Traditional skiing lives on as fur flies

Bayiritu from Hemu, a village in Altay, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, displays his skiing skills. Experts say that primitive people who lived in the Altay area were probably the first humans to master skiing. Yao Tong / for China Daily

Ancient techniques help villagers survive the winter, Cui Jia reports from Altay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

It was presented to the 31-year-old ethnic Tuvan man as a prize for winning a traditional skiing contest in Altay prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in 2010.

While we spoke, Sengelite planed a new set of skis made from spruce. Before he nailed strips of fur to the base of the skis, he called his son Yongdeng over to see if they were long enough for the 6-year-old's rapidly growing body.

"The skis must be about 20 centimeters longer than the skier's height. Yongdeng now finds it difficult to balance on the ones I made for him when he was 3," said Sengelite, measuring the boy's height against the skis.

Winter in Hemu, hidden deep in the Altay Mountains that border Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, can last as long as seven months.

The snow can reach an average depth of 1.5 meters, meaning the village is often cut off from the outside world because roads become impassable for motorized transport.

To cope with the natural environment, the Tuvan, who are believed to be a branch of the Mongolian ethnic group, developed their unique skiing techniques. Some archaeologists believe the design of the skis can be traced back to the late Paleolithic era, also known as the Old Stone Age, around 12,000 years ago, judging by a rock painting of human figures skiing discovered near Altay city, about 200 kilometers from Hemu.