For more than 50 years, hundreds of athletes, coaches and supporters from the circumpolar north have gathered biennially to engage, compete and celebrate the culture of the Arctic.
This year, the Arctic Winter games will be held in Alaska for the first time in a decade, and will bring together Indigenous youth athletes from Northern Alberta, Nunavut, Nunavik, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska, Greenland and Sápmi, the traditional homeland of the Sámi people in Scandinavia.
Team Northern Alberta will be represented by 192 athletes, 93 male and 99 female, 43 coaches, 13 mission staff and two cultural participants.
The Games kick off Sunday March 10, running through March 16.
Youth will compete in different events including Alpine skiing, ski and snowshoe biathlon, cross-country skiing and snowboarding.
There is also basketball, gymnastics, volleyball and wrestling, with plenty of traditional Indigenous competitions like Dene games, including the finger pull, and Arctic sports like the high kick.
Previously, the Games have been held in Anchorage (1974), Fairbanks (1982, 1988, 2014), Chugiak-Eagle River (1996) and on the Kenai Peninsula (2006). The last edition in 2022 was hosted by Wood Buffalo in Alberta.
The events are expected to draw thousands of spectators to the region, pumping millions of tourism dollars into the local economy at a time of year when visitor rates are typically low, tourism officials said.
A winter carnival will operate March 15 and 16 at the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer, with rides, a caribou petting zoo and a craft fair. Two fireworks shows will also be staged from the fairgrounds at 8:45 p.m. March 14 and 15.
An Indigenous fashion show and concert by the Alaska Inuit soul band Pamyua will be held March 14 at the Glenn Massay Theater on the Mat-Su College campus in Palmer. And on March 15, the Glenn Massay will host a cultural gala showcasing performances from across the regions represented in the Games.
A full schedule of events is available on the Arctic Winter Games website, awg2024.org.
You can also follow Team Northern Alberta on social media, or follow along on the live streams.
Whitehorse, Yukon will host the 2026 Arctic Winter Games
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