“If you wonder how bad a cornice fall can rip a face to the ground, well this is the best example I’ve ever seen. That face was our main objective until this happened! It happened over night in front of our camp in Alaska. It shows how giant those cornices can be, not to mention how lethal.On a more general note, it is important to be really careful around cornices – they are sneaky little ******’s! #howtoxv” -Xavier

When the baddest man in big mountain snowboarding puts out a warning like this we all need to pay attention.  Cornices are no joke and this is a great example of just how deadly they can be. We are just happy Xavier wasn’t on top when this happened and chose use it as a cautionary tale for the rest of us. 

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It rained high here in the Pyrenees and been super windy so this little crack was a good route down as it had been protected from the elements. I must say I love the atmosphere of a deep crack mainly because it's generally much easier to deal with avalanche danger compared to a big open face and you get some visibility when it is socked in. @victordelerue @fdelerue @sabinette65 Il a plu bien haut et avec pas mal de vent mais on a quand même réussi à trouver quelques bon virage dans ce petit couloir. J'adore ce genre de terrain, d'abord pour l'ambiance mais aussi parceque je trouve ça beaucoup plus sage au niveau de la gestion du manteau neigeux par rapport à une face ouverte.

A post shared by xavierdelerue (@xavierdelerue) on Jan 2, 2018 at 10:09am PST

images from xavier’s instagram