New Favorite Person

Ptor Spricenieks’ Antidote to Aging

The 2023/24 season in the Tian Shan was the snowiest in 15 years. In February, we were trapped in a snow globe for days, which led to belly flops off roofs, massive avalanches, and, with Ptor’s expert navigation, first descents and massive pow slashes.
The 2023/24 season in the Tian Shan was the snowiest in 15 years. In February, we were trapped in a snow globe for days, which led to belly flops off roofs, massive avalanches, and, with Ptor’s expert navigation, first descents and massive pow slashes.
Words, Photos and Captions: Joey Sackett

The yurt felt like a sauna. Akim, a Kyrgyz fire tender and pow surfer, was mostly using coal to conserve our low wood supply in Kyrgyzstan’s Tian Shan mountains. Ptor Spricenieks’ wavy locks hung above his shoulders, a furry tebetei hat atop his head, as he grabbed his skis and tipped his head back to catch a couple drops of daily anti-aging serum onto his tongue—C60 lipo-fullerine, which he’s been religiously taking for the past six years. “I’m a ghost driving a meat-covered skeleton made of stardust clinging to a rock hurtling through space,” he explained. Then he grabbed the handle of the yurt door to perform his sophisticated weather “now-cast” by opening the door and looking outside.

The 58-year-old Latvian man, born in the suburbs of Toronto, ON, has been quietly progressing the sport of skiing since the ’90s, while loudly questioning the world we live in. A Nokia flip phone is his primary method of communication. You won’t find him on social media.