Snowboard icon Vaultier takes on new “dream line” in Reshapes film

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SI202203030935_news — Pierre Vaultier seen on his reshape course in Serre Chevalier, France, February 3-4, 2022 // Tristan Shu / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202203030935 // Usage for editorial use only //

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Pierre Vaultier has returned to the slopes with new 25-minute documentary Reshapes as the French snowboarder takes on a “dream line”.

The 34-year-old from Briançon learned snowboarding at Serre Chevalier in the Alps and he went on to claim snowboard cross gold at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 as well as the 2017 world title.

He also won six World Cup titles in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2018 on the back of 22 race wins before retiring due to complications from inflammatory arthritis of the knee in December 2020.

Before that, Vaultier went viral in 2019 with his Shapes video as he undertook an incredible 110 runs to make his way down a course of imposing six-metre high snow blocks in Serre Chevalier.

***Pierre Vaultier seen on his reshape course in Serre Chevalier, France. Credit: Tristan Shu / Red Bull Content Pool***

Vaultier’s “ultimate snowboarding pump track” earned millions of global views and he has now returned with an even more impressive snow structure built in Serre Chevalier at 2,400m altitude.

Reshapes took 14 days of work to move up to 1,500m3 of snow and sculpt this new line with a scalpel with eight shapers, 300m of slope and 14 snow modules created for Vaultier to tackle.

In a 25-minute documentary accompanying the clip – in which we see him take part in this hypnotic 30-second course – Vaultier looks back on this comeback after injury and talks about the conception of the route, and the realisation of this technical, human and sporting performance.

He revealed: “It was a huge technical and sporting challenge, we had no certainty that it would work, not to mention that the weather played tricks on us throughout the shoot. The jumps had to be ultra precise, meticulous; the landings were really perilous in certain modules built on the side of a cliff. I had absolutely no right to make mistakes, there was no room to deviate or even to brake. From the moment I stepped into the line, I had to go all the way. Reshapes is not just this new line, it’s above all the story of the long road I travelled to get back to the highest level.”