trip report
Of A Lifetime: Victor De Le Rue Talks Antarctica
January 6, 2025
Jones Pro Team rider Victor De Le Rue kicked off last winter with an out-of-this-world dream trip. In November 2023, Victor joined his brother Xavier, and Xavier’s daughter Mila on a five-week sailing expedition to Antarctica. After a rowdy crossing of the infamous Drake passage, they spent three weeks living on the boat and shredding the steepest lines they could get their edges into on the Antarctic Peninsula.
You can watch all of the De Le Rue family’s polar adventures in “Of A Lifetime”, a feature film by Jérôme Tanon that’s now available on YouTube. The award winning film is a celebration of discovery, adventure, and the passing of the torch to the next generation against the breathtaking backdrop of Antarctica.
To celebrate the film release we caught up with Victor to hear more about the highlights of the trip. From puking for five days straight to fall-you-die turns, read on for the low down on Victor’s momentous trip of a lifetime.
What was the inspiration behind the expedition?
My brother Xavier had been to Antarctica twice and was blown away. He thought it was the most inspiring place he’d ever been. He wanted to take me there so he proposed the trip to the North Face a few years ago. The trip got approved last year and Xavier’s daughter Mila joined us to make it a cool family story.
Did you have much sailing experience going into the trip?
No, I had none! I had never been on a sailing trip before so it was really exciting to do another style of expedition. And especially to such a crazy place that so few people get to see.
How scary was it crossing the Drake Passage?
I knew the Drake would be scary, but we had a really experienced captain that had crossed it many times before, so I tried not to worry about it and just trusted the captain. The crossing took five days each way and every single minute of it was a pain in the ass! The boat was rocking the entire time which was really difficult for me. I puked a lot. About the only time I felt good for the entire crossing was the five minutes right after I puked when my body was still recovering. But such a horrible crossing made the reward of finally getting there that much better.
What were your first thoughts when you finally saw land?
Seeing the continent for the first time was really magical. The mountains and icebergs looked so magnificent. Even though we were super tired we got our gear together and went riding because we were so excited.
What were the snow conditions like when you arrived?
We were there in late November, which is spring in the Southern Hemi, so the snow was hard in the morning and softened by the afternoon. We rode a lot of lines at sunset which was nice because the light was good and it gave us the whole day to prepare. Spring conditions were also an advantage riding super steep slopes as there was less avalanche danger.
How was the terrain?
The terrain was insane! There were a lot of options so you could ride whatever attracted your eye, from mellow runs to super steep runs. I’m attracted to steep and sketchy lines, and so is Xavier, so we went for sick lines pretty much the whole trip.
How was it riding sketchy lines with your brother?
When you’re riding with your brother you really don’t want anything to happen to him, even more so than any other partner. But we know each other’s skills, so we trust that if one person is excited, and thinks it’s a good idea, we should go for it.
How was the weather during the trip?
We had quite a lot of gray weather during our three weeks on the continent. But there is ice everywhere, and the lines go right down to the blue ocean which improves the contrast. Even during bad weather the visibility was pretty good.
Sounds like you were able to ride a lot?
It was full on the whole trip. I think we only took two rest days. If we weren’t riding we were climbing icebergs, wing foiling, or playing with kites. Everyday it was something new.
What was your favorite line of the trip?
My favorite line was one we did toward the end of the trip that we called ‘King Coco’. It was this perfect triangular face that stuck out from a huge 1000 meter face full of ice. I saw it from the boat and it looked so beautiful. But when we got closer to it we realized that accessing the line would be much more complicated than we thought. There was a 40 meter ice wall at the bottom so we had to tour in from the side. The first time we tried it we got turned around by bad weather, but we came back two days later and were able to ride it.
How was the snow on King Coco?
The turns off the top were slushy and fun, but about halfway down it got much icier and more technical. I was really at my limit wondering if my edges were going to hold. Because if they didn’t hold and I fell, there was a good chance I would die.
Did you see a lot of wildlife?
Yeah we saw wildlife almost every day. Lots of penguins, which are really funny and cool to see in their element, and a bunch of seals, whales and some orcas.
Why was it a trip ‘Of A Lifetime’?
It felt super special to be able to visit a place that you could tell humans had not damaged yet. Everything is so wild and pure in Antarctica. And beside the raw beauty, it’s a dream zone for snowboarding because everywhere you look there are super steep faces that are right above the ocean and easy-to-access. To share all this with the family was next level.
