Loris and Nicolas Falquet are gifted in freeride skiing, off-piste skiing. Their specialty? Descend steep slopes, link turns in 50 cm of powder and jump rock bars. The mountain is their playground and they know how to put their exploits into images, as directors and producers of sliding films.
At the microphone of Bixente Lizarazuthe two brothers reflect on the incredible challenges they have faced throughout their careers, while emphasizing the dangers of off-piste skiing.
A high-risk discipline
Passionate about sliding, Loris and Nicolas Falquet have specialized in freeride skiing, a discipline that is practiced as soon as you leave a ski slope. During their childhood, the two brothers began to practice off-piste by descending the slope of a ski lift in the middle of the forest. “We just wanted to do some jumps on the bumps”they explain.
As they got older, they began to take more risks. “I was 16, my brother 18. My mother let us go with an avalanche victim detector and a probe in the bag if anything happened. We left unconscious”realizes Loris.
In freeride skiing, the skier must choose what suits him, look for the best conditions and try to get off the beaten track, while taking a minimum of risk. “When it comes to risk taking, everyone is different. Sometimes, we will think that a huge jump was very dangerous when we had a magnificent carpet of powder at the landing, and other times, doing a steep slope with less good snow is sometimes much more dangerous. », explains Loris. It is also a sport that offers absolute freedom since it is the skier who chooses the line he wants to follow during his descent. In contrast, it’s not just about doing stunts : a freeride skier will not systematically jump a rock as soon as he crosses one.
You have to be humble in the face of the mountain. -Loris Falquet
Loris remembers the day he saw his brother Nicolas get caught in an avalanche : “I didn’t know if he really left with the avalanche. I was scared to death, so much so that I no longer knew how to open my jacket to access my avalanche victim detector to search for my brother in the snow”. Another skier was with them that day and witnessed his first avalanche. “He wanted to stop everything, but that’s part of the job. We told him to start skiing quietly again and that the urge would come back”says Joris.
The Falquet brothers are aware that they have made many mistakes and recognize thatthey learned, step by step, to think about their safety. The meeting with a mountain guide was decisive, as well as working with an experienced photographer and cameraman. “You have to go see the right people and above all not believe that you know everything about everything. You have to be humble in front of the mountain”recognizes Joris.