INUVIK
The key way to adapt regular slo pitch skills to the winter field of sno pitch at the 2017 Inuvik Sunrise Festival was not to take it too seriously.

Stephanie Parkes prepares for the pitch at the Sunrise Festival. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photos

"It's harder," said Ray Solotki as her team was up to bat. "Even just running from home to 1st base is exhausting, because we're all wearing snow gear."

Two loose teams set off against each other Sunday afternoon on the last day of the festival. The snowy weekend was the 2nd annual sno pitch game at the festival.

"We developed it last year at the Sunrise Festival just for another activity to get people out and active," said Solotki. "It was really quite popular."

Everyone keeps track of themselves, she said, and it's not a regulation-sized field or anything like that.

"You've got to be careful because you don't want to slip and hurt yourself," said Solotki. "Everyone's running a little slower, but it's easier to slide (because) you're not so afraid to dive into the plate. That's a little different. You can take a few more risks in some ways but you've got to be more careful in others."

Nadine Wagner and daughter Melody weren't scared of the challenges though. They batted and ran the bases together, with Nadine carrying Melody high all the way around the bases.

One of the other challenges were whiteout conditions.

"It's hard to see," said Solotki. 

She had a friend visiting from Ontario and just wanted to have some fun running around the bases and taking pictures.

"I got onto 3rd (base), so I'm pretty pleased," she said.

The mild temperature last Sunday was a welcome change from last year's event.

"Today is absolutely perfect," said Solotki. "I want to say it was about 10 degrees colder last year. It was pretty miserable, and yet everybody was playing with a smile on their face. That's all that matters - having a good time in Inuvik."