Northern Wilderness Skills and Traditions: March 2011

As the skis were done the next step was to proceed with the bindings. The bindings on the model skis were interesting, In most Siberian skis the binding is made out of leather thong, but in this case a loop made out of a twig or a brach is jammed in to the two holes on the opposite sides at the "päläs".

Image 1. Two different types of bindings for a flat "päläs".

The ski has to be balanced correctly, which in this case means that the rear has to be slightly heavier that the front of the ski. I drilled the holes at the mid-section of the ski, balance has to be adjusted by removing wood until both skis are identically balanced.


Image 2. A fresh juniper branch is driven through the holes in the ski-board			.

In order for the stick/twig loop to hold two things have to be taken in to account: 1. The holes have to be drilled in an angle away from each other so that the loop will hinge correctly. 2. The stick/twig has to be inserted when it is fresh or when it has been heated and left to dry for a day or two before it is jammed in and trimmed.

Image 3. The finished skis.

As the loops had dried and been fitted I added the bindings, two strips of brain-tanned moose hide. I also rubbed the skis with seal oil. The finished skis weighted 1,5kg a piece. Their measurements; max. thickness 1.8 cm., lenght 160 cm and max. width 16.3cm.

Image 4. The Hanti skis to the left.

Photo / Image Credits

Image 1 Istoriko-etnograficeski atlas Sibiri 1966.

Image 2-4 Marcus Lepola

This winter has been extreme, cold Siberian and Arctic winds have been blowing across Finland and partly because of this I have been inspired to explore the ways of our language-relatives in Russia.

I have been planning to make a pair of snowshoes but I realized that I could instead replicate the next best thing; - a simple pair of Siberian skis. The Siberian skis represent a very archaic form of skis. The Siberian ski-type is spread across a wide territory from the Western slopes of the Ural mountains to the Kamtchatkan Peninsula in the East. The ski-type and is very distinct as it it shorter and broader than skies used in the Nordic countries. Skis of this type have a very flat, boardlike appearance.

These type of skis are made to enable winter-travel in the thick powdery snow of the Siberian taiga. These skies are more for walking than for gliding. They are in fact more like snowshoes than skis.

Even if the Siberian skies appear very similar at first glance there are many differences in construction among the Siberian peoples. There are variations in the shape of the ski and the width-lengt proportions. There are also differences in how the footing surface on the skis are constructed, in Finnish this part of the ski is called päläs and there are three different type of päläs. The footing or päläs can be flat, raised or it can be formed as an channel for the foot.

Image 1. From the left; a Hanti ski with a raised päläs, a Komi ski with a channel päläs and a Hanti ski with a flat päläs.

The Siberian skis are often fitted with fur on the bottom of the ski. The skin is attached on the running surface of the ski so that the hair points backwards. The most typically used skin was the legskin of reindeer as the skin is though and the short hairs provide traction when climbing hills but glide effortlessly forward. Sealskin was also used by coastal dwellers.

It is interesting to note that the same type of short broad skis were used in Finland and Scandinavia during the neolithic and the bronze-age. There are several finds of skis in bogs and these resemble the Siberian types.

Image 2. The Kalvträsk skis and ski-staff.

There is also some drama in connection to the prehistoric skis found in the Nordic bogs as there is some debate conserning which country can claim to own the oldest ski in the world. Three men digging a ditch in a bog near Kalvträsk in Västerbotten, Sweden in 1924 discovered two 15cm wide and 204 cm long skis along with a skipole. Later C-14 dating of this find confirmed the age to 5200 BP (before 1950). In Northern Finland, some 10 km from Saija, Jaska Repo, a farmer diggin a ditch in a bog called Särkiaapa in 1938 unearthed a broken ski. The ski is estimated to have been 15cm wide and max. 180 cm long. The ski from Särkiaapa was also C-14 dated to 5200 BP. So both findings date back to 3200 B.C. Sadly for the Finns a second c-14 dating of the Särkiaapa ski resulted in 4470 +/- 110 BP, so it appears that the Swedes won this time!

Image 3. The Särkiaapa ski from Salla, Finland.

Although inspired by all this I was in a hurry to finish a serviceable pair of skis in matter of only a week so I decided against making a copy of some archeological find and to go for a fairly simple model with a flat päläs-design to reduce carving-time.

Image 4. A pair of hanti skis design for use on crusted snow.

I found a photo of a Hanti ski that seemed easy enough to make. I pretty much had to guess the lenght of the ski since the book in which the ski was sketched did not provide any exact measurements. This type of ski should perform best in spring when the sun melts the surface of the snow and it freezes to a crust during cold nights. This would suit me perfectly as it is already March and winter will only last for a few more weeks in southern Finland.

Image 5. One ski is cut out from the spruce board.

I picked up some wide spruce boards at the local lumberyard (thanks Edgar!). The wood was not perfect as there were several knots in the boards. I managed to carve the skis so that there is a knot in the middle of the tip on both skis. This should prevent the tip from cracking as spruce is prone to crack easily.

Image 6. Bending the steamed tip.

The bottom, or the running side of the ski was carved flat and the top convex. I slightly stream-bent the tips after first soaking them in water for a couple of days. The skis are now almost finished, I still have to fit them with some bindings and also apply some animal fat on the wood before I can try them out.