Xavier de le Rue

The snowboarding award-winner talks pushing boundaries

Xavier de le Rue is not an easy man to pin down. His acclaimed TimeLine film series and other projects keep him busy as it is, but when you’re as intent on riding in relatively unchartered territory as he is, location-finding is a huge undertaking in itself. With so much to talk about – including a prestigious award, and yet more pioneering lines in the bag and on film – we track him down at a photo-shoot in Zermatt, Switzerland, with one of his other sponsors, The North Face, for a much-needed catch-up.

TimeLine: Pushing The Boundaries

Xavier is renowned for taking big mountain snowboarding and mountaineering to giddy new heights. He constantly pushes boundaries and puts himself in dangerous and breathtaking situations just to share his passion and show that amazing things can be discovered if you head off the beaten track.

"What drives me is to explore my sport by finding new ways of doing it"

But as much as we watch his captivating films and think he’s always trying to pull off ever more intrepid and extreme feats, it’s a symptom of his ethos rather than the ethos itself. “It’s not that I’m pushing higher or whatever, it’s more that I’m looking for different stuff,” he explains. “I’ve been snowboarding for a long time, and what drives me is to explore my sport by finding new ways of doing it. Doing the same thing over and over doesn’t make sense to me.”

As if last year’s TimeLine series wasn’t daring enough, in episode two of the new second season, we see Xavier climbing up an ice cascade in search of a fresh line. New? Yes. Extreme? Perhaps. Inspirational? Definitely. “Riding the ice last year was really cool; it opened new ways of riding, it inspired people a lot and inspired me a ton. I will keep working in this direction.” Not only is Xavier an exceptional big mountain snowboarder, he’s a well-rounded mountaineer. What sets him apart is his vision to combine all the traditional and core elements with the desire to expand his horizons.

“I think there are way better snowboarders out there,” he says, modestly. “Not necessarily super-famous, but better mountaineers than me. It’s more about different ways of seeing things and showing it to people.”

Lack of competition

The Olympics, X Games and TTR Big Air competitions are the mainstream events that get heavily publicised in the snowboarding world, and seem to be how the sport receives exposure to the general public. Has the true essence of snowboarding been watered down to who is going to land the first quadruple cork 1080?

"Riding the ice last year was really cool; it opened new ways of riding"

Competitions are obviously not everyone’s cup of tea. When asked why he chooses not to compete in the likes of the big TTR and X Games competitions, Xavier says it’s a case of choosing your battles. “The freestyle level has become really high, and requires you to be really specialised and totally committed. I choose to do other stuff instead, and I need a lot of time to do all that filming. All the preparation for the footage and nice lines takes up your time.”

The snowboarding world is better off witnessing Xavier’s visions from some of the most amazing and unique mountain locations rather than seeing him become yet another excellent but hard to differentiate competitive rider. There’s room for a little balance, but he knows where his priorities lie: “I’m competing a bit on the world tour, but this year I’m really putting my whole focus on the filming.”

The Transworld award

Xavier recently won the Transworld Riders’ Poll award for Standout Performance of the Year – an impressive award to win, and a tribute to all his hard work. We ask him for his thoughts on picking up the prize.

“Well, it’s great. Especially being a big mountain rider, it’s hard to get these awards, especially as the Transworld scene is basically all the riders that have been nominated in the previous years, so it’s 98 percent freestyle people. So it’s great to be recognised.”

He genuinely seems taken aback by his victory, with the accolade imbued with a sense of meaning where so many awards feel like empty and irrelevant indications of a few judges’ tastes. “I went out this year to get the award, and being congratulated by Bryan Iguchi and Terje Haakonsen and all these guys, spending time with them and seeing their recognition, was really touching, and really rewarding.”

High standards

"I’m going to put lots of effort into surfing this year"

To perform at the levels that Xavier sets himself, and in the harsh conditions, requires being mentally and physically fit. “I have a daughter so I spend lots of time with her. I like to do different sports. I like to spend my life doing sports. I do lots of mountain biking, surfing, climbing, and I opened a store. I like to do different projects, all these different things where you learn stuff in life.” And as if the world of snowboarding doesn’t have enough to worry about with Xavier setting the bar so high, he’s working on honing his skills in another board sport, too. “I’m going to put lots of effort into surfing this year,” he reveals.

We ask what the most fun and rewarding moments in his career have been – no easy question to answer, given his plethora of achievements. “I would say the TimeLine project. It’s not like one performance or anything, but I really found the perfect balance to be able to fulfil myself in snowboarding. Like all those trips we made, I’m really thankful to the team I put together.”

Fear is your friend

"I spent four hours under big chunks of ice"

The nature of what Xavier does, and the boundaries he has to overcome, mean there can be scary moments. He’s brave, but not immune to human instincts. We ask what his most frightening moment of all has been (we guessed dropping his ice axe while harnessed on a vertical ice face). “Well that was scary, but it was a mistake. Afterwards, I was totally scared. I went back home, I was like – OK, this is my season over – and we had a big party at mine and that was that.”

No, it was taking on the “super radical” run of the north face at Aiguille du Plan in Chamonix that truly scared him. “That was something I thought would be beyond my limit – those kinds of runs where you think, oh yeah, some people have done it but I’m never going to go in there. I went in and it didn’t really feel comfortable, it didn’t feel right. So that was pushing it, but it’s good to know.

“I spent four hours under big chunks of ice and big exposure. It was all slidey on top of that, so two really bad factors together. I basically wanted to kiss the ground when I made it to the bottom.” Enough to put him off any more terrifying escapades? Not a chance.