Theseasonis not finishedforAurélienDucrozwho carries on withhisadventuresbetweensnowandsea.From LofotenIslandsinNorwaytotheslopesofLa Clusazforthe AdrenalinChallenge,he will soon leave forthearcticgroundsofSpitzbergtoshootseveralsequencesofthe nextfreeridemovie ofthefamousAmerican productionWarenMiller. 

After Verbier, Norway !

The FreerideWorldTour intenseseasonis over,Auréliennow immerses himselfinhisAdventurechapter:aboat,a pair of skis,the sea,themountain…hard to beat fortheskier-skipper! Oneweekaftergetting hisbrilliantsecondplaceinVerbier Xtreme(finaleofthe FreerideWorldTour)AurélienleftforNorway,intheLofotenIslands,betweenseaandsnow,wherehecouldcombinehistwopassions:  sailingandskiing.

A trip aboardthe sailing shipFriflyt, a 45feetchoosedbyAurélien, onwhichhetook on boardthe photographerDan Ferrerandtwocameramenfrom  FocusProductionto directtheteaserofhis coming  expeditions. Dreamlights betweenseaandsnowcapturedbyacameraassembledonadrone(remote-controlledhelicopter)promiseunprecedentedimages. “TheLofotenIslandsinNorwaywerepart ofmyprojectssince long timebutitwas necessaryto gather alltheconditionsandparticularlyto findasuitable boattoshipintheseareasto achievebeautifulcouloirs, barely skied: theskiingwasincredible. Wemadean averageof 1500mofdifference in level perday(ski touringobviously)buttheweatherconditions did not allowusto doas manyroutesaswe planned. Thistripisapreludetomyplans for expeditions that I look forward to launch!”

Adrenalin Challenge

Still between snow and water, Aurélien took part this week-end in the second edition of the “Adrenalin Challenge” during which L’Equipe TV gathered 27 of the best riders (men and women) for 3 days of extreme events in 3 different universes: Snow, Water and Earth, between the Annecy Lake and La Clusaz. Aurelien is the winner of the Derby and gets robbed of victory for the boardercross by Jean-Pierre Vidal! With a first place in paddleboard Aurélien’s team made up of Seb Michaud, Julien Lopez, and Sarah Hebert finished fourth overall.

Catch up with Aurelien on the videos of the Adrenaline Challenge: www.e-adrenaline.fr

AN UNBREAKABLE REGULARITY !

The season ends with all the honors for Aurélien who mounts the Freeride WorldChampionship’s podium for the 7th time, in 9 years of competition! A steadiness who, add to his two World Champion titles, pushes him at the top of thelast decade’s freeride scene.

FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2012 : VERBIER XTREMEAurélien wins the second place of the Verbier Xtreme, the final stage of the Freeride World Tour, one tenth (of point) after the Swedish Reine Barkered. That sends him on the 3rd step of the final podium.Aurélien touched the world title with the tip of his fingers. Showing an incredible physical strength with a will made of steel, he mixed show and performance. He does his run in the central part of the mountain face, going straight through the famous Hollywood cliff, one of the steepest and longest of the Bec des Rosses.
The line wasperfect, but shortened on the top due to a lack of snow, and challenged by another line on the south-east face, chosen by his faithful opponent Reine Barkered. With fairplay and respect, Aurélien lets his title slip from his hands into swedish ones :
"I had to win this final and I ended up at one tenth of the victory, behind Reine whom I have beaten several times too with some hundredths. It's fair enough! He is a great skier whom I appreciate, besides that, he spent this lastweek at my place in Chamonix, I am happy for him! I knew that he would get into the line from the top, "HIS line". Compete with him on this exact same spot was nearly impossible, so I chose the central line, shorter, but I made the most of it. I made it perfectly but he was better. It's been 9 years that I am on the tour, I have always stepped on the final podium, with already two world champion titles, I am proud of this performance, it shows regularity. I’m also showing that I am neither old, nor "rusted" by my new career as a sailor!"

FEEDBACK ON THE 2012 FWT SEASON: Happy to have skied at his best on the Bec des Rosses, Aurélien gets back on the FWT season "The beginning of the season was quite frustrating for me with this date in Canada, announced at the last minute, which prevented me from launching myself into the race with the best training. I fell down on the two first stops and got into the title race late. I got better from the Courmayeur event (4^th place) but some disappointments in the judgement, for me as for others, made the season difficult. Nevertheless, I improved my skills again this winter, and I’m glad to get some stimulation from the “old chaps” like Reine, and from the “youth” like Sam Smoothy.” This year, Aurélien showed once again that he is one of the world leaders of freeride skiing, and competed deliberately and effectively against the freestyle trend that new riders bring into the competition.

CHECK OUT AURELIEN'S RUN

DOWNLOAD AURELIEN'S PICS ON THE XTREME 2012 free of right pics (please mention copy right)Photo sequence "Hollywood" photo 1-photo 2- photo 3- photo 4 (c.right FWT/DDaher)Photos 5- photos 6 (c.right FWT/SJostrom)Photo podium- Photo portrait- (c.right FWT/TRepo)

FREERIDE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS2004 : 3^rd / 2005 : 2^nd / 2006 : not ranked / 2007 : 3^rd / 2008 :3^rd / 2009 :1^st / 2010 : 4^th / 2011 :1^st / 2012 :3^rd

FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2012 General ranking : 3^rd- Events recorded : Courmayeur : 4^th / Røldal : 2^nd / Fieberbrunn : 6^th / Verbier : 2^nd

PRESS CLIPPINGS
Aurélien's blog on L'Equipe.fr
AFP : Aurélien's (Sea & Mountain) portrait
Newyorktimes

Photos : (c.right FWT/DDaher)