There is travel, and then there is voyaging—to the literal end of the earth. Of A Lifetime chronicles the epic sail/snowboard/ski/climbing voyage undertaken by multiple generations of the renowned French De Le Rue family to Antarctica.
Xavier is a seven-time world snowboard champion; his younger brother Victor is a three-time world snowboard champion; and Xavier’s daughter Mila is turning 18 and embarking on her first expedition.
Throughout the voyage, from crossing the perilous Drake Passage—1,000 km of open ocean between the southernmost point of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula—to riding dangerously steep lines rising straight from the deep, the film captures the team’s inner dialogues through personal diaries.
For Xavier and Victor, Antarctica is a massive playground filled with intoxicating first descents; for Mila, it’s an at times frightening initiation into big-mountain freeriding.
The riding on display here is truly courageous, from untested mountain ranges to near-vertical iceberg shredding. This is Antarctica, and it’s as remote as it gets. The athletes’ commitment is total but the film’s tone is playful and intimate—this is a family unit let loose in earth’s last wild place.
“There’s a feeling of freedom here that’s almost overwhelming,” Mila shares in one of her diary voiceovers. “Thanks to my great teacher at school I studied Antarctica—and was actually interested. So here’s my knowledge: For once all the countries in the world agreed to sign a treaty claiming Antarctica belongs to no one. You can’t post any military, can’t live there, build houses or hotels, you can’t dig for oil, you can’t hunt any animal, and you can’t leave any trash. You can only pass by, explore and study it. Crazy to see it now with my own eyes. It’s the wildest wild place.”
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