Episode 256: Axel Pauporté - Europe's Freeriding Pioneer

If you ask me, this week’s guest Axel Pauporte is one of the most influential snowboarders of the 1990s and 2000s. Even if you don’t know his name, you’re living in a snowboarding culture that he helped shape. Especially if you’re a European snowboarder. To qualify this rather bold claim, it helps to remember how singular an outlier Axel truly was. Back in the early 90s, professional snowboarders from mainland Europe were a genuine rarity. Professional snowboarders from flat Northern European countries such as the Netherlands, the UK or Belgium, where Axel was brought up? Legitimate trailblazing pioneers. All of which makes Axel’s career path especially legendary. Here was a rider who started snowboarding late - and on dry slope to boot. And who, by the end of a storied twenty-year career, was universally regarded as one of snowboarding’s greatest ever freeriders, and had demonstrated that European riders could lead the way in a proving ground like Alaska alongside peers such as Travis Rice, Jonaven Moore and Jeremy Jones. And the story of how Axel made this happen is as unlikely as it is instructive. This isn’t your standard pro snowboarder origin story. Here we have an outsider, both literally and figuratively, who was driven by a potent emotional combination: his own insecurities, a Stakhanovite work ethic, and a ferocious desire to use snowboarding a way of finding a sense of belonging. In Axel’s case, that ultimately led him to AK, and the pursuit of risks that today make him pause and wonder, as we discussed. As you might be gathering, this is a very honest conversation that covers belonging, identity, and the psychology and selfishness of risk; as well as the reckoning that comes to us all once the body and mind begins to fade, and other priorities take precedence. Big thanks to Axel and my friend Dave Mailman for the help with this one. -- This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter. LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from Db LOOKINGSIDEWAYS2025 for 15% off any Albion purchase LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays . LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order -- To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here . There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

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Episode 256: Axel Pauporté - Europe's Freeriding Pioneer is an episode from Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast by Matt Barr.

This episode is 81:19 long.

This episode was published on Jan 21, 2026.

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