The Rough. Real. Remote. fieldnotes part 3

It is not immediately obvious what it is that makes an Arctic town of merely 5,000 people, with only 22 kilometers of road, feel like an urban center. But up here you’ll find all the elements of life in bigger cities, and as we found out, it’s the youth who shape city life and push it forward.

Kids are riding trick bikes, sitting in cafes, downloading music on their cell phones, and their street culture and globalized perspective isn’t so different from what you will see elsewere. It’s happening in the Arctic. [Check out the Episode Photos tab above for some good shots of urban Arctic life].

The big jump
Mia, whom you already met in Episode 2 – Dog Days, found us poking around the local craft workshop, and excitedly told us that some of the kids in town had spent the weekend building a snowboard jump on the edge of town – they already knew Stefan was around. We were totally stoked and grabbed our boards and skis and headed for the ski area just outside of town.

Kids in colorful gear were taking turns bombing down the slope and hitting the nearly three meter high jump. They were all excited to see a snowboarding big-air legend rip it in their backyard.

Once we arrived and got set up Stefan looked at the jump, smiled apologetically at the kids, and said: “Sorry guys, its too small for me.”

There were a few disappointed groans and some futile attempts at convincing the big-air master, and we’re sure we heard someone mumble “But dude, that’s a 10 meter drop and you ‘re saying it’s too small?”

But as Stefan explained: One thing you need for big air riding is patience, and if the conditions aren’t perfect – you can’t force them. In the end the kids understood, and ultimately what seemed to matter most to them was hanging out together.

Hanging out
We spent the afternoon watching Aputsiaq Kristensen and his crew pull some seriously impressive flips and grabs – while we chatted with the youth on the sidelines. What we came away with after a great day in the sun and snow was that these kids are just as comfortable talking about snowboarding as they are their latest hunting and dog sled expeditions.

Afterwards, we headed back with Mia and her friends to a party (hey, thanks for letting us crash it!), where we chatted about life in Greenland and a girl or two maybe sorta kinda hit on Stefan. But just a bit.