Paul Popescu
Hometown: Cluj, Romania | Active: 2010-2024 | Known for: winning Red Bull Oslea Hiride in 2017, POGO - The Hidden Faces of Romania, mountain rescue work in the Făgăraș Mountains | Disciplines: freeride, ski mountaineering
Snow reached waist height in places on the Oslea Massif during the 2017 Red Bull Oslea Hiride, while cold and wind followed competitors toward the ridge. Paul Popescu carried his ski equipment uphill with the rest of the Pro field before choosing his own way down the open face. The format joined a climb on foot with a judged freeride descent, putting endurance and mountain movement on the same course. For a skier who had already moved away from repetitive piste racing, the event placed the competition inside natural mountain terrain where every rider selected a line across the face.
Argentière childhood: skiing before competition
Popescu first slid on skis in Argentière at age three while his family was living in France, and reached Chamonix a year later. He later won ski races as a child but did not pursue alpine racing as a long-term discipline. Mountain life also came through his family: his father was a volunteer mountain-rescue doctor and climber, and Popescu grew up around the climbing community. The fixed routine of piste skiing eventually gave way to freeride and larger mountain terrain.
Cheile Turzii 2010: climbing and rescue
Climbing became another part of the same mountain education. In 2010, Popescu and Nicolae Budeancă made the first ascent of Bulinel in Cheile Turzii. The ten-pitch route is graded 6B, with A1 aid climbing and sections protected by pitons. Popescu later worked first with Salvamont-Salvaspeo Cluj before transferring to Salvamont Sibiu. That professional path joined rope work, mountain rescue and winter terrain with the skiing he pursued away from marked pistes.
Oslea 2017: winning the Pro ski field
At the 2017 Red Bull Oslea Hiride, competitors climbed roughly four kilometres from 1,300 metres to the ridge at 1,940 metres before the ski section. The descent ran for about one kilometre on a face described at roughly 45 degrees, with rock features incorporated into the judged terrain. Popescu won the men's Pro ski category ahead of Paul Aufmesser and Laszlo Csongor. The event combined the uphill effort with a freeride score based on elements including line choice, fluidity and control.
Bâlea 2023: bringing Hidden Faces home
Bâlea became the centre of Popescu's skiing and his work with Salvamont Sibiu. In 2023 he invited Loïc Isliker and Paul de Groot to Romania after learning about their Hidden Faces films through a friend. The three carried skis onto ridges and descended valleys and bowls around Bâlea for POGO - The Hidden Faces of Romania. Popescu skied throughout the project and presented Bâlea as mountain terrain without prepared ski pistes. Loïc Isliker directed the film and Paul de Groot co-directed it.
Bâlea 2024: avalanche near Văiuga
On 16 February 2024, Popescu was skiing near Bâlea Lac with three friends when an avalanche caught him. He was 33 and working for Salvamont Sibiu. The Făgăraș area above 1,800 metres was under avalanche danger level four that day. His death ended a mountain-rescue and freeride career that had developed from the climbing community around Cluj to the winter terrain of Bâlea, where he had previously survived another avalanche with three companions.
In September 2024, POGO - The Hidden Faces of Romania received the Zsolt Torok Trophy for Best Short Climbing Movie at the Alpin Film Festival in Brașov. Loïc Isliker and Paul de Groot were credited as directors, while the festival described the project as a mountain exploration initiated and narrated by Popescu.
Main competition results
- 2016/17 — Red Bull Oslea Hiride, Oslea Massif — Freeride skiing — 1st
Selection of his strongest results. Not a complete competition record.
Selected filmography
- 2023 — POGO - The Hidden Faces of Romania — Hidden Faces — Full segment
Selection of his main film projects. Not a complete filmography.
