Upfront and personal

Xavier De Le Rue – the name is synonymous with Big Mountain snowboarding and with some of the most daunting lines imaginable. The French-born 37-year-old has won a plethora of titles, embarked on extreme expeditions, made numerous film productions and even created a self-flying camera drone. Freerider, expeditionist, filmmaker, inventor, father – Bergzeit international editor, Corrine Terkelsen caught up for a chat with the multi-faceted French athlete at the Munich ISPO 2020.

Xavier De Le Rue interview

Corrine Terkelsen: Xavier, you’ve been world champion in the Freeride World Tour for 3 consecutive years in a row, you’ve represented your country (France) in the Olympics – the winning list is a long one. The question on the lips of all those aspiring young snowboarders is…what’s the secret?

Xavier De Le Rue: I wish I could find it!  No secret grew up in the mountains, love what I did and did it full on. If anything, it could be that I’ve combined a lot of different elements of the sport rather than narrowing it down to one thing, so that gave me a good basis to push my talent and strengths. The mountains have helped me to dream, and ultimately all the competitions that I’ve been in have allowed me to put all my techniques in the mountain.

What you do looks downright dangerous. Especially the big mountain riding. What’s your response to people who say “too dangerous”, “crazy” or ” you’re going to die!”? 

Xavier De Le Rue: I hear this an awful lot and it does get to a point, where I question myself, especially if there’s been a break in between riding and filming. It’s not until I get back on top of a mountain, in the elements that I realise it’s all ok. We get scared by obvious things and often it’s more about fighting the demons in your mind and trying not to be impressed by what looks dangerous – a steep mountain is a perfect example. What I do, is take an analytical approach by trying to find a way around the danger aspect and there is always an option. By doing that, I realise, it’s not actually the mountain that is the obvious danger but other things that I need to get around.

In fact, keeping to the topic of danger, the whole GoPro scene within the snowboard culture has introduced a new level of risk – all for the sake of making a video for say, YouTube. What’s your take on that? 

Xavier De Le Rue: In the earlier days, filming such sports required a full-on, professional film crew, so it was limited to only a select few, now an opportunity has opened up for sportspeople to share what they know and basically make the sport more accessible. I also find that mountain sports are so much richer than other restricted types of sports so it is super important that we develop them and show them – with a GoPro, this is a perfect way.

 “you can either give yourself some slack and play with the limits or you can adopt a clever and safer way of boarding where you play and enjoy it more”

Extreme snowboarding runs in your genes – your sister and three brothers are also boarders, even your wife is an ex-pro skier! It’s probably safe to bet, that one day, your daughter is going to say “Dad, I want in – I want to do what you do”. Your reaction is… 

Xavier De Le Rue: I would tell her that there are great lessons to be learned from the mountains, that you can either give yourself some slack and play with the limits or you can adopt a clever and safer way of boarding and be strict with yourself – in French, we say, “intransigeant”. I’ve had some bad calls and know how bad it can be, so I tell my daughter, that if the more disciplined approach is taken, you actually end up doing more beautiful things. At the end of every season, you can actually look in the mirror and say wow I played and really enjoyed it rather than saying wow, I got lucky this season, I’m still alive!

Last year, you were involved in the “Degrees North” expedition. When you’re undertaking something like that, what’s the highlight for you personally? The gruelling climb with ice axe and raw contact with the mountain or the descent and the search for the perfect line?

Xavier De Le Rue: The pinnacle for me, that key moment, is where I’m standing at the top and about to drop. This moment is happening because everything else has fallen into place. All the organization has gone ahead, the trek up, the lighting, the snow conditions – it’s all happened. Some of the biggest lines that I’ve done are memorable because of that pivotal moment of standing before that drop.

Can we expect more of this sort of thing in the future? Or what’s the next upcoming project?

Xavier De Le Rue: My own company Hexo+, has been involved in the making of a drone (currently available for sale) which is programmed with a smartphone – you press “follow me” and it follows and films at the same time, so I’ll be pushing that pretty much this year and I’ve started a road trip with my wife, pretty much for the whole of winter and all over Europe. The tour is called DIY (do it yourself)  as I’m tired of bringing a big crew around. The drone makes it possible to go riding every day and self-capture, meaning the films that I’ll be making in the upcoming future will be in keeping to a more authentic and true form.

In any sport there are ongoing trends, new technologies – nothing stands still. In a sense, splitboards have changed the way snowboarders can access mountain terrain. Have splitboards blended snowboarding and mountaineering together?

Xavier De Le Rue: 10 years ago, I was doing quite a bit of mountaineering and it infuriated me to see just how separated mountaineering and splitboarding were. My dream back then was, to have snowboarders learn from alpinism – how to become more agile, to read the terrain more, to use the tools. It’s crazy, but 10 years ago it was unheard of that a snowboarder use an ice axe. Something else to remember is that the first generation of snowboarders are much older now and it’s only natural to gravitate towards something more natural and steer clear of the slopes when you get older.

Aside from avalanche safety equipment, which five items would you never leave out of your pack if you’re heading out on a tour?

Xavier De Le Rue: My ice axe, GoPro, My (Hexo+) drone, headphones, Saucisson (french dry sausage)!

Monsieur De Le Rue, before we conclude this interview, would you please give us three, one-word answers to the following: 1) Heli or Splitboard? 2) Best meal to recover after a hard day of boarding? 3) Rowdiest après bars in the world?

Xavier De Le Rue:  Splitboard, panaché, Verbier

Some more great mountain reading in the Bergzeit journal

• Buying a splitboard: tips on boards, boots, bindings
• Eric Pollard – a multi-talented skier in interview
• Lorraine Huber in interview 
• Jeremy Jones in interview