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Foto / Video Story

  • LA MINE

    Welcome to the new Mine.

    Words Rémy Vroonen | Analog and Digital Photography Hoshi Yoshida

The noises get louder with each step towards the mine. Eventually, you recognize the sounds of pickaxes, shovels, and the workers’ banter. At the beginning of the 20th century, up to 390,000 tons of anthracite were being extracted from this mine. The voices no longer belong to those in search of the carbon rich rock, rather carbon-neutral thrill seekers, shaping and shifting the earth into jumps.

Welcome to the Mine. A concept developed by Anthony Rocci, Louis Reboul and Nicolas Terrier.

When the three lads were all living within a few kilometers of the mine, they all had the same thought; riding the mine could be a perfect blend of freeride and slopestyle. Inspired by the Fest Series, and over an initial, back braking three weeks, they dug around and reshaped the disused mine. Since then, the terrain has been forever evolving, following the contours and lines of their imaginations. At first glance the lines look tangled and jumbled, but as soon as the three riders drop into coordination, the effect is symphonic. Dynamic scrub-shots mixed in with spectacular airtime, create an intensity which builds inevitably to a crescendo on the final big jump.

"LA MINE" is the perfect playground to train world class slopestyle skills. Nico Terrier is showing a Superman Seatgrab Indian Air stretched to the max.

LEFT Louis Reboul and his buddies have access to excavators. Very handy when you want to put new ideas into action. RIGHT Louis Reboul is a former Rampage athlete and still one of the best freeriders of the world.

Anthony Rocci is also a Whip-Off champion.
Louis Reboul. THIS is a superman seatgrab, period.

LEFT Kevin's Race support truck stopped by and provided a special tuning service for the slope style athletes. RIGHT "La Mine" used to be a mine, hence there is a lot of earth to move around and to play with.

A unique feature of La Mine is the possibility to synchronise the choreography with up to three athletes on the final jump.
Watching the slomo footage on Remys camera: Louis Reboul, Anthony Rocci and Nico Terrier.