Freedom. For Nadine Wallner, who is in her mid-twenties, this means getting up at 4 a.m., tying her skis to her back, trudging up the mountain and waiting for the sun to rise. “Once you are on the mountain, that is the loveliest part of the day. Total freedom”, she says. Nadine Wallner isn’t that tall, she has a refreshing, attractive manner about her which immediately evokes images of ballet lessons and mellow folk songs. However, her delicate looks are deceptive: Nadine is a tough cookie or, as she puts it, “someone on the search for liminal experiences and challenges”.

It isn’t that hard to work out where she gets these ideas from – Nadine Wallner was brought up a stone’s throw from the Arlberg, could ski like lightning when still a child, a mountain guide for a father, a snow fanatic for a brother: “The mountains were my playground.” Then came the serious accident during her youth – the ski pole gouged her side, her spleen had to be taken out, the dream of a career in alpine sports was cut short. However, once Nadine Wallner was back on skis, she ended up in the discipline of freeriding. “I am glad about that decision now, since alpine skiing demands a great deal of discipline!” In her chosen type of sport, however, time is not of the essence. It isn’t really about competition either. “Freeriding is all about doing your own thing”, says Nadine Wallner, and describes the fascination of her type of sport as the golden average between a test of courage and the creative volition of style.

Listening to her, it sounds as if her outdoor pursuits on the mountain are more or less a casual pastime for hippies. Doing your own thing is a much-repeated phrase which you really must be a dab hand at, another key element is the harmonious community amongst riders, as is the concept of freedom. However, watching Nadine Wallner racing down the slopes, you immediately forget any notion of a hippy lifestyle. And then there’s the jumps! They certainly feature some circus-like moves – but without the safety net. No doubt about it – you need to be slightly mad to love such a crazy pastime! Nadine Wallner just smiles. Mad, yes. No doubt about that. Yet she is mad in a lovely way. The last thing she has time for in her life is boredom. No cable cars go up the mountain the twice World Champion is attracted to – on her back a rucksack which contains an airbag to protect her in the event of an avalanche. Dangerous? “I would prefer to call it a liminal experience of the just-about possible. Yet these experiences help me to grow.”

Nadine Wallner laughs a lot, and her Facebook account usually portrays her in a good mood in the snow. She studies in Innsbruck yet, firstly, she is a passionate professional athlete and, secondly, she is undoubtedly “not your regular student”. “I love being on the mountain far too much for that.” She has a steady boyfriend. However, he is well aware of her passion and knows how frequently she is away off “in motion” somewhere in the world, including as a Red Bull sponsored athlete for some time now. Yet he knows that Nadine will always return to the Arlberg: “I try to spend as much time as possible here. It’s my home, I feel good here, can recharge my batteries.”