At only 27 years old, the young sportsman from Drôme is one of the best speed riders in the world. He recently caused a sensation by racing down the slopes of the Hautes-Alpes mountains without waiting for the first snowfall. An impressive performance, in the image of a booming discipline.
Valentin Delluc's speed riding videos fascinate the whole world. The general public discovered him in 2018 with the superb sequence "Moonline", in which he flies over Chamonix at night in a magical silence. Ski instructor in the winter in Morzine (Haute-Savoie), Valentin Delluc is a microlight instructor in the summer. It was therefore predestined to speed riding, a sport in the open air that allows you to alternate the flight and glide by combining the mini sail and free skiing. It is thanks to this 11 to 12 m2 sail similar to that of a paraglider that Valentin Delluc soars above the summits. A way to push his limits by offering himself inaccessible slopes by ski...even to defy death. A few years ago, Valentin Delluc sent shivers down the spine when he posted a crazy sequence in which he flew at 125 km/h to escape a terrible avalanche on the North Face of the Aiguille du Midi. Once again, the speed rider had set the bar very high with a start at 3563 meters of altitude, 1300 meters of difference in altitude, a slope that flirts with 45 degrees and huge unwelcoming cliffs ... Because it is in the big changes in altitude of high mountains that speedriding takes all its meaning.
A clever mix of disciplines
More recently, Valentin Delluc has shown that speed riding can be perfectly practiced in the absence of snow. Shortly before the second confinement, the sportsman skied on the rocky, grassy and earthy slopes of the Hautes-Alpes and Écrins massifs, before taking off for a superb landing on the Serre-Ponçon lake. We also see him perform some tricks in the air, winched by a boat. Valentin describes the incredible sensation of floating above the water, which makes him forget the painful ants in his feet caused by the skis sliding on the rocks. Having tried alpine skiing, freestyle, freeride, paragliding and kitesurfing, the rider is never short of ideas for mixing disciplines. To the delight of all thrill seekers!