(CNN)She had pictured the trick plenty of times in her mind’s eye and even tried it once onto an airbag but no woman had ever pulled it off on snow. Now, high on Austria’s Stubai Glacier, snowboarder Anna Gasser gazed down at the huge white ramp that could propel her into history. Quiet in her helmet and dark goggles, Gasser contemplated her leap into the unknown. “I’m thinking triple,” she whispered.
Specifically, she was thinking a cab triple 1260, a trick that involves taking off in the switch position — the opposite direction of travel with your “wrong” foot forward — before completing three-and-a-half full rotations and landing with your other foot in front. Pulling it off would require confidence, commitment, and a whole lot of bottle. “For sure it was one of the craziest tricks I’ve ever done,” the 27-year-old Austrian told CNN Sport. Staring down the run in, Gasser tried to flood her body with confidence. Naturally, though, nerves crept in. Her stomach churned, but she hopped forward on her snowboard and started speeding towards the giant snow ramp sculpted by machines.
