“MY PLAYGROUND” presented by THE NORTH FACE.
Text: Timeline Mission
Fadner Alm is a hut, with no running water, no heating, no toilet, not much at all on the inside really. But on the outside Fadner Alm sits in a pristine bowl of powder, peppered with cliffs, rollers, lines and couloirs.
Fadner Alm is Markus Eder’s playground.
Bringing his renown style to the mountains, hitting backcountry kickers and riding the natural freestyle elements of terrain within big mountain lines, Markus shows us how this old shepherd’s hut, once frequented by his father to graze animals in the summer, has found a new life as his winter paradise.
Markus Eder at Fadner Alm his hidden playground. Photo: Tero Repo
INTERVIEW WITH MARKUS EDER
How old were you when you started skiing?
I was 3 years old when my mom first put me on my older sisters plastic skis. My first run was behind our house down the crosscountry track. It wasn’t my mum’s idea but mine, as I really wanted to try since I had been enviously watching my sister skiing.
Did you start with racing?
Yep, like most of the kids in my home valley I started ski racing and changed my racing skis for twin tips when I was about 14 years old. I skied mainly with snowboarders for a few years, as there were only two of us with twin tip skis in the whole valley.
Have you always enjoyed freeride and touring, or is that something that you got into later in your skiing career?
At the beginning I couldn’t think of anything other than skiing in the snowpark. but when the pow was good we obviously did some runs in the woods here and there.
I only got into pow skiing in 2011 when I was 2nd at the Red Bull Linecatcher. And a few years ago I actually had to start earning my turns touring up. But about two years ago I really started to appreciate it and last season I really got into the beauty of it.
Your Dad is in the edit, has he been influential in your appreciation of the mountains?
For sure. Not only my dad but my mum too. They both brought me into the mountains when I was a kid and right now they’re both obsessed with touring, my mum almost more than my dad. So the passion has always been there and I’m glad it was passed along.
How old were you when you first visited the Fadner Alm?
I think I’ve been walking by a few hundred of meters above and below maaaaany times but there’s no trail leading to the hut so I only went there for the first time when my dad took it over, 3 years ago. The magic thing about it Fadner Alm is that in the summer nobody goes there, because there is no track so you can enjoy the silence, which is pretty rare these days.
How much time have you spent at Fadner Alm?
I have been helping my dad a bit every year, filming last winter and going up a few times to get some rest, so I’ve spend probably spent about 3-4 weeks up there. Good times.
Any plans for the hut? Or is it best left as it is?
For sure it should mostly stay how it is. Since there is no road going up, everything has to be carried which makes things a little rough. But that’s also the beauty of it.
Favourite Fadner Alm meal?
There’s too many, but I definitely prefer sweet traditional meals like Kaiserschmarren. It’s like desert for main dish haha
