The Age of Canvas: Valday Hills

Valday is made of the former terminal morraines of the most recent glaciation, interspersed with lakes and glades and covered with pine forest. The elevations do not exceed 1000 ft and even this is a lot for the heart of Great Russian Plain. In this image I am a proud leader of my first ski backpack, age 16, with a crew of fellow Moscow State freshmen, and with kind assistance of village grannies who never refused us a board for a whole week we spent out there. This is the last day of the trip, on the West shores of vast Lake Seliger.