Another great freeskier has died young. JP Auclair, who pioneered the art of twin-tip freeskiing with his daring style and inventiveness, was killed by an avalanche in Chile on Monday, September 29. He was 37.

Auclair was a world-class bump skier from Quebec who broke free from the confines of mogul competitions to lead skiing in a whole new direction. He helped develop the first twin tip skis with Salomon, co-founded the innovative ski company, Armada and the humanitarian nonprofit Alpine Initiatives, and traveled the globe in search of new sources of inspiration.

He was named one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year for 2014.

To learn the tragic details of the avalanche that killed Auclair and his backcountry partner Andreas Fransonn, see National Geographic’s meticulous article.

Like fellow freeskiing pioneer Shane McConkey before him, Auclair lived well and died far too young.

Auclair’s work lives on in some of the most creative ski sequences ever filmed. Here is one of them, a beautiful edit from Sherpas Cinema, from their feature film All.I.Can, Chapter 5: Imagination. This street segment was shot in the gritty British Columbia towns of Trail, Rossland, and Nelson, and set to the music of “Dance Yrself Clean,” by LCD Soundsystem.

If you have never seen this segment, enjoy. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again, in memory of JP Auclair.

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Last modified: October 8, 2014