Sam Smoothy: what it's like to ash-ski on a live volcano
New Zealand skier Sam Smoothy teamed up with French snowboarders Xavier and Victor de Le Rue for a daring expedition to descend the ash-covered volcano of Mount Yasur on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu last year. He tells Telegraph Men how it feels to mix skiing and seismology
What geographical terrain did you encounter on your arrival in Vanuatu?
Tanna Island (part of the Vanuatu archipelago) is incredible. It is so raw and aggressively beautiful. I was definitely picking up a ‘Lost World’ kind of vibe, especially once we got out into the jungle where we spent a lot of time. The jungle is so lush and green and grows so virulently, but around the volcano all the green is a bit muted by a thin layer of ash on everything. I was sitting on the back of a pickup truck and we came out of the jungle and there it was: this huge, black pile of doom, sitting in the middle of this ink black plain of ash, just spewing ash clouds and rock into the sky. It was pretty intimidating and I knew right then this was not going to be as easy as I thought.
What were your first impressions of the 1,184ft Mount Yasur volcano?
It’s like nothing I’ve ever stood on or seen. You have this inverted green jungle at the base, then a beautiful rain forest with the amazing blues of the sea in the distance, and then finally this Mordor-esque landscape of doom and ash smack damn in the middle of it.
Where did the idea for the Vanuatu volcano expedition come from?
Basically I was at Xavier de Le Rue’s house in Capbreton and we had been chatting about a summer surf trip to some tropical paradise. I had seen footage of this Kiwi guy skiing on ash before and it just sparked me right up. Like me, Xav lives for travelling and exploring new places, and finding fresh perspectives on our sports, so we talked about it in France and all of this came together into this seemingly silly, impossible dream.
What did you learn about the volcano before the expedition?
The main thing we looked at was where the prevailing winds would be coming from. And then where the ash clouds would be landing. It was on top of where we wanted to ski unfortunately, which made life interesting. Aside from that, we really were heading into the unknown.
What was going through your mind when you skied down the live volcano?
For me it was so surreal, like you just shouldn’t be doing this. It is the ultimate fish out of water type situation. Your skis just don’t run the same at all (on the ash) so physically you're tensing everything, trying to hold it all together. And there's the whole mental side of things – hearing the volcano explode into life while you stand near the summit, the ground shaking as you stare up into the storm of ash and rock that starts raining down on you. It is pretty biblical in a sense.
How does skiing on ash compare to skiing on snow?
Ash doesn’t slide as well as snow – it’s a lot slower and grabbier, which means you catch edges easier. All this makes for some leg-burning runs. You have to be careful not to catch an edge as that’s pretty easy and also you have to dodge the rocks, which I guess is kind of like skiing. But mainly it is just slower from the hugely increased friction on your ski bases. It was also really hard on your legs to hold everything in control. My thighs would just be screaming at me to stop.
What unique challenges did you face on the volcano?
Weather-wise, we had these hellish ash storms, which with the high winds meant it was exfoliating any skin showing. Also walking up the volcano wasn’t easy. It was a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ kind of challenge, which when you have a volcano exploding around you all the time makes for an interesting mission. We saw tremors, crater activity, gas releases. The ground shook, there was molten lava being thrown hundreds of feet into the sky, huge rock bombs, lightning flashing – the full volcanic range of activity.
What was the atmosphere like during the expedition?
First off communication was mad tricky. You had to shout to hear anyone. But the thing that plays with your mind is the moment when the volcano goes quiet. The tension would build as you knew an explosion was coming then all of a sudden there would be this massive release in this insane eruption. As soon as it went boom, your eyes were looking for it.
How did your experience compare with that of the de Le Rues on their snowboards?
I think it is definitely easier on skis, as there is less surface area so less friction and more speed. You can also adjust your balance with two feet which you can’t in a snowboard stance. That all definitely helped.
I was proven right by seeing the legendary Xavier de Le Rue tumble, which was really fun. I’m going out on a limb here and saying Xav was the worst as he crashed a few times. I just think his board seemed to get the most friction and catch the most, but he would just roll and keep ripping as he's Xavier de Le Rue and he’s a pit-bull.
Victor really impressed me. He flew all the way from Scotland, missing flights, finding Xavier’s gear at an airport and then journeying further to this random island, to get on a truck with some locals who dropped him off in this crazy, explosive landscape. We made him boot up right away, climb to the top and ride an exploding volcano. Not many people just go along with such a stupid plan.
What sort of state was your ski equipment in at the end?
Oh man, it was so tough on everything. My skis were totally ruined, ground down to the core. The goggles were hard to see through as they were totally exfoliated by the windblown ash. The drones got pretty beat up trying to fly through ash clouds but the worst was the cameras. The lenses got scratched, all the focus rings were barely turning, just stuck hard with grit and ash, and everything had to be sent away to be cleaned as they were nearly stuffed.
