The free skiing legend takes to Norway’s Arctic tip to embrace new adventures

Relentless Energy Drink sponsored free skier Joe Tyler is never one to shy away from a new challenge. In fact, he positively embraces the chance to expand his skills and experience, and on a recent trip to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard he had the chance to try out a special kind of hybrid pursuit. In the first of his two-part account on learning how to kite ski, Joe introduces us to the stunning scenery of the area and indulges in a spot of ski-doo riding.

At 11:30PM on May 19 2011, I arrive in Longyearbyen airport on Svalbard. It’s roughly -5 degrees and the sun is high in the sky. It’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like this. I’m a little tired but the sun just seems to fill me with energy - or else it’s tricked my brain into thinking that it’s midday again.

Glacier cruising

Just before I set off from England, I messaged my friend Steve Lewis - who’s lived up here for the last seven months. A friend of his called Philip picks me up from the airport. He drives me around to Steve’s place to drop my bags off and then we head to meet Steve at work – base camp - where he’s waiting for the new arrivals off the bus. We sit and have a couple of beers and then decide to head to one of the pubs - there are really only two - so we go to the one where Steve has his smallest bar tab and is still comfortable entering the premises.

" We fire out across the glacier, the sun still blazing"

After a few drinks we had back to Steve’s little Red Cabin, and after making one call we’re gloved-up and off to meet a friend of Steve’s who has two Ski-doos waiting for us. Cruising along at 100kph, heading out into the open vastness and letting go of the fear of consequences is just what the doctor ordered. We fire out across the glacier, the sun still blazing and the freedom of going wherever we want and doing what we want keeping us fired up. Just driving out there fills me with inspiration; there are so many natural kicker spots and crazy features that could be built into this wild open terrain.

Beware of the bear

The town is pretty small with one main street and there are only around 2,000 people living here, so it’s a pretty close-knit community. I’m more worried about the polar bears than any claustrophobic rumour-mongering though. There’s 3,000 of them and I’ve heard they can weigh anything from 400 to 800 kilograms. That’s a pretty big bear coming for you and they outnumber the amount of people, so I’ve definitely taken my place in the food chain here - somewhere above a reindeer but definitely below a polar bear. There aren’t many incidents where humans and polar bears meet. Steve has been here for several months and he has come across one set of tracks.

Needless to say, I read a pamphlet before coming up here and they make it pretty apparent that in the towns people are normally pretty safe, but while venturing outside it’s a wise idea to get a high powered rifle for polar bear protection. The pamphlet also promotes the fact that these bears are as tough as fucking nails and it will take several shots to take one

"these bears are as tough as fucking nails and it will take several shots to take one out"

out. I also heard a story yesterday about how a guy shot a bear, which had grabbed his friend, with a shotgun nine times (with slugs), and then eventually the bear dropped his friend and ran off. I’m kind of hoping that if I do see one it’s from a distance.

Back flips and flip kickers

The next day around 12, Steve arrives back at the cabin saying we’ve got five minutes to get ready. His friend Einar arrives driving a big family car. Good job really, as we pile in about eight people and a whole load of gear – including my brand-new skis. We drive about 10 minutes out of town towards Mine 7 - the last working coal mine on the island. As we approach the mine, it’s pretty obvious to see where it is as the snow and ground all around is stained black with soot. Before climbing up the hill, we turn off onto an ice track towards a little red cabin in the middle of a snow field. I can see that these guys have been here not too long ago as there are sofas and wind breakers carved out of the snow. It’s a pretty warm day and there’s not too much wind. A Swedish girl called Josephine pulls out a training kite and her and our friend Timo go off to practice.

I just watch to see if I can pick up any hints from his technique of doing figure-of-eights with the kite. Steve and I decide to build a drop-in ramp for a little flip kicker. First go and Steve doesn’t get that much air -  but with skis sometimes it’s easier to get more speed at the start, so I drop and think I might have enough speed to pull a Lincoln…but no. Luckily it’s soft snow on the landing. We tweak the drop-in ramp, building a little platform to get some extra speed - but both times it just collapses once Steve or I are on top, so we decide to try the pull technique. Timo and I stand either side of Steve and he uses our arms to pull himself forward and get some extra speed. Two or three goes in and Steve stomps a few backflips - his first for a good year or two. He’s pretty chuffed.

Getting the hang of it

"He soars over the edge, floating off down from the top of Mine 7"

After this, I go with Josephine to play with the kite. It’s a training kite for kite skiing/boarding/surfing. At first, it feels pretty weird and I just crash it into the ground a few times - but then I start to get a feel for the wind and how to keep the kite flying, doing figure-of-eights and full loops back to eights, then another full loop to untwist the lines. It starts to get pretty easy after a while - but I can see that once you actually use this with skis or a board, it’s going to be pretty tricky to understand the direction you want and keeping the kite flying fast. In the meantime, Einar has set up the full-size kite with his skis and is trying to get some movement, but the wind just isn’t strong enough to get anywhere - so he and Steve decide to go flying with the speed glider. A speed glider is just like a paraglide but a lot smaller, so you have more agility but less airtime as the wing is a lot smaller and you are always dropping.

Steve is set up on his board and Einar gives him a few last-minute tips. Steve has had some practice before with a paraglider. I don’t see Steve set off from the top as Timo and I go to the edge where it drops off pretty steep to see where there’s a clear path through the rocks. A couple of minutes later, Steve comes riding up to the edge with the wing up above him perfectly picking him up. He soars over the edge, floating off down from the top of Mine 7. It’s so amazing to see and I really want to have a go, but I’m a little unsure as I’ve had no training whatsoever. Timo and I ski down following the direction that Steve went. The conditions are very spring and this slope is quite banked up. I feel a little insecure riding down because if it did go, I’d have to just go straight and go really fast for quite some time to avoid being taken out. A couple of turns in and a few awkward glances up the hill after every turn just to check and see if I’m OK and then I start to relax, putting my first Arctic turns in.

Read Part Two via the link below.

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Joe Tyler

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