There’s a strong case to be made for Xavier de Le Rue being the most important snowboarder of his generation – if not the big mountain GOAT. Most of today’s pros will tell you, matter of factly, that over the past 25 years, the Frenchman has changed the game. A mountain enthusiast at heart, he approaches the sport differently, valuing the ascent as much as the descent, putting the adventure ahead of the prize-winning line.
The two-time Olympian started his professional career racing on the Boardercross Pro Tour, winning four world championships before joining the Freeride World Tour in 2008 (the same year he almost died in an avalanche). There, he really made his name, combining nerve-wrenching speed, unforgivable daring and mathematical precision to unprecedented effect – winning the title for three consecutive years.
Descending down the flank of an iceberg
However, for de Le Rue, snowboarding has always been about seeking out new challenges, so now, as one of the sport’s elder statesmen, he is using his experience to explore new frontiers to test the boundaries on the snow. And if he can incorporate any of his other favourite mountain sports in the process, there’s every chance he will.
Here, from his home in the Swiss village of Verbier, the snowboarding legend discusses family, foiling and falling in love with Antarctica – a continent which he has witnessed disappearing before his very eyes.
escapism: How do you like to spend summers in the Alps?
Xavier de Le Rue: Well, at the moment, I’m doing a lot of biking and paragliding, and I’ve really gotten into foiling, so I’ve been spending a lot of time down the valley in Martigny at Lac du Rosel.
E: How did you get into foiling?
XR: I slowly got into wing foiling here in Switzerland, and then at the ocean I got hooked on foil surfing. I’ve surfed for years, but I find that foil surfing offers a wider range of conditions, insane feelings of speed, and it doesn’t have that bad vibe that you have in surfing which is due to the ever-growing density of people on the break. I’ve become slightly obsessed with foil surfing, actually. I can’t think of anything else at the moment. I’m transfixed.
E: Knowing you, I’m sure you’re trying to push the limits of foiling…
XR: I wish I were, but I still have some way to go. I only spend a few months of the year at the beach, so I can only make so much progress – but I’m getting better. I dream of one day getting into huge waves.
E: Do you surf huge waves?
Xavier and Victor de Le Rue encounter local wildlife as they climb a slope
Jerome Tanon
XR: I like big waves but I’ve not surfed really, really big ones. Not yet – it’s hard to find the time. I spent quite a lot of time in Hossegor [15 miles north of Biarritz, France] and I’d say 15-foot waves are probably the biggest I’ve surfed. I’ve never been pulled [by jet ski] into huge waves; that would be cool. But yeah, you need a proper team to be doing that, and it’s usually through the winter, so I’ve often got other stuff going on.
E: How scary is surfing 15-foot waves compared to some of the more daunting faces you’ve snowboarded?
XR: In freeriding, there’s more uncertainty in terms of the elements. In surfing, you can go underwater a bit, but it’s quite straightforward. With freeriding, even a very easy slope can suddenly transform into something lethal. If it’s really perfect, it can feel too easy, which lures you into a false sense of security. For that reason, I would say freeriding is way scarier.
With freeriding, even a very easy slope can suddenly transform into something lethal; it can lure you in
E: You’re 45. How’s your body holding up?
XR: Very good, actually. I had sore knees until last year when I had a platelet-rich plasma treatment. They take some of your blood and they spin it, and then re-inject the white cells into your knee. Suddenly, all the inflammation I had was gone. I feel like I’m 20 again. I thought I’d have knee pain forever and then tried this. It’s been a miracle. So yeah, I feel fantastic. If I’m doing a lot of sports, I know I need to counterbalance that with yoga. And in a way, I’m doing all those outdoorsy sports – mountaineering, climbing, biking, foiling – to keep me fit. If I want to do some endurance fitness, then I’ll do some ‘hike and fly’ with my paraglider. I have a very light paraglider – the seat is less than half a pound and the paraglider itself is only four pounds – and I just go in the mountains, climb fast and have a nice glide down. For me, that’s a lot better than going running for the sake of running. I always need a purpose.
E: Is there anything that you wouldn’t do now that you would’ve when younger?
XR: I feel less like I need to prove myself. Back in the day, I would go out every day and push it constantly. With age, I choose my moments. If the conditions are perfect, I’ll go. If not, if it’s a bit sketchy, then I’ll do it another day. And it still works, because I still get to do amazing things. And at the end of the day, thinking this way makes a massive difference when balancing the risks with the benefits.
E: Surely, you have nothing left to prove, but are there any goals in the sport that you would still like to achieve?
XR: Specific missions that are out of the ordinary. There always needs to be a reason beyond just snowboarding. It’s not really my thing to try to do the gnarliest run; it’s more about finding a cool adventure and sharing it in a nice way. I think that’s what excites me. The adventure needs to offer something more than just snowboarding. I’ve always kind of needed that, and the older I get, the more I need that extra something.
It's not really my thing to try to do the gnarliest run; it's more about finding a cool adventure to share
E: What’s currently in the pipeline?
XR: This winter, I’m filming in the Pyrenees, which is exciting because I grew up there but never filmed in the area. Access can be quite tricky, so I’ve planned a mission with horses, and I think it’s going to be nice to see the mountains in a different way. I’m also hoping to do an expedition in Greenland, which would mean crossing a bit of the ice cap before snowboarding on the shoreline. But that will probably be the following winter.
E: How do you see that being different to your trips to Antarctica and Svalbard?
XR: Greenland has a huge ice cap, and I’ve never undertook long expeditions that involve dogsledding. I’m hoping to use guides to save time and do a big traverse, and then mix it with snowboarding at the beginning and at the end of the trip. That’s something that really excites me – learning something new. I would love to go with my brother [Victor de Le Rue] because we really bonded during our recent trip to Antarctica. And it was the first time I felt this – it was like being with my twin. We would react in exactly the same way to certain risks. He would like the same things as I did, and it was so special to share that, so if I could do another mission like this with him I would be super, super happy.
A boat among the ice caps
Christoph Thoresen
E: Tell us about that trip to Antarctica.
XR: I did an expedition with my brother and my daughter [Mila de Le Rue] at the end of 2023. It was incredible. We left at the beginning of November and were away until the end of December. My daughter turned 18 while we were down there. She’s skiing on the Freeride World Tour and getting really good – she’s vice junior world champion. Victor and I had been working on that trip for years and before we knew it Mila was old enough to come with us. So yeah, we’ve got a super emotional film coming out in November about that trip that we did. It’s called Of A Lifetime.
E: Why was it so emotional?
XR: Because of the intensity of the place and the relationship between the three of us. Victor became world champion [on the snowboarding Freeride World Tour] for the third time this year. With my daughter coming up, it felt like three generations all doing our thing. There were some very interesting situations between the three of us, and we rode some incredible runs. And filming was pretty surreal too. We’ve got footage from completely uncharted terrain - really, really incredible stuff.
E: What was the highlight of that trip?
XR: Well, we’ve got two big, super steep runs. It’s the steepness in Antarctica that’s the most impressive part. Because of the moisture of the snow – a mix between firm powder and slushy snow, perfect for both hiking and riding – you can end up riding close to 70-degree slopes that go 1,700 feet down to the ocean. That creates visuals that are unbelievable. It’s an amazing paradise, really. That was my third time there.
Climbing a peak in Antartica
E: Aside from the riding, what is it about Antarctica that excites you so much?
XR: The access. Travelling by boat takes five days across the roughest seas on the planet, so when you arrive, you’re in a special mental state. It’s probably one of the last few places on earth where humans haven’t touched anything. Animals are not scared of you because they’re not accustomed to seeing humans. And you’re surrounded by wildlife. It’s super surreal. So you’ve got huge colonies of penguins, whales breaching around the boats. It’s very intense on that level. And then there are the fjords, the glaciers, the sharp peaks and the huge amounts of ice which combine to create a landscape that’s completely surreal. The combination of everything is just magical.
E: You mentioned arriving with a special state of mind…
XR: Well, first of all, the journey is just so painful that it kind of resets your mind.
E: Painful how?
XR: Well, scary. Normal condition would be 15-foot swells but it can, and often does, increase to 30-foot swells. If you’re really good with sea sickness it will still be difficult. But we certainly weren’t, which creates a seriously high entry price to get into this adventure. You go so deep into pain that when you arrive down there you feel really, really far away – like completely cut off from the world. I don’t know, it’s a feeling that we’re not that used to anymore. You’ve got your head against the boat structure and all you can hear is waves crashing.
Making first tracks on a pristine slope
E: How did Mila find it?
XR: She puked about 20 times. She was really bad but she stayed strong. She never complained, and I think she really enjoyed it. She’d definitely go again.
E: You’ve campaigned for climate change, not least with your Sustainability Dialogues podcast. What’s your involvement today?
XR: With the new film, we’re doing a side edit which explains what’s going on in Antarctica, but again, that won’t be me explaining what happens, it’s a proper scientist. I want to spread the message but remain at a distance, I suppose.
E: What is that message?
XR: Essentially what we’ve witnessed first hand. On my last trip to Antarctica, 12 years ago, sailing down the peninsula was almost impossible because of the ice risk. This time, there was almost no ice there. Last time, one bay where we filmed a lot had a giant sheet of ice about 15 miles long. Not this time. We went to a Ukrainian base on that peninsula and spent an evening with the scientists there. They took that base over from the British 20 years ago, but kept all the same instruments so that all the measurements would be consistent. Since they started recording, 70 years ago, the average temperature there has gone up by 4.2°C. Where the base is, there used to be only one small colony of penguins. Now there are hundreds of thousands of penguins. They’re migrating further south because there’s less and less ice further north. I think from a global perspective, it’s important to share that kind of information.
