descended the 5,489-metre mountain, the world's tallest located near an ocean.

Compared to Mount Saint Elias, even the world's tallest peaks might seem small. Its immense vertical relief descends all the way to sea level, whereas 8,848-meter-high Mount Everest rises only 3,500 meters above the Tibetan plateaus.

Naglich, an architect and passionate extreme skier, had already been the first to descend new corridors on Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus - Europe's highest summit - and Mount Cook in New Zealand one year later. Naglich, 39, had long had his sights set on the giant of the Pacific.

During their second try and in two sections, Naglich and his partner Ressmann conquered the world's steepest slope, a 5,389-meter descent from the top to the sea on a sharp, icy face with an incline that could reach 60 degrees.

The crevasses all the way down were an additional challenge. So were the risks of avalanches and falling rocks. "The snow was shifting and unstable near the top," said Ressmann, "Sometimes I could feel Alex's footsteps even though he was 50 meters ahead of me.

The expedition - which lasted 16 days including 13 for the ascent - was an unequalled experience for the seasoned alpinists. Achieving a feat like this requires a perfect command of downhill skiing as well as mountain-climbing.

At that elevation, weather conditions leave very little margin for error. "One night I forgot to bring my gloves inside the tent," says Naglich. "It took me over an hour to get them back to normal. I wouldn't have been able to come back down if I had lost them."

A few days after their adventure they said: "There's enormous pressure and constant stress because mortal dangers are everywhere."

Very few people climb Mount Elias because of the terrible weather conditions there. Several years ago two Americans intent on being the first to ski down the mountain met with a tragic fate. They did not survive and their bodies are still trapped in the ice somewhere near the top.

Naglich and Ressmann are the 13th expedition to the summit and the first to reach the crest of the 'monster' - to use Naglich's description - in five years.

Gerald Salmina, a cameraman who is well-known in the world of extreme sport, was also there to film them. A documentary will be made this year.

Eurosport