French skier dominates GoPro competition winning two years in a row
A French skier has proven that a set of skis, a GoPro and very little fear can be the key to a lucrative career on the slopes. For the second year in a row, Léo Taillefer took home a nearly £14,000 prize in the Line of Winter competition hosted by the portable camera maker.
The popularity of skiers all over the world strapping on GoPro cameras has encouraged the company to make a global contest out of the activity. Monthly and yearly cash prizes have been awarded to daredevils willing to take viewers along on their amazing skiing and snowboarding adventures.
The rules for the video competition are simple: they shouldn’t be edited and must be a continuous run. No second takes. A panel of judges look at all the entries to measure the difficulty of shooting the video, cinematography, skiing skills and overall beauty.
Taillefer, who lives in the French ski village of Val d’Isère, has made a habit of winning the contest. In addition to winning the annual prize in last year’s contest as well, he won the monthly contests for February, March and April too. For each of those videos, he took home over £750. The only prize he didn’t win, it appears, was the one month he did not enter a video.
Here is Taillefer’s journey to his winning entry, including some of his incredible skiing:
To learn more about the contest and see some of the other entries, visit the Line of the Winter website.
His entry for the April contest was especially exciting. Negotiating through tight spaces and sheer rock faces, the French daredevil slaps on a head lamp and skis at night. Even the hi-definition camera can’t see too far ahead as Taillefer takes the death-defying ride.
Here is that night time run:
Many of the fantastic videos capture the great skiing destinations in France. With a body cameras and GoPro becoming so popular, there is no reason why you and your family can’t make your own movies whilst enjoying a ski chalet in Meribel or La Rosiere. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the winner of next year’s Line of the Winter!
Image Credit: kcxd (flickr.com)