Much to the dismay of skiers everywhere, the American West is having one of the driest winters in the past 60 years. Parts of ski-happy Colorado have seen very little powder so far, which has made it difficult to enjoy any significant time on the slopes. But as you’ll see in the video above, you really don’t need snow anyway. All you truly need is a good set of skis and a slope to slide down.
The four-minute clip features pro skier Candide Thovex, who partnered with Audi in a quest to ski the world, regardless of whether or not there was snow to be found there. Thovex’s journey took him across Europe, Asia, and America where he skied down grassy alpine slopes, through deserts and jungles, and even on rivers and oceans, where he discovered a completely new type of water-skiing.
Learning to surf across water while wearing skis wasn’t the only new surface that the French freerider had to master. He also took on stone, grass, volcanic ash, and even dirt. He also shredded his way past massive statues, jumped roads and huts, and even skied down the Great Wall of China, all while dressed in appropriate ski garb, even though the weather conditions really didn’t require it.
Its all in a days work for the the 35-year-old Thovex, who has been skiing in the French Alps since he was two. At 14 he won the moguls division at the French National Junior Championship, which propelled him to career as a professional freeskier. Over the course of his career he competed in dozens of events and even become the freeride world champion in both 2009 and 2010, before embarking on a second career as a ski filmmaker.
This video was created in conjunction with Audi to promote the Quattro Q7, a vehicle that much like Thovex is designed to perform well just about anywhere. The clip even ends with the tagline “all conditions are perfect conditions,” which not only seems to hold true for the skier but is also an indication of how the car performs on a variety of different terrains and surfaces too.
To find out more about the Ski the World project, visit Audi’s website.
