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Always known for pushing his limits by combining freestyle and speedriding, Valentin Delluc is back at it again—but this time he’s taking on the deserted alpine resort Avoriaz. From the cables of the chairlifts to barrels, keys and wall rides, the French speedrider uses the empty French Alps resort as his own personal playground to pull off some insane tricks he’s never even done before.
With huge logistical feats and some technical headaches, From Alvoriaz with Love is the ultimate test for one of the world’s best speedriders. Can he pull it off?
Valentin Delluc is one of the world’s best speedriders and he used the deserted French ski resort of Avoriaz to produce a thrilling series of tricks. Here is all you need to know:
– Delluc started out his alpine career freeskiing and paragliding before he decided to combine the two to quickly became one of the world’s best as he went on to dominate the Speedriding Tour in 2014.
– He is also known for his exciting videos with his breathtaking Moonline project in 2017 seeing him light up the night sky in the Alps, which welcomed him back for his latest audacious idea.
– From the cable of the chairlifts to barrels, keys and wall rides, Delluc used the deserted French resort as his own personal playground including some insane tricks that he had never done before.
– The 28-year-old revealed: “I had already done flights there in 2016, and that’s when I saw the potential it had. With the confinement, and the fact that the ski lifts are closed to the public, we thought we could do something even more advanced. I did a lot of freestyle when I was younger, and I wanted to bring that side to speed riding.”
– It was a huge logistical feat to pull off as Delluc and his team needed authorisation to be able to touch the roofs of buildings as well as figuring out where to put all the kickers and walls.
– In terms of his new tricks, he added: “I had already slid a chairlift cable, but what was more technical here was that you had to lift your legs above the hook of the seat on five sections (the part between the two seats) to keep speed with the sail, because if you don’t have enough, you can’t go up enough and you get caught in the grip.”
– The biggest headache, though, was something else entirely as he explained: “The wall ride was a lot of stress for me. There was a balcony above the wall that we put down, and I really had to shift my sail to the side so that my sail didn’t catch on it. I had been practicing on cliff sides to try and touch them, but I had never done it on a vertical wall when coming up in front of it. I’m happy with the result.”
– The swirling wind was also one parameter that needed careful consideration in the closed confines of a resort.
– He clarified: “In high mountains, sometimes we have 30 km/h of wind but since everything is almost smooth and there are no turns, it is possible to manage it. There, with 10 km/h, it was already very turbulent. In order not to miss it, the wind conditions of my trajectory must be correct. From then on, I could be sure that everything would be OK.”
