Coffee Table Book of: Biathlon (Paperback)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Biathlon is a large format book of biathlon, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: skating skis and the small target rifle, the range and its targets in snow, the forest tracks between them, the gear and its care, the old roots of skiing and shooting, and a few biathletes seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain on the snow: a pair of skating skis seen from above, a stiff skating boot, a binding and tall poles, a rifle standing upright in a wooden rack at the range, magazines, the padded harness that carries the rifle on the back, the arm cuff and sling for shooting prone, a target plate with its white flaps, a spotting scope on a short tripod, thin gloves and a headband, a race suit and a cleaning rod.

The making and care follow a block of walnut carved into a stock and the finished stock with its cheek rest, glide wax ironed into the base of a ski and the clear scraper that takes it back thin, wax huts at dusk, a groomer at work at night, a first ribbon of snow made by machine in late autumn and snow kept through the summer under sawdust.

The past runs from a rock carving of a hunter on skis and an old bow beside wooden skis, through an old stone cairn on a snowy ridge, leather cartridge pouches, a white snow smock, a log hut at dusk, a long wooden staff, bamboo poles and leather boots, to an old paper target on a wooden frame and an old range left to the weather.

Short notes run through the book, on the skis, the rifle and the range, how a race is skied and shot, and the long history of skiing and shooting in the winter forest: coming into the range, biathletes ease off a little to steady their breathing before they shoot, skating boots have a stiff cuff round the ankle to hold the foot steady as each ski pushes out, when a target is hit, a white flap swings up and covers its black disc, and after ironing, the wax is scraped thin and brushed out of the fine grooves of the base.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a paperback.