Snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue riding the back country in Engelberg, Switzerland
© Tero Repo
Snowboarding
Watch Xavier De Le Rue’s mental combat
Iconic rider De Le Rue prepares for freeriding’s greatest contest, the Xtreme Verbier.
Written by Jason Horton
2 min readPublished on
5 minXavier De Le Rue’s Mental Combat – Part 1In this three part series the French freeride icon prepares for the legendary Verbier Xtreme.
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"Fear all the time" are hardly words you expect to hear from someone who has made a career out of tearing at full-speed along the knife-edge of progressive big mountain snowboarding. But these are the words spoken by Xavier De Le Rue in this compelling portrait; a man regarded by many as the world's greatest freerider.

Watch the first part of Countdown to the Verbier Xtreme in the player above.

On the way to the top
On the way to the top© Tero Repo
De Le Rue is speaking just a few days before competition begins at the most iconic, most terrifying contest in snowboarding – the Swatch Xtreme Verbier by The North Face. Held annually on the steep and rocky Bec Des Rosses in Verbier, Switzerland, this is a time when De Le Rue must prepare himself both physically and mentally for pushing his personal riding limits on a mountain known for its punishing brutality.
Time after time during his long career, De Le Rue has battled with the fear of dying on the mountains he loves. Each time, he has overcome that fear to push the boundaries of progression even further.
But, De Le Rue has been in the game a long time, and living with fear takes its toll. Will this latest encounter with the Bec Des Rosses be the last extreme competition he takes on?

Watch the second and third parts of Countdown to the Verbier Xtreme here:

Watch the LIVE webcast of the FWT15 Verbier Xtreme Finals this weekend on RedBull.tv or on RedBull.com/SNOW for FREE!
Don't want to miss part three of our Xavier De Le Rue trilogy? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get a reminder straight to your news feed!
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Xtreme Verbier

The final stop on the 2018 Freeride World Tour sees the field descend upon Switzerland for the legendary Xtreme Verbier.

SwitzerlandBec des Rosses, Switzerland
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Snowboarding