CHINA 2016 Our crew had come to ski the uncharted peaks of the Altai mountains in Western China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. China claims this wild, isolated range—a collision on a map between China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia—is the birthplace of skiing. I still remember being at an outside venue in the small mountain town of Khom. Through billows of cigarette smoke, men on horseback playing tug-of-war with a goat shot us skep-tical stares. Inside, children danced in colorful washes to tinny music leaking from old speakers while women in beautiful dresses prepared the feast: an entire goat on a platter. We’d already been sick and this didn’t exactly inspire confidence. We were starving but terrified to eat. Days earlier, on our trip into Khom and high along the switchbacks leading away from more populous cities below, we encountered this man on horseback, alone and dressed to impress. He was just stopped, as if posing in the middle of nowhere. Somehow the way this photo was exposed makes it look like the man and his horse are floating in a perfectly white background, unimpressed by the journey that had brought us together on this mountain pass. 070 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 15, Issue 3: Page 70
