INTERSKI A Supporter's View

By Keith Jeffers

 

Having never been to an Interski Congress, I had no idea what to expect in Finland. Was it going to be 24 hours a day of geeky ski talk? Perhaps Lapin Kulta Beer, when discussing pronation and supination? Maybe even a Lakka Cloudberry liquor while debating edge release, pressure and balance? All I knew was that Finland was known as the happiest country in the world, so no matter what, it should be fun.

 

    

 

Canberra to Levi Finland is a long way away – 25 hours travel to Kittilä in Lapland, the closest airport to the Levi Ski Resort. It is cold, landing at a snowy airport at a freezing though sunny -23C.  Upon arrival, our hosts were there to greet everyone. With Finnish efficiency, we were ushered to buses and headed off on the 30-minute ride to Levi.

Levi is a spectacular resort town. The mountain rises only 531 metres above sea level from the vast snow-covered plains, frozen rivers and lakes. The Australian supporter team stayed at the Panorama Hotel overlooking the town, that provided the only ski-in ski-out facilities on the mountain. From here there were fantastic views of the Northern Lights glowing over the resort on many nights.

 

    

 

Each participating country was allocated hosts to assist the demo team and their supporters. On the first day our hosts lead a tour across the resort. Levi is the second largest resort in Finland with 26 lifts (a variety of gondolas, chairlifts and T-bars) and 35kms of groomed runs. The spectacular scenery on bluebird cold days made for fantastic skiing conditions. Skiing around the mountain for the morning had us all excited for the opening ceremony that evening.

A beautiful clear, cold evening set the scene for the opening ceremony. The bar area was open and pumping while the crowd enjoyed the Suomi folk music and dancing. Santa led the team of flag bearers down the well-groomed demo slope. This was followed by the opening runs from the 37 teams represented at Interski. Australia performed exceptionally; the large crowd expressed their admiration through applause and cheers.

 

         

 

The following day I attended the APSI on-snow presentation with Emma Christiansen covering the APSI’s Nine Lesson Essentials. Emma explained and demonstrated the workings of the APSI’s model very well. One participant thought it was odd that the APSI have ‘Student Goals’ in those essentials. “Obviously, their goal is to ski/board better” was the comment. By the end of the session, he could see why this is included (fingers crossed).

 

 

One of the main reasons for attending – other than it should be fun – was to look at the advancements and thinking around the Adaptive space. I followed many of the Adaptive sessions, including Tom Hodges’ APSI presentations. I really enjoyed the Adaptive sessions. We discussed new and better ways of engaging with our guests and tried out some new/updated equipment, including a ‘sit snowboard’. The highlight of the Adaptive sessions was taking local adaptive guests on a lesson. This way we were able to experiment with new ideas and equipment. The guests had travelled from Napakettu, about an hour away, to be with us and were super excited to be part of Interski.

 

    

 

During the week, we got to ski a lot, learn a lot, meet people from around the world, and even managed a few excursions. A fabulous trip to a husky park where we enjoyed husky-drawn sled rides. A great ski trip to Ylläs Resort, the largest resort in Finland, where the skiing in the morning was amazing. A snowmobile trip to a Reindeer farm, riding at 90km/h through the frozen forest. A delightful team dinner at the Northern Lights Ranch, where we dined on reindeer, salmon, elk and venison.

 

    

 

The week drew to a close way too quickly. The final day finished with a fantastic show on the demonstration slope. The adaptive guests and instructors led the ceremony, followed by an all-women synchro ski/board demo and an all-snowboard run. Each country showed off their skills one more time to the crowd's delight. Finally, everyone skied/boarded down the demonstration slope – looking a little like Front Valley on a super busy day (except everyone here could ski well). Needless to say the closing party was a great night of music, dance, and the odd schnapps.

 

    

 

The Australian Demo team did a fantastic job presenting their topics in all disciplines, and their on-snow performance was outstanding. It was such a fun event. For anyone considering attending in the future, I highly recommend the week. So, it wasn’t just geeky stuff. I met people from all over the world, hung out with the Demo team and the supporters, learned from some of the best skiers/boarders in the world, and ate lots of great local food. It was an absolute privilege to instruct local adaptive guests and to see the joy on their faces.

Hopefully I will be back in four years!