Let the games begin
By Jessa Sinclair
The Arctic Winter Games celebrates its 20th edition.
The Arctic Winter Games returns this March to Yellowknife – the city where it all began in 1970. In a celebration of sport and culture, Yellowknife will host over 2,000 participants from around the circumpolar world. To experience true Northwest Territories hospitality, visit the capital March 9–15, 2008, when spectators will be treated to the best the Arctic has to offer.
Traditional sports such as the knuckle hop, one-hand reach, high kick, snow snake and finger pull were developed centuries ago to hone competitors’ strength and pain endurance. In the high kick, athletes leap to kick a seal-shaped target suspended above his or her head, then attempt to land on their kicking foot, balanced and steady. Nunavut’s Jordan Arngna’naaq, competing in this year’s event, says, “It’s the most difficult sport. You have to control everything from start to finish.”
Circumpolar culture
The 20th Arctic Winter Games isn’t just about sport – language, tradition, dancing and music all join cultural forces in the exchange. It’s an opportunity the Games’ organizers relish. “Because it’s an anniversary year, the cultural element is what we’re emphasizing,” says spokesperson Jacqueline McKinnon. “Our opening and closing ceremonies will be a blend of all kinds of things: throat singing, dancing, you name it.” A series of gala evenings at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre will showcase the arts of the Sami from Norway and Finland, aboriginal peoples from the Russian Far North and Inuit from Greenland as well as native groups from Canada’s territories and Alaska.
Yellowknife also features exceptional accommodation and adventurous local cuisine. Sample the wild-game fondue at Le Frolic Bar & Bistro for a taste of Northern country fare. Bison, deer, caribou and ostrich meat combine for a pot-full of simmering flavor. Visitors can retire to the well-appointed Explorer Hotel, where Queen Elizabeth II stayed in 1970 while commemorating the centennial of the Northwest Territories.
Hail to the king
An eclectic cluster of houseboats lines Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake, where residents pay no city taxes and paddle to their homes in summer. By Christmas, the ice is frozen thick enough to drive a truck over. Houseboater Tony Foliot, also known as The Snowking, builds a barn-size snow castle each year on the ice and holds a festival in mid-March, which this year coincides with the Arctic Winter Games. Films are projected on the snow walls and a skating rink is cleared on the castle grounds. Local artists furnish the garden with elaborate snow sculptures, and there’s a built-in, twisting snow slide for the kids. For a puppet show and a hot chocolate, venture into the sculpted interior where an all-snow café awaits.
Northern Lights hotspot
For dinner and a show al fresco, take an evening to gape at the incomparable aurora borealis. A dog-sledding tour from the mushers at Beck’s Kennels whisks you away from the city lights while curtains of ghostly green billow in the sky. Yellowknife lies directly beneath an aurora oval that rings the North Pole, and there’s a 95 percent chance you’ll see the Northern Lights there. The kennel’s self-guided dog-sledding tour is a bit of a misnomer: the husky team leader knows the route like the back of his paws. He escorts his guests to a cabin where they warm up by the woodstove and bask in the subarctic silence.
Getting here
Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, 4701 52nd Ave., Yellowknife, NT, 867-873-4950, NACCNT.ca
Le Frolic Bistro Bar, 5019 49th St., 867-669-9852, Yellowknife, NT, lefrolic.com
The Explorer Hotel, 4825 49th Ave., Yellowknife, NT, 867-873-3531, explorerhotel.ca
Snowking Festival, Yellowknife Bay, Yellowknife, NT, snowking.ca
Beck’s Kennels, 124 Curry Dr., Yellowknife, NT, 867-873-5603, beckskennels.com
Northwest Territories Tourism, 1-800-661-0788, www.explorenwt.com
Jessa Sinclair is an editor with Up Here, the magazine about Canada’s Far North.
