THE SNOW HAD BEEN FALLING ALL DAY. A RELENTLESS, HEAVY, WATER-FILLED KIND THAT SETTLES LIKE OVERSIZED RAINDROPS.

KNOG WAS THERE TO DOCUMENT IT, FOLLOWING TEAM UK'S EMMIE COLLINGE.

At times, the flakes were so big it looked like someone had shredded a host of down duvets above us. Watching it from the hotel window, there was a soft, almost inviting vibe to it. But out on the course of the European Sky Snow Vertical Championship, it was anything but. Every step resulted in a semi-slip, every push met resistance.

Just last week, this slope had been prepped and primed for the Junior World Champs in alpine skiing. But tonight, Northern Italy's Monte Lussari on the border of Slovenia and Austria felt like a different place entirely – deep, churned-up snow turning the climb into a fight against gravity and grip.

Running uphill is never easy. Add snow underfoot and a sunset start, and you’re in for a whole new level of type-two fun. Vertical races are niche, but this was about to take it to another level.

3.4km with 974m of climbing broke down to an eye-water average grade of 26.5%, maxing out at 47%. There was no easing in. From the gun, the field of close to 500 participants ran straight into the gradient, head torches on, cutting through the dark as a relentless line of bodies bent into the slope. Step by step, they focused on getting up this monstrous climb.

Once the final runners had made it to the finish and clambered into the cable car back down, the piste was left for the night, free to be groomed for the following day’s skiers. Emmie finished in third place. “For someone working full-time and out of the championship circuit for a few years, it was a shock to the system—but exactly the kind of test I was looking for. Racing against these vertical snow-running specialists was brutal, but that’s why I came. There’s plenty to refine – racing with poles, at night, and handling snow this demanding – but I’m happy. And I can’t wait to see this place in summer.”

Emmie illuminated her run with the Bilby Run 400 Headlamp.