Sand skiing

Sand skiing (occasionally sand-skiing) is a sport and form of skiing in which the skier rides down a sand dune or strides across a beach on skis. It is practised in many sandy areas, including Sossusvlei, Namibia and Peru,^[1] along with other boardsports such as sandboarding. Sand skiing equipment includes a pair of skis with a laminate base and wax that needs to be applied to reduce friction from the sand.^[2] An International Sandboarding and Sandski Association (InterSands) was founded in 2014 at St. Gallen, Switzerland.^[3]

Skiing in the Sahara

Mahé Freydier, a french ski instructor, set a Guinness World Record in speed sand-skiing on 27 September 2025 on Nazca dunes, in Peru. He reached a speed of 122 km/h.

Competitions over the years have included:

• International Sand Ski Tournament in Florida held from 1949 to 1951^[4]
• Sandblast held in Prince George, British Columbia annually from 1971 to 2003^[5]
• World Sand Skiing Championships held at Redondo Beach, CA^[6]
• Nevada Sand Mountain GS Championship^[7]
• international European championships in sand skiing held regularly on Monte Kaolino since 2007
• Freestyle SandSnow was first held in 2018

In 2018, Fayoum University held a sand skiing event in Fayoum with students from around Egypt joining in on the fun.^[8]

History

Egypt 1939

Skiing on sand has been reported before 1920 in Germany,^{[9] [10]} in 1927 Sahara,^[11] on an Asian expedition^[12] and throughout the 1930s in

• Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado^[13][14]
• French Algeria^[15]
• Cronulla sand dunes, Australia^[16]
• Venice Beach, California^[17]
• Shirahama Beach, Japan^[18]
• Peru^[19]
• Cape Cod, Massachusetts^[20]
• Long Island, New York^[21]
• Tadoussac, Canada^[22]
• Death Valley, California^[23]
• Camber Sands, England^[24]

See also

• Dry ski slope
• Roller skiing
• Grass skiing
• Lençóis Maranhenses National Park