Traditional skiing lives on as fur flies

A bird's eye view of Hemu village, high in the Altay mountains in Xinjiang.

Experts say the primitive people who lived in the Altay area were very likely the first humans to master the art of skiing, and the Tuvan still employ the same techniques as those depicted in the painting.

Unlike modern skiers, the Tuvan use a single, long wooden pole held with both hands at the back of the skis to balance and steer. They also lean most of their body weight on the pole, rather like gondoliers.

The hand-made skis with bent tips, but no overall standard design, can cross the snow just as quickly as modern skis when descending, but there's one feature of fur skis that modern-day equipment can't match - the ability to ski uphill.

"During winter, we used skis to hunt moose in the mountains, so it's essential that we're able to move both up and downhill," Sengelite said. He shouted to Yongdeng, who had been climbing a hill on his skis, and speaking in Tuvan, a language completely unrelated to modern Mongolian and with no written form, shouted encouragement, urging the boy to go even higher.

When moving uphill, the coarse fibers of the fur dig into the snow, allowing the skiers to gain the necessary purchase, but they flatten down and become slick during a descent. "The fur has to come from the forelegs of horses because the hairs are long and thick. That makes the skis fast and durable," said Sengelite, as he signaled for Yongdeng, who has been learning the Tuvan ski tradition for three years, to come down and join us.

As he descended, Yongdeng tumbled into the knee-high snow. "I want him to join the village team in the annual fur-ski competition this month, so he needs to train harder," said Sengelite, whose victory in the 10,000-meter cross-county traditional skiing competition in 2010 won him the snowboard he proudly displays at the back of his house.

To help his son with the extensive training regime, Sengelite has built two snow slopes at different angles in his backyard, training aids that many lovers of winter sports can only dream of.

Hemu hasn't had as much snow as usual this winter. "We had two meters of snow in 2012. The horses can't walk when the snow is deep, so we have to ski to and from the village center. Every household uses fur skis; we can't live without them in winter," said Sengelite.

When winter arrives, motorized vehicles are redundant, so horse sleds and fur skis become the common modes of transport in the village, which is home to around 1,200 residents, most of them Tuvan. "Modern doesn't necessarily mean better," said Sengelite, while watching horse sleds ferry fodder and people up and down the mountain, following the tracks created by the constant traffic.

All the houses in Hemu are made of wood, an easily accessible material in a village surrounded by heavily wooded mountains. The extreme slant of the roofs prevents snow from accumulating on the tops of the houses and preventing them from collapsing under the weight.