Late winter in Alaska can be a magical time. Days are getting longer, frozen rivers are still blanketed with snow, and in many places, conditions are near-perfect for cross-country skiing. Yet while sports like basketball and volleyball have long been popular in rural Alaska, skiing simply wasn’t a thing until recently in many remote villages, where everyone and everything must be flown in on tiny planes.
A nonprofit called Skiku is on a mission to change that. Founded in 2012 by Iñupiaq skier Robin Kornfield and Olympian Lars Flora, Skiku is introducing a growing number of Alaskans to cross-country skiing and biathlon, a sport that combines skiing and shooting rifles. Along with its sister organization, NANANordic, Skiku has delivered planeloads of ski gear—along with Olympians and other world-class athletes—to 55 Alaskan villages and counting. The athletes stay for a week each year, coaching local students and their families, but the donated skis, boots, and poles remain in the communities after they fly away.