“My ice axe saved my life, and is the best tool to have in the mountains.”
Just watching this made my stomach turn. Thankfully Xavier is very adept with his trusty ice ace and was able to get some purchase before sliding off to who knows where. Sketchy but he handled it like a pro:
“This is one of the sketchiest moments of my life. Sam Anthamatten and I had ridden incredible runs the day before and were all fired up. So when we went on this peak the next morning it was hard to predict it would be like this… There was more ice than I anticipated, so I entered cautiously. You can see that I am checking to see if there is the crust that allows your edge to hold on black ice, but at some point I saw a slight aspect change and got ready… in a split second my edge went and miraculously I managed to stop myself right away, half a second later and I would have fallen over a thousand meters. My ice axe saved my life, and is the best tool to have in the mountains. Making all my adventures, even resort freeriding, super safe and fun.”
As you can see his ice axe is an indispensible piece of gear with the types of lines Xavier likes to ride: