Funny random story: I saw an old clip of Candide Thovex this morning doing Candide Thovex things. He was skiing, but snow was nowhere to be found, and I instantly had to ask myself if this was a brand new stunt or an old one I had just stored into the collection of random, unique things Candide has done on skis, but not on snow-covered slopes. It turns out it was an old clip but that just kinda proved my initial question valid, because he’s cooked up so many different things that it can be tough to keep track of what’s what.
Well, add this one to the list of way off-piste antics that are worth a second look. This time it’s French skier Jordane Legal, who is no stranger to extremes. In 2023, Legal sent it off a jump and soared 236 feet in the air — a stunt that some claimed was the biggest ski jump ever landed. He paid the price for it though, apparently suffering a broken vertebra and sternum from landing in the flats.
“It was one of the first times in the air I had time to think about the consequences,” he said when the clip went viral.
Fast forward to 2025 and Legal’s latest head turner comes from the Toro Mata sand dune in Peru. The dune is actually a common location for sand-boarding and sand skiing, and Legal makes tackling the 5,905-foot dune look fun. And yes, that’s technically almost 6,000 vertical feet on one run. His skis are toast, but that’s a cool little notch on anybody’s belt.
