Davo Karničar - Alpinist, extreme skier

Davorin Karničar, Slovenian alpinist and the first person to complete a ski descent from the summit of Everest, died September 16 in a tree-cutting accident, at age 56.

Karničar grew up climbing and skiing with his father in the mountains around Jezersko, an alpine village a few miles from Slovenia’s border with Austria. After racing for Jugoslavia's junior national alpine team, he knocked off his first Himalayan summit in 1989 at Nanga Parbat, and four years later summited K2. In 1995 he made his first major ski descent, at Annapurna. In 2000 he made the first complete descent of Everest, from the summit, and went on to complete descents of the Seven Summits, finishing just a month after Kit DesLauriers. He skied the northeast face of the Eiger and the east face of the Matterhorn.