Axel Pauporte Interview, 22nd October 2002
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It's the 22nd of October, the day before my birthday, and I'm glued to my mac like it's showing non-stop "men and motors latenight" suddenly my concentration is broken by monsieur nokia, radiator PR, bollocks I think they're probably after the product we took on tour and is now making up lost property of many a French bar and night club. Fuck it I think and answer, it's George "...We've got an interview for you tomorrow if you're up for it, with a guy called Axel Pauporte, he doesn't usually do interviews and he's never in the UK. What do you recko........." - "Say no more George my son, Axel Pauporte is probably, although he wouldn't tell you this, one of the finest snowboarders on the planet, in fact it was his and Travis Youngs' section on Odd Man Out to the soundtrack of Slide Away by Oasis that made me start snowboarding in the first place! I'm there mate, 4.30? Sweet!"

So I arrive slightly late as usual but surprisingly this time due to a bomb scare the tube didn't stop at Leicester square, luckily axel was running late also so it worked out nicely. Great I'm thinking the poor guy's had interviews all day the last thing he's going to want to do is sit and chat to an English guy from some way out website armed with a Nikon that looks like it's been through the Som and an 80's portable radio doubling up as a dictaphone! An hour and a half later I was not thinking that, Axel was one of the most interesting people I've ever spoken to. As you can see his life is not purely revolved around snowboarding which is kind of a refreshing attitude to be faced with especially from a man who has done so much for the sport. Anyway here's how it went.....enjoy.....


Where are you living at the moment, I know you've been in Alaska and Belgium quite a lot recently?
I Live in Hossegor in the summer because I don’t really want to spend all my time in the mountains all through the summer. It’s perfect to surf in the summer and snowboard in the winter

Do you surf a lot?
Yes

....Is surfing becoming more important in your life, even as a professional status?
Its already a big part of my life I've been surfing for a couple of years now and am enjoying it just as much as snowboarding, its at a very different level though I’m far from being good and am at no means at a professional level but I’m having a lot of fun.
It takes time you cant just surf once a month you have to dedicate a lot of time to it and get the right conditions etc that why I want to spend all my time off the snow by the ocean so I get the chance get good surf, I’d like to do a few surf trips as well with friends.

Does the surfing not get in the way with the glacial summer camps? Do you still ride them in the summer?
I used to go up on the glaciers every summer but as I've shifted more into freeriding I've topped riding the park so much and therefore prefer to surf in the summer now. I don’t do a great deal of freestyle at all anymore. The last two years I've spent in the southern hemisphere instead NZ,AU,Chile Argentina to snowboard July and august but this year I didn’t even go there! We finished filming early so I just surfed this summer!

Hard Life!
I first saw you on Odd Man Out, where your ride style was still very much backcountry freesytyler, have you shifted more into the pure freeriding arena now?
Definitely, I think that freestyle took off I in the last couple of years and a lot of kids are getting into it so young I simply don’t think I’d be up to there level these days! Its not a decision I consciously made, I naturally shifted to freeriding as I was spending al lot of time in les arcs where the terrain is amazing for the freeride. For me the ultimate snowboarding is freestyle but using the terrain.
If I see someone coming down something very steep and just making little turns it doesn’t really do a lot for me, and if I see someone doing jibs and handrails it’s the same thing, it's alright but I think when you see someone spinning huge 720’s or whatever off a cliff or off a wind lip first track not on a man made kicker that’s the ultimate, it's just harder I think.
If you build a kicker you can take like twenty chances and eventually you’ll stick it which is alright but I just like to ride from top to bottom, I can't be bothered with hiking a kicker doing it over and over again I think it's so much fun to hike a peak or get dropped and do the whole run at once, jumps the lot and just get to the bottom. I understand people like to do just jumps and kickers but it's not my thing.

Do you think the media have jumped a little hard on the jib revolution?
Definitely, it’s the market that appeals to the younger kids, it's just a marketing thing.

...Do you think that the revival into freeriding and especially backcountry freestyle has essentially taken snowboarding back the essence of purity that it was in the days of Odd Man Out?
Yes, it brings back to its roots, that’s where snowboarding belongs, handrails are just a fun thing to to do for kids but true snowboarding belongs in the mountains and that’s where it fits the best I think.
You see a lot of almost competition bred riders nowadays, with the major board companies investing really heavily into their youth teams and become increasingly harsh on their riders i.e. dropping them for lack of coverage or when they don’t fill the fashion?
The market is hurting a little this last year and there is more and more riders than ever before, when I started there was almost more board companies than there were riders to sponsor so anyone could get a sponsor 5, 6 years ago, now however there’s so many good young riders it’s a lot harder to keep a sponsor, it's just natural progression, business, it's money that’s all it is. The companies really look now at the riders and what they are going to bring back to the brand.

Do you think there will be a major shift soon back into the backcountry?
I think so, just look at the likes of Kevin Jones, he rides a lot of freestyle and backcountry, an overall very versatile rider and there are a lot of guys just like him. I think snowboarding can be influenced by a lot of different things such as skating and jibbing but you can’t take it out of the mountains.

Do you skate?
No, I would never consider myself a skater.

When we started snowboarding watching videos like odd man out we were almost attracted to the sport because of the beauty and the excitement of the backcountry and since then its almost spoilt the illusion when you get deeper into the industry, the comps etc but I mean it's nice to see riders such as Kevin Jones and Devun Walsh still shredding it out of the park don’t you think?
Very nice, I mean freestyle sells more product, it's all hyped and kids just dig it, in big mountain the market is different it's less fashion and more about survival I think that explains why there is a lot more freestyle these days, fashion.
Just look at the size of the boards you sell a lot more 150’s than you do 170’s.

Talking of boards you’ve’ always been on A boards, that sort of loyalty is often unheard of, what’s happening at A recently?
They went through some rough times; they merged with Hammer snowboards under the name Conchevan and last year Rosignol and just recently Regis, the founder, is buying it back from them.

...Keeping it back in the family?
Yeah they want to keep it that way, it is like a family they never went mainstream, they never sold out, they had to sell to Rosignol because of business but even then it didn’t hurt because they were completely independent, they just sorted all the distribution etc A still dealt with all the construction graphics team etc

Did the riders have a lot to do with the graphics because 'A' are well known for their mushrooms and crazy shit?
All the pro models are rider decided and for the rest of the ranges everyone contributes and it's put to a vote, overall there is a lot of rider influence in the boards and graphics in general which is really good I think.

You were one of the first major celebrity snowboarders but did you have any inspiration from other riders? Or do you still?
At the beggining Regis Rolland, I saw him on the old Apocalypse videos, he’s very busy nowadays he’s got a family two kids and a wife so that keeps him off the snow but still he’s a very good rider, he can go anywhere and freeride and he’ll be waiting for you at the bottom!
Steve Graham was also a big influence; he was one of the first guys to pull freestyle in the backcountry.
For me back then he was a well-known snowboard celebrity in all the mags and stuff, but when he came to Les Arc he was so humble, such a supercool guy, he wasn’t big headed at all.

Do you have many other interests out of snowboarding and surfing?
Yes I think that it is really important to have other interests, I really enjoy motorcycles, I own a Harley but I have this really big passion for planes well aviation In general (Axel now tells me how he actually has a pilots license and how his girlfriend is herself a helicopter pilot…we now have a half hour discussion on aviation and helicopters as this is an interest we bothshare)
I am also a big movie fan, I have to watch lots of movies whether I’m at home or on trips, I’m really interested in the different genres and stuff.

You sound like you have an appreciation for the arts?
I do, I’m very lucky I get a chance to travel a lot and go to many different cities so when I’m there I try to go to as many galleries and museums as I can, when I have time that is.
I've visited many in San Francisco and close to Hoseggor in Spain there’s the Guggenheim museum and in fact the Tate modern in London I've never checked that one out, I think I’ll be coming back soon to check that out. I don’t know much about art and I don’t read a lot about it but I appreciate it. I like a lot of modern art and architecture its good to meet different people who have other things to say not just about snowboarding and sports? There’s other things out there I’m just curious...

On the Bike side of things do you own a bike?
Yes I love bikes, ever since my mom said she didn’t want me to have one as they are so dangerous, I mean its more dangerous riding a bike in the city than it is snowboarding in Alaska because your so exposed and there is a lot of stupid car drivers so in that respect she was right. I didn’t want to get a race bike because I’d be dead within a week so that’s why I got a Harley, Sportster it’s a beautiful bike its all black and really low, ive striped it down its got nothing on it. I just cruise around and fix it its like a toy really. Dirt bikes I like a lot too I have a Enduo WR400 Yamaha its pretty powerful 4 stroke, I ride it a lot in hossegor on the beach and in the forest, ive also been doing some FMXjudjing and stuff. That was really cool what impresses me most about FMX is they stick about everything! They don’t fall like a skate or snowboard comp; they jump like 100ft long and 50ft high that’s really impressive. I'd like to do it one day.

Do you think there’s any chance in you starting your own label or anything in the future?
Thought about it but I don’t want to do something unless I’m in it 100% adn the marke'ts a bit shit at the moment I’ll probably work for one of my sponsors after I retire, maybe Billabong!

When you thinking of retiring then eh?
Who knows, that’s a good question, definitely within the next ten years but who knows, could be 2, could be 5 but I’m not going to hang around until people ask questions. As soon as Justin Hostinek stops filming me! I’m not going to start going down hill, it’s all or nothing I’m still having a lot of fun.

A lot of riders winge a lot about interviews and stuff, how about you?
It's so stupid, we're so lucky just look at people working a 9-5 anything I have to do is a small price for my lifestyle.

Going back to Alaska, have you ever been in any knarly situation out there?
Yes I've been in an avalanche out there but I managed to out run it, it wasn’t a big deal but at the time it was very scary the whole mountain came down behind me but I got away with it so it doesn’t scare me anymore!

Have you ever had any injuries?
Yes blew my knee and had surgery but that was like 7 years ago now.

Have you ever thought of the Himalayas?
Not really I’ll leave that to the alpinists, all I really care about is the quality of the snow I like the filming.

Do you film yourself?
I use a helmet camera a lot, which was fun.

Which young euros will you be banking on this year to blow our minds?
Tristan Picot is doing really well these days but he’s quite freestyle. Yanick Amavet and Jonas Emery are getting really into freeriding Jonas came out to Alaska this year with us as did Yanick.

Do you keep in touch with the rest of the A board team?
Yes I see David Vincent, Yanick, Phil Lalament a lot. I think it’s very important to ride and film with riders and photographers you like and trust!

What do you think of the British scene?
I've always rated the brits there’s some really funny characters and I like the media I think there’s a great scene, there’s no reason why British riders can't be world class it's kind the same in Belgium. In France there the opposite they won’t even speak about who won they’ll just talk about the first French guy.
The British scene is definitely happening, being from Europe.

That’s what we try to do at Step-On, we don’t like the isolation, it's just European?
Yes, Europe exactly! In the u.s. they’re really protective even the Canadians have a hard time in the u.s. they are very protective, the only Europeans that helped to push into the Americans scene are the Scandinavians, they really pushed it hard and now it's opened the door to a lot of other Europeans.

That sounds like a good note to end on as we’ve been here for over 2 hours now and you've still got The Independent to deal with! So thanks a lot for a great chat and we hope to see you shredding it up still in 10 years time!

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