It's around this time of year some of us imagine Santa taking to the skies to deliver presents, but we bet you never thought you'd see Santa speedriding through the mountains, well now you can!
This is what you get when you combine professional speedrider Valentin Delluc and a Santa costume, and let them rips through the Avoriaz mountains with an Insta360 X3 camera.
Delluc's collaboration last year with Red Bull was 'From Avoriaz With Love', which racked up a total of 1.2 million views. Now he's back, donning a Santa suit and flying through the mountains, delivering presents in a stunning display of skill and daring, with a big pile of fun thrown in. We sat down with Delluc as he finished up the run to chat about all things speedriding, and how the 360 camera captures some insane close-up angles.
Above: watch Santa flying down the mountain!
What motivates you to take on a challenge like this?
Speedriding is a new sport that's not exactly known to the public right now. For those of you who don't know, speedriding is a discipline that combines freeskiing and paragliding, where you fly through mountains with a small paraglider wing and skis.
Exploring the possibilities and limits of my sport motivates me a lot. Some ideas for a run come from my freestyle skiing experience, and ultimately, 99% of the time when you land after a speedride, you're smiling!
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How did you prepare for the shoot?
Mainly by focusing on special tricks I will pull off in the video. Many, many practice rounds! But for tricks like sliding off the chairlift, you can't really train before as you need special approval from the ski resort. That's why it's important to never stop training, you never know what opportunities you'll get!
What was most challenging about this project?
Tricking off the chairlift for sure! It's not something that's done very easily to be honest, and you need to keep enough speed to jump over the clamps and not hit them, but not too much to slide off the cable... It's all about balance. Also riding with a Santa beard! It's sketchy during barrel rolls…
What do you like about using Insta360 X3?
Simple and powerful! Now waterproof too, Insta360 X3 is just what we needed! High quality, small and light, with an easy-to-use app.
Using the Insta360 Invisible Selfie Stick in my backpack you get some insane third-person angles. I use it in all my different sports: skiing, speedriding, speedflying, base jumping... You name it! It really helps capture the fun I have in the air!
Check out our guides to the best 360 cameras, invisible selfie sticks, and helmet cameras.
