Snowboarder impresses in B.C.
Grise Fiord resident Etuangat Akeeagok prepares to ride glacier this summer
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, June 1, 2015
AUSUITTUQ/GRISE FIORD
One of the few snowboarders in Nunavut is hoping his recent experience will help grow the sport in the territory. Etuangat Akeeagok of Grise Fiord returned from his second visit to Core Camps in Whistler, B.C equipped with new skills.
Etuangat Akeeagok of Grise Fiord spent two months in Whistler, B.C. learning new snowboarding skills, including his new favourite trick: the frontside 360 with a tail grab. - photo courtesy of Core Camps |
''I wanted to learn the proper way of snowboarding because I taught myself how to snowboard,'' said the 19-year-old, who repeatedly climbs and snowboards down the mountain in the hamlet.
He first went to Core Camps two years ago, and spent two months at the site of the 2010 Olympic snowboarding events to learn skills he could bring back home.
''The reason I went back again is to really improve my riding, doing tricks and stuff.''
The class is for beginner to advanced, and he considers himself an intermediate boarder.
But it's hard to match the extreme conditions he's subjected himself to in order to learn the sport.
''Where I live, it's mostly very narrow and very steep,'' he said, noting that Whistler gives him more variety and a chance to finesse his skills.
''At Whistler, there are not too steep parts, and you can go from beginner to crazy lines. All the jumps and rails at Whistler are from machines, and back home in Grise Fiord, I have to build my own jumps with a shovel.''
Campers came from all over the world to learn from coaches based in Canada, Norway and Spain.
''Each time he joins us, the other campers are really amazed about his story,'' said camp director Turner Montgomery.
''Where he lives, how long it took him to travel to Whistler, how he started snowboarding, the videos of him snowboarding in Grise Fiord. All of the campers love to hear his stories of snowboarding in the North, his hunting stories, etc.''
Near the end of his time in Whistler, where he spent extra time boarding on his own, Akeeagok ended his season.
''Two weeks before I left Whistler, I broke a rib and cracked a bone on my back, so I couldn't snowboard anymore,'' he said.
''It's almost 100 per cent (as of May 27).''
He's out of commission for a few more weeks, he said, but the season is long in Grise Fiord.
He's hoping to snowboard the glacier near the mayor's cabin this summer.
Residents may see him doing his new favourite trick: the frontside 360 with a tail grab.
''I really want other people to start snowboarding in Nunavut,'' he said.
''It's so much fun for me. I'm very passionate about it. I want to inspire other people.''
