Herder skis to podium

"Climbing a mountain on skis felt like how we played in childhood," he says, adding that years of traversing mountains and ridges in the pastoral area built his physique.

He began dominating national races in the vertical climb discipline, where athletes race straight up a mountain. For the past two years, he has been registered as an athlete and concurrently serves as a coach for the Sichuan provincial ski mountaineering team.

He now splits his time training and mentoring younger recruits, many from urban backgrounds unlike his own.

The pace of change in attitude about winter sports still surprises him. "When I started ski mountaineering, a big race might draw just a few dozen people. Now, hundreds line up," Meyirbek Xigis says. "I believe more children from pastoral areas will 'ski' their way into a brighter future."

Photos by Hu Huhu, Yan Linyun
and Ma Kai | Xinhua