[Photos: Tim Schiphorst/Postland Theory. Interview: Paula Viidu]
A couple of years back, we received an email from an Estonian girl we’d never heard of asking us to check out her new street part. The fact that it was filmed by Postland Theory made us sit up and take notice, not to mention that it was from an under-the-radar Euro chica, and once we’d finished watching the part it was clear that Ivika Jürgenson was a name we’d certainly be remembering. Fast forward to today and Ivika’s been voted into 4th place in our European Rider of the Year awards by her peers, dropped another hammer-laden compilation of streetboarding, and is filming for Jess Kimura’s The Uninvited project. It’s safe to say that Ivika is on fire, so Paula Viidu sat down with her to get a little insight into what she’s all about…
We’ve seen your Uninvited video part and it’s sick. Tell us a little bit what you’re up to at the moment, how’s this season been so far and what’s happening for you this spring?
Right now I’m waiting for my connecting flight to Quebec. Gonna go on a trip with The Uninvited crew! This season has been pretty good – a lot of shovelling! I’ve spent the most of it in Finland with the Postland crew. What I really wanna do this spring is to get some slushy park laps done!
Let’s go back to the roots. You’re from Estonia, how did you get into snowboarding, and what’s the scene like there?
I guess I got into snowboarding because of my dad. We always use to go snowboarding and by that I mean skiing at Kuutsemäe – a local resort there. We always went skiing, until one day my dad suggested trying snowboarding because it looks like a lot of fun so me, my sister and my dad all got boards and we’ve all been snowboarding ever since – we never went back to skiing. But when I was living in Estonia, I couldn’t snowboard all that much so after graduating high school – that’s when I got more into it. I’m not that familiar with the scene anymore, because I haven’t been there that much but I used to love snowboarding there because all the resorts are really small and it’s kinda like riding indoors, the lifts are really short and you can take loads of laps so it’s really fun. But there’s not that much snow these days. The resorts open really late and everything just depends on the snow.
“Where I started snowboarding, they only had rails so that was the first thing I started riding. I never got into jumping that much or anything like that because we just didn’t have jumps there”
Where did you go to find more snow?
Right after graduating I did a season in Mayrhofen, that was my first season and that’s where I got more into snowboarding and after that… well, I’d always had a dream of going to Bear Mountain from watching all these awesome videos and I guess once you do a season there you don’t want to do a season anywhere else.
Where’s your love for rails from?
That’s from Estonia, because all the resorts are really small so what they have there is small rails and small jumps. Where I started snowboarding, they only had rails so that was the first thing I started riding. I never got into jumping that much or anything like that because we just didn’t have jumps there.
You won the Volcom Peanut Butter Rail Jam a few years back. How do you feel about contests these days?
Nah, I don’t really compete. I guess there aren’t that many rail jams or rail contests anymore and I guess it’s also not really my thing. This past year and this year I’ve been filming and I didn’t wanna travel anywhere just to do a contest, I’d rather travel somewhere to film.
How did you hook up with Jess Kimura and The Uninvited crew?
I got uninvited [laughs].
Share