By Freddie Noble
A daredevil climbs for 12 hours to ski and snowboard down near-completely vertical mountains and tiny gullies – but says he’s SCARED of danger.
Jakob Weger, 25, is a former European kayaking champion and represented Italy at the U18 and U23 levels.
But after winning the U23 world championships in 2018 he ditched professional kayaking and took up extreme winter sports.
Now he heads out into the Dolomites every day – spending up to 12 hours climbing up slopes to hurtle down near-vertical mountains at speeds of up to 60mph in just a couple of minutes.
He uploads the nail-biting videos of his missions on TikTok which stamps each with a “do not attempt” warning.
His most extreme videos show him weaving through rocks and cruising down tiny crevices at huge speeds, watched by up to 23 MILLION people.
Jakob from South Tyrol, Italy, said: “I never really measure my speed.
“I go over 100kph on a ski slope however it is way less on the couloirs [narrow gullies] as it’s full of twists and turns and you have to slow down a lot more rather that increasing your speed.
“I hate danger.
“I know what I can and can’t do and that’s important as to know your limits.
“Because I ski on narrow terrain, it is very hard to trigger an avalanche – it’s more on me and my skills.”
But three years ago, Jakob was involved in an avalanche in the Dolomites.
Luckily, he was skiing on the side of the mountain rather than the middle so he was able to escape.
Jakob kayaked for 20 years and did it professionally for three years but learned to ski and snowboard at the age of eight.
Now he heads out daily with his brother Matias, 28, and records it all for his social media channels, wegarbrothers.
He said he took up snow sports “to be free from the professional lifestyle” and now makes money through his main sponsors yearly as well as TikTok.
“Winning the world championships [in kayaking] was a moment where I reflected,” he said.
“I think that many athletes have the feeling that when they win, everything changes, however, it stayed the same for me.”
“Now I ski every day and most of our missions take 10 to 12 hours.”
His videos show Jakob on “fast and narrow” descents in rough terrain, as well as paragliding while skiing, which he does up to four times a week.
He is currently planning a two-year adventure – crossing the Dolomites from west to east – from Rosengarten to Tre Cime – covering 60 miles of hilly terrain in ten days which he will film for his YouTube channel.
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