{"id":10871,"date":"2026-02-17T20:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/10871\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:04:09","slug":"pro-snowboarding-veteran-xavier-de-le-rue-shares-message-of-the-giant-trap-after-verbier-avalanche-buries-5-amid-deadly-week-across-the-alps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/10871\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Snowboarding Veteran Xavier De Le Rue Shares Message of the \u201cGiant Trap\u201d After Verbier Avalanche Buries 5 Amid Deadly Week Across the Alps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freeride legend Xavier De Le Rue is sounding the alarm after an avalanche swept through a heavily trafficked area in Verbier last Friday the 13th\u2014part of a deadly stretch of days that showed firsthand just how unstable the Alpine snowpack remains this winter. In a widely shared social media post, De Le Rue described the slide occurring on what many riders consider the most coveted conditions: a sunny powder day immediately after a storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen are people gonna understand that the \u2018magical day\u2019 is NOT the sunny pow day right after the storm?\u201d he wrote. \u201cThat day is a GIANT TRAP.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to De Le Rue, the avalanche released on one of the resort\u2019s most commonly ridden off-piste lines after a storm cycle had deposited significant new snow. Five people were buried in the slide but were rescued without fatalities.<\/p>\n

The incident came the same day as a separate avalanche near Val d\u2019Is\u00e8re that killed three people<\/a>, and just days before another deadly slide that killed 3 near Courmayeur<\/a>, bringing Europe\u2019s avalanche death toll this winter to roughly 75\u2014one of the highest mid-season totals in recent years. Avalanche bulletins across much of the western Alps had rated danger 4 out of 5 (High) at the time, warning that natural avalanches were likely and that human-triggered slides were very probable on many slopes. The instability followed weeks of heavy snowfall, strong winds, and persistent weak layers buried deep in the snowpack.<\/p>\n

De Le Rue said the combination of perfect weather and fresh powder often creates a psychological hazard as dangerous as the snow itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cPowder makes everyone lose their mind. FOMO. Stress. People ready to step on each other just to be first in the gondola in the holy quest for the first track,\u201d he wrote, describing scenes of hundreds of riders crowding lift lines that morning.<\/p>\n

He also warned that continued risky behavior could have long-term consequences for the freeride community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we keep going like this, what we\u2019re gonna get is legislation that shuts freeriding down for everyone,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Avalanche forecasters continue to stress that the period immediately after storms\u2014particularly the first clear, sunny day\u2014is often among the most dangerous times in the mountains, as fresh snow loads unstable layers while improved visibility draws large numbers of riders into high-risk terrain. The people have the powder, the good weather, and the froth; but they often lack the restraint to make patient, safe, well-balanced avalanche decisions\u2014it\u2019s perfect recipe for disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With winter only halfway through and the snowpack across much of the Alps still dangerously fragile, heeding caution will be essential in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Eyewitnesses captured videos of the large-scale avalanche in Val d\u2019Is\u00e8re. | Image: DR via France 3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Freeride legend Xavier De Le Rue is sounding the alarm after an avalanche swept through a heavily trafficked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,3177,8310,8311],"class_list":{"0":"post-10871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alps","8":"tag-alps","9":"tag-ski-news","10":"tag-verbier","11":"tag-xavier-de-la-rue"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}