Name: Francois Desrosiers
DOB: 8th January, 1976
From: Morin-Heights, Quebec
Live Now: Revelstoke, BC
Favorite place to ride: Untracked powder anywhere around the world

Favorite people to ride with: Beautiful people and Shane Block,

What do you ride: Boards, big ones, sometimes one, sometimes two
and ponies, when I get a chance.

Describe an ideal day?
Waking up as for the first time, taking your very first breath all over again, seeing, feeling, hearing, loving, laughing… that my friends, is an ideal day.

What's your worst nightmare?
I’m a little yellow chick running around a chicken coop continuously with 20 other little chickens getting chased by a wolf; I keep looking back in great terror and continue to run as fast as I can. Terrified…I wake up.

Tell us about your accident? how/why/when/what/who
An Avalanche about a kilometre wide ripped down a mountainside in Rogers Pass, British Colombia, taking five of us with it. It hit me like a semi-truck. It was a bluebird day and from the moment it hit, I was in complete darkness until it settled. It raked us through trees and rock bands as it seemed to only pick up speed. Flashes of light kept distracting me, kind of like when you whack your nose real hard but 1000 times harder. I saw no one. I couldn’t breath. As it slowed I could feel it thicken up like cement and my reaction was to keep rolling, keep somersaulting, flipping, cart wheeling, keep the momentum going downhill. Then, as if something had told it to stop, it stopped dead. My head and right arm above the surface of the snow, I couldn’t breath, couldn’t breath, pretty much accepted many things at that moment in time, and then, I coughed up an ice ball the size of my fist along with mad amounts of blood. It was like the first breath I had ever taken.

Blood, so much blood…
My face was ripped open pretty severely but the sky was still blue. The snow was red all around me but the sun was still yellow. With my good arm, I tried to dig but it was like trying to dig through a basement floor. I yelled a few times and heard a response through some trees and I could see Shane from where I was but couldn’t make out what was said. I continued to dig down my torso as my fingernails broke off, and slowly revealed a portion of one of my legs. It was wrapped around a small tree behind me with the foot pointing in a wrong direction. I didn’t get any further there. I was fading. The clouds were casting beautiful shadows all around, it was like a show and I had front row seats. I hadn’t given up; I continued to dig with what I had left.

It seemed like days had gone by before I heard anything. An Avalanche course was taking place on the lower section of the same mountain that day and luckily a whole whack load of eager students, some of them close personal friends, toured up and rescued us, well, most of us. Our great friend Shane Block didn’t make it off the mountain that day. He passed away from internal injuries in a friends arm. 23 years old. A brother, a son, a love, a friend, a skier, a beautiful human being, Shane Block.
The other three suffered serious injuries as well, a broken kneecap, a dislocated, fractured hip, a chewed up knee, and more. I, that day, broke both legs, fractured my hips, broke my arm, ripped open my face, tore ligaments all over, ripped my shoulder…. The list goes on.
In June 2003, I had my leg rebuilt and worked on for the fourth time. It’s kicking ass now.
I am titanium boy.

It’s been a really long and difficult journey, the hardest part is dealing with the headspace. The oceans are chaotic and stormy but full of life and passion. I’m inspired by our friend Shane Block to reach the unreachable, to attain the unattainable, to strive forward no matter how difficult or painful.

A bench dedicated to Shane stares up at the mountain that came down on us that day. It’s located beside the Arches at the summit of Rogers Pass, British Colombia.

Every December 7th, people gather there. Friends, family, old faces as well as new ones come to celebrate life and to say hi to Shane, all others passed away, and to each other.
See you there?
p.s. Bring Crown Royal.

Advice to people travelling in the Backcountry?
Shit goes down everywhere, even with all the gear, knowledge and experience. We should keep talking, sharing stories, ideas, information, and above all, try to preserve these beautiful and precious lives we lead.

Where do you get your inspiration?
The mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, dirt, snow, the present, friends, family, life, love, death…

goodside vs darkside?
It’s all a balance right? Ya I’ve got lots of dark, but I have just as much light, some people just seem more twisted than others.

What kind of film magic can we see from you this year?
Love, Life and Death baby…The realities of mountain life. The truth, as it is seen by many. Ill lines, phat tracks, sick athletes, ski, snowboard, tele, snowmobile, GT-Snowracers, passions, lifestyles…and everything else between poodle pie eating contests and how to ski switch stance with a lover.

Thank Anybody?
You know who you are, I’d never be here if it weren’t for you, I love you all!

***We are stoked to announce Francois will be providing us with his homegrown brand of Snow Film this season on Biglines. Your gonna have to see it to believe it.