Snowboarding is a new sport, but retreating to the mountains is an ancient practise.
In an episode of the Warrior Games, which airs Saturday on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, the First Nations Snowboard Team highlighted the connection between their snow sport and an ancestral Coast Salish custom that sees teenagers and adults alike withdraw to the mountains for weeks at a time.
鈥淏efore contact, a lot of First Nations in this area would go to the mountains for a month, especially the Cheakamus Valley, they would go out for a month, go back to the long house and share it. Today very few practise it still,鈥� said the FNST director Aaron Marchant, a member of the Squamish Nation.
Telling the Warrior Games about their snowboard program meant taking a new look at Coast Salish spiritual rituals, said Marchant.
鈥淲e were trying to find a relation,鈥� he said, noting the value of reconnecting to the land and adding that such a retreat 鈥渋s something a teenager could do.鈥�
The snowboard program operates on Grouse and Whistler mountains, where it gives aboriginal teens and young adults a chance to learn, compete and coach the sport. Youth from Pemberton to Metro 麻豆传媒映画are provided with equipment a lift pass and, on Sundays can get a free ride to the mountain. For the Warrior Games episode, which was shot in February 2013, host Steve Sxwithul鈥檛xw strapped on a snowboard for the first time and challenged himself by preparing to race. His teachers were 20-something participants in the program and assistant coach Mike Barton.
鈥淎ll the little kids were trying to teach and explain and give him tips,鈥� said Burton, 25, who is Nisga鈥檃 and lived in Joyce-Collingwood before moving to Whistler earlier this year.
Sxwithul鈥檛xw, an experienced skier, said the FNST was profiled by Warrior Games because it鈥檚 鈥渄oing more for their nation and their people than I could have possibly imagined. It鈥檚 important to highlight that and, for me, it wasn鈥檛 a sport I鈥檇 tried.鈥�
Warrior Games travels the continent from the Arctic to the U.S. South to feature the sports and competitions played by aboriginal people. The host always tries his hand at the games he鈥檚 profiling. In the pilot episode, Sxwithul鈥檛xw visited the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians where stickball, a sport similar to lacrosse but with 30 players a side and a tall single post for a goal, is a source of passion, pride and identity for the community. It鈥檚 also known as the little brother of war, a point Sxwithul鈥檛xw said is essential to its purpose.
鈥淎 lot of these sports we highlight, some were used to settle disputes and grievances and to bring communities together,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think a lot of people don鈥檛 realize how important sport was before contact and what it meant for our people.鈥�
Sxwithul鈥檛xw, a Coast Salish journalist who lives in Victoria, approaches each sport with knowledge and dignity, bringing a comic humility by willingly putting himself on the line.
鈥淔or me as an urban Indian, if you will, trying these sports and trying to excel in them was really a first for me. No matter how much you fall down and get hurt 鈥� and I鈥檓 a middle-aged dude in my late 40s 鈥� you keep trying over and over again until you master whatever you do.鈥�
In his attempt to learn how to snowboard well enough to race on a course, Sxwithul鈥檛xw met the reality of a front edge. He took a very hard fall 鈥� caught on camera 鈥� and damaged his ribs.
鈥淚 took one spill that caused me to find new respect [for the elements and sport] after I was getting very confident in my training. I told myself, 鈥業鈥檓 not bad,鈥� and I let go a little bit,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 fell flat on my face and crunched my ribs. I ended up in hospital.鈥�
Although Barton and other instructors taught him how to fall and protect himself, the host said the bone-crushing fall happened too quickly for him to tuck his arms against his body.
鈥淚 put my arms out and all I felt was the impact of my elbow into my ribs and hearing it crack,鈥� said Sxwithul鈥檛xw, who said he went into shock before he eventually rallied.
鈥淏ut it was fun. That鈥檚 what the show is about: pushing yourself.鈥�
Profiling the team that snowboards in the Coast Salish mountains many of them grow up looking at and learn about also allowed Sxwithul鈥檛xw, a member of the Penelakut Tribe, to talk about the environment and culture he cherishes.
鈥淲e practise a lot of the same things [as the Squamish]. We鈥檒l go in into the mountains and practise our rituals and traditions,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t can be perceived as a different way of dealing with modern times. The elders may have something to say about that, but [these practises] are important aspects of our lives as First Nations people.鈥�
The Warrior Games episode airs Oct. 25 on APTN. All episodes are online at
