A Day in the
Life
on Skis
with Community Program Leader
Annika Olesen
Ever wonder what a day at Spirit North really looks like? Follow Community Program Leader Annika Olesen from an early alarm in a borrowed trailer to a late-day solo ski, with mitten sorting, firewood skis, and plenty of joyful noise along the way.
GEAR UP
8:00AM
I’m bundled up and out the door. Inside, the morning's real work starts before a single student arrives: mittens that dried overnight need sorting and pairing, there are snowpants that need to be folded, skis organized by size, water bottles filled, backpacks restocked with warm layers. O Canada and the morning prayer play over the loudspeaker.
LUNCH & REGROUP
BETWEEN CLASSES
Time is constantly on our minds as we calculate how to get the most out of the snow without cutting it too close for the next group. Back at the school, it's time for a loud, frosty group changeover — one class delayering, the next suiting up — with barely a moment for a sip of tea from the thermos before it starts again.
Lunch. Ski pants stay on. A seat opens up at a table full of questions: “What is that in the lunch bag, and could a person maybe try the chocolate chips?” (Trail mix rarely survives lunch intact.)
RISE & PLAN
6:45AM
The alarm goes off in an ATCO trailer, a spare room in the teacher's housing, or a modular home that's more empty than furnished. My home base changes with every school, and this week it's on-reserve housing a short walk from where the day will happen. Now coffee, a few lines in a journal, a check of the weather. Then a quick chat with the co-leader about the day's plan for where the ski trails will run, what the snow's doing, which classes are up first.
ALONE SKI & WIND DOWN
4:45pm
The formal day winds down, but I head out for one more ski, alone this time: a chance for quiet before dinner gets cooked out of a cardboard box of groceries in the back of the car. Some yoga, some guitar, a bit of writing. By nine, it's lights out, ready to do it again tomorrow.
FIRST TRACKS
9:00AM
The first class arrives in a shuffle of small boots and snowpants. I run a quick circle-up (what's happening, what's expected, how to stay safe) before the joyous noise and action begins: snowpants on before boots, mittens located, toques found. "Do we use our skis like walking sticks?" "No!" "How do we carry them?" "Like firewood!" When everyone's geared up, it's a short walk to the ski area, where we ease boot after boot into bindings. I demonstrate the basics (falling and getting back up, turning in a circle, keeping skis parallel) before the group spreads out onto the trail with one Spirit North or school leader up front, and one at the back, ferrying encouragement to whoever needs it.
“The best part about Spirit North is the people. They’re all nice, they don’t judge anybody, and they make me so welcome.”
BACK OUT
AFTERNOON
Two more groups head out before the school day ends, and when there's a ride available, an after-school session also takes place for the students who want more time on snow.
Programs like this one run across the North with support from partners including Canada Post Foundation, Cross Country NWT, and the Daniel Family Foundation — funders who understand that showing up for these communities means showing up all season, in every kind of weather.