Jonas Bendiksen Serik using his skis as an anchor while an elk battles him. They use only their traditional skis and leather hide ropes. This is the traditional way of hunting in the Altai, practiced for thousands (...)
of years. The skiers run the animal into deep snow, where it gets paralyzed. Temperatures in the area regularly drop to minus 40 Celcius. Skiers in the area use a single wooden staff, as opposed to the modern two-pole technique, and the base of their handcrafted skis have horse-hides permanently attached for traction. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang, China, 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Ashatu helping Tursin make holes in the skis for the horsehide bindings. To make a new pair of skis, Tursin fells a Red Spruce tree in the woods and immediately uses an axe to plane the logs into b (...)
oards. At home he then uses a crude planer to thin them out into the basic shape of the ski. By evening he has already bent the two skis into the correct position. The skis then dry and harden in that position to set the shape, before horsehair skins and bindings are put on a few days later. Xinjiang, China, 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Ashatu readies a piece of horse hide that Serik nails unto the bottom of Tursin's new ski. To make a new pair of skis, Tursin fells a Red Spruce tree in the woods and immediately uses an axe to pla (...)
ne the logs into boards. At home he then uses a crude planer to thin them out into the basic shape of the ski. By evening he has already bent the two skis into the correct position. The skis then dry and harden in that position to set the shape, before horsehair skins and bindings are put on a few days later.Altai mountains, Xinjiang, China. 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Kanas, a small village in the upper Altai, where a few hundred Kazakhs and Tuwans live. In local tradition the three days after the Chinese new year are continuous festivities, where the men have (...)
archery competition, drink and eat meats. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang, China. 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen CHINA. 2013. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang. In the hamlet of Akorum, Tursin makes a new pair of skis. He fells a Red Spruce tree in the woods and immediately uses an axe to plane the logs into boards. (...)
At home he then uses a crude planer to thin them out into the basic shape of the ski. By evening he has already bent the two skis into the correct position, with help of his friend and neighbour Ashatu (24). The skis then dry and harden in that position to set the shape, before horsehair skins and bindings are put on a few days later. In the far northern corner of Xinjiang province, in the Altai mountains, one can find the last remnants of an ancient culture. The area is populated by a mix of ethnic Kazakhs, Mongolians and Tuwas, who handmake their own wooden skis in the same way as their forefathers thousands of years ago. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Outside the vilalge of Hkom, a horseman tries to free his animal that is stuck in the deep powder snow. When the snow is too loose and deep, horses cannot move beyond prepared paths - thus the trad (...)
itional need for skis. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang, China. 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen CHINA. 2013. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang. Tuktun (77), who has spent much of his life making skis, hunting and trapping animals. Today he is retired and going blind. In the far northern corner of Xin (...)
jiang province, in the Altai mountains, one can find the last remnants of an ancient culture. The area is populated by a mix of ethnic Kazakhs, Mongolians and Tuwas, who handmake their own wooden skis in the same way as their forefathers thousands of years ago. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Batwulza chopping firewood while on his skis. Skiers in the area use a single wooden staff, as opposed to the modern two-pole technique, and the base of their handcrafted skis have horse-hides perm (...)
anently attached for traction. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang, China. 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen Traditional skier charging down a mountain side. Skiers in the area use a single wooden staff, as opposed to the modern two-pole technique, and the base of their handcrafted skis have horse-hides p (...)
ermanently attached for traction. Altai Mountains, Xinjiang, China. 2013. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos
Jonas Bendiksen CHINA. 2013. Burqin. At the Burqin Museum, petroglyphs of a skier hunting a large animal. The rock came from the area around Chungkor, While the petroglyph remains undated, local historians claim i (...)
t to be more than five thousand years old. In the far northern corner of Xinjiang province, in the Altai mountains, one can find the last remnants of an ancient culture. The area is populated by a mix of ethnic Kazakhs, Mongolians and Tuwas, who handmake their own wooden skis in the same way as their forefathers thousands of years ago. © Jonas Bendiksen | Magnum Photos