Pioneering ski-mountaineer Christina Lustenberger on life in a ‘wildly dangerous space’

Christina Lustenberger’s career takes her to places where there is little margin for error. Photograph: Drew Smith/Drew Smith Media

After a pair of first descents near her home in the Canadian Rockies, Christina Lustenberger headed to Pakistan’s Karakoram Range in April 2024 for her second attempt to ski the west face of the Great Trango Tower.

“I’d seen a photo of the towers from a friend who climbed it,” says Lustenberger, “but no one had skied it.”