So, first question, how would you describe yourself?
Oh that's a difficult one um how would i describe myself...
Maybe as a all-around sports man that likes to go into the mountains. That's me!
I would present myself as somebody pretty bad at everything but somebody who loves
to do a bit of everything maybe, something like that.
So Sam, for me, is really a little machine. Somebody super good at a bunch of activities
Like he's a machine in climbing, machine in alpinism He's very very good in paragliding, he's a pro
skier so I really admire him because he's able to mix all those activities together and so when he's
in the mountains he's such in his element and he can adapt super easy to any situation.
So honestly my older brother Simon was always my mentor and always he was the guy who was into
climbing and then he was in need for a partner to belay him and that was my role at that time and
first I was more playing around in mountains and then later on, really the the love
towards mountains was growing deeper and deeper
and I really like that to be outside and to be free, to be able to do what I want to do.
Honestly I practice every activity that is making sense for myself.
I think I like the speed in skiing, in paragliding, I like climbing, it's...
at the end I like to adapt to the mountain on daily basis and then I choose my sport if it's good
for flying I go flying, it's good for skiing I go skiing, good for climbing I go climbing.
Snow was pretty bad that day so the only place where we found some kind of protected snow
was in the Brunegghorn, there is a nice couloir.
It was too dangerous to hike it up because you have huge cornices on top of it, so the
idea was really to access from the top with a huge rappel and that really made our day because it was
pretty scary and super fun at the same time.
You're good? Yes
My legs are burning!
Victor is this like... yeah Victor is a De Le Rue. They are really special
You first underestimate them and then when you see them moving
doing their things it's just like a firework and it's super motivating for me because
he's seeing also different lines and he has a different
opinion on the mountain which is more from the freestyle background but it's also helping me to
to push for my own skiing. So he's a... at the end how to describe him? He's like a young powerful
motivated guy that I like to have her around myself. It's cool to have him here.
Bravo! It was scary!
So I started snowboarding when I was seven probably then doing a bunch of freestyle.
And then Xavier brought me to Alaska when I was maybe 21 then we had the
first great trip there, so that was an initiation to free ride I guess...
In the summer I really love to spend time in the mountains to go climbing or to go flying
and all those techniques and those tools that I learned
they helped me so much for my snowboarding in the winter.
They helped me to go and access lines that I couldn't ride if I wouldn't have those skills
Hey Sam! Be careful of the slide.
There are rocks under the rope. And also right there, there are a lot of them.
I see them. Look also down there.
We really wanted to ride this beautiful north face of the Breithorn with Sam and to access to it
it's quite difficult so it's rather you do a big mission of 2 hours of rappeling or you take
your glide and in 2 minutes after a beautiful flight, you make it to the top your line.
Yeah buddy! So good!
That was a good combo!
Yeah definitely the evolution of the gear is helping a ton, we have, today, ice axes
crampons, jackets, that are lighter than the mountaineering boots 20 years ago!
So everything gets lighter, gets better and that's... yeah the evolution
really helps us to push further, to explore, to really be in the mountains with more security also.
Sweet dreams buddy.
In the future I can totally see that everybody is gonna be able to have a bunch of
different skills like climbing, paragliding and all this. And this will allow people just to go
out in the mountains and ,whatever the conditions are, have a lot of fun and find the tools to do the
right activity for the right day.
Glacier traveling with Victor De Le Rue.
You don't want to go down there that's why we roped up!
I think when i see a picture of a mountain I see some possibilities, some lines,
to ride or to paraglide or to climb and really that challenge is like driving me
to the mountains almost every day.
At the end, doing those activities together or doesn't make you really a better skier because
you got way more things to think about but you have a better access to
in my opinion more interesting lines. And also with the glider for example, it's a whole new game!
We want to to explore for skiing but then the whole thing around it, in alpinism,
in flying, it's really something that is a new challenge for us and it's cool to
bring new toys and explore new ways, explore new descents in a certain way that, it wouldn't
be possible if you only think skiing. So if you're open to other activities, you can
combine it and you get just way more access and you also, in a way, open up your mind.