Feodor Chaliapin visiting Ilya Repin in February 1914

Feodor Chaliapin visiting Ilya Repin in February 1914. Vyborg Governorate, the village of Kuokkala.

Chaliapin stands on the runners of a Finnish kicksled, a conveyance extremely popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Sweden, Finland, Norway and the northern provinces of Russia.

The design is as follows: a man stands on long runners and propels the sled with one foot, while the passenger sits on the seat. The runners of such sleds can be as long as two metres, and they are suited to both packed and loose snow, if special skis are fitted to them. It is for these technical qualities that devotees of winter fishing prize this form of transport.

Kicksleds remain quite popular to this day, are still manufactured in several countries, and competitions are held in this branch of snowbound locomotion. All things considered, one could hardly devise anything handier than a sled with its own motive power!