'Lazboard': Snowboarding in Turkey's Black Sea region

The snowy slopes of Petran, a plateau in the Ikizdere district of Rize, a Black Sea province, were dotted with people each holding primitive planks resembling modern snowboards, known as petranboard.

Petranboard is locally known as "üzme tahtası," or skiing board, among the locals.

It is alternatively called the "Lazboard" with Laz referring to the ethnic composition of the region.

Commanding a wooden plank with a rope tied on the front while holding a stick in one hand, petranboarders ski down snowy slopes.

Stories vary about its inception with some attributing it to a boy who came up with its design as a practical way to wash rugs with snow by using planks on the rugs spread on a slope. In time, it became a preferred means of transportation for locals living on the Petran Plateau, which experiences heavy snowfall throughout winter.

Made of pine trees, the 30-centimeter-wide and about 190-centimeter-long plank was mostly used to reach the town center from the plateau in the past before it went into obscurity with the construction of roads and the emergence of cars and other faster methods of transportation.

As winter tourism flourished in the region, locals turned to petranboard again to attract more tourists to the Black Sea province and came up with the festival more than a decade ago.

Fatma Havuz, 71, goes down a slope on a petranboard in the Ikizdere district of Rize, Turkey, March 30, 2021.

Fatma Havuz, 71, goes down a slope on her petranboard in the Ikizdere district of Rize, Turkey, on March 30, 2021.

Fatma Havuz, 71, poses for the camera with her petranboard in the Ikizdere district of Rize province, Turkey, March 30, 2021.

Locals enjoy snowy weather in the Ikizdere district, Rize, Turkey, March 30, 2021.

Locals enjoy the snowy slopes in the Ikizdere district, Rize, Turkey, March 30, 2021.

Petranboarders ski down snowy slopes in the Ikizdere district, Rize, Turkey, March 30, 2021.

Petranboarders ski down snowy slopes in the Ikizdere district, Rize, Turkey, March 30, 2021.

Petranboarders ski down snowy slopes in the Ikizdere district, Rize, Turkey, March 30, 2021.