Ivika

For those of us that don’t know you - introduce yourself.

Hard question! I'm Ivika. I'm from Estonia. I live in Finland these days, and I really like to snowboard the streets and film.

Where you are right now?

I am in downtown Beijing, China… I am visiting my sister who lives here. I wasn't able to visit here due to Covid for a long time. China didn't allow anyone in, so last year was the first time I could come and this is my second time.

What have you been up to recently?

Well, my boyfriend Tim and I are building a house in northern Finland. Well – maybe not a house, more of a summer cottage – or I guess, let's say a Winter Cottage. It’s in a ski resort called Ruka, which is opening in a couple of weeks. So, we're building there, we actually just moved in there for the first time this summer, which is really exciting. But there's still tons of work to do - we've been building it basically the entire summer. Fortunately, I’ve also been going on some fun trips. I went to the states a couple times and tried to go snowboard, it’s been a really busy summer, it seemed to just disappear away.

And what took you to northern Finland?

I really like to snowboard, and Finland is a perfect location for that. You're close to a lot of street snowboarding spots as well as mountains. I'm also close to home as Finland is quite close to Estonia – however the weather is completely different, Estonia is super flat, and it barely ever snows anymore. So, it didn't make sense to be there. And prior to going to Finland, I lived in the Netherlands, which is even worse for snowboarding, but that's where my boyfriend's from, and then we lived there for a couple years. They do have tons of indoor spots, which is actually really great, because you can also go in the summertime. But I cannot just live somewhere where there's no mountains, no snow, or at least no real snow….

We were filming in Finland during Covid, when you had to get permission to enter and exit the country. It was around April or March, and we thought well, if we leave Finland now, our winter is basically just over… So I stayed in northern Finland in Ruka and I really started liking it there, as did my boyfriend Tim. Next things next we are looking for plots and houses and hopefully for this Christmas we will be completely done, which is very exciting!

Talk us through your journey in snowboarding so far?

I feel like I'm finally in a place where I'm feeling comfortable and I can be myself. When I first started filming eight or nine years ago, then it was a constant struggle. You're that odd girl who also wants to do what the guys are doing, always trying to find people to film with - it was so, so hard. For a couple of years, I really had to fight for it really, really, really hard, and now, since a few years, it’s so much easier these days. People want women snowboarding, people want women to be involved. Snowboarding right now for women is in a really good spot. I'm finally feeling like I'm being accepted and feeling comfortable, which is really nice. I hope more girls feel the same.

You’re a strong advocate of mental health in snowboarding, can you tell us a little more about that?

The year I filmed my movie Vitamin, I was feeling really depressed and had been feeling really depressed for a long time. During Vitamin the depression was really bad, but I wanted to snowboard because that’s the only thing I know to do. That’s the thing that brought me joy, so you have to keep on going. It’s not always a really fun journey, like people usually portray. Snowboard edits are for the most part very happy - I felt like, if we only show that side of snowboarding it wouldn't be like my truth.

I wanted to be as truthful as possible, and show what it felt like going through that filming process, and just to show everyone the reality of it - and that it's okay to feel like that, it's okay to show it, and I feel like people should be able to show these feelings, and it should be accepted.

After the edit, I got tons of people reaching out to me and thanking me for showing that side of it as well. They had been through these feelings too, but maybe they thought that they were just the only one.

It was really important for me to put it out there.

How do you find the creative process of putting together edits?

So, I think it’s a really special thing that Tim, my boyfriend and I do it together. I think it would have never turned out this way otherwise, I really trust him in the whole process. For the most part, it’s really nice to have someone who knows you. When we are filming, we are working. The whole crew that we film with, we are all friends in the end. Putting out edits is the most important side of snowboarding for me - I wouldn't know what else I would be doing otherwise!

You’ve had quite a lot of challenging injuries over the years, how do you overcome those?

During the year we filmed Vitamin, I think the main reason I got so depressed was from having quite a lot of injuries. Prior to that, I felt I was on a roll, that I was doing pretty well. I did have a couple of injuries here and there, but nothing major. Then I had one bigger one when I broke my elbow and I had to miss an entire season, and then that kind of really messed with my head. I worked so hard to get back into snowboarding, then I broke my foot, then I couldn't snowboard for an entire year. I also had shoulder issues so I couldn’t even use the crutches. I was just like sitting at home in the summertime which was a depressing time. After that, every time I went back to snowboarding I got such bad mental blocks. I couldn't focus on snowboarding. All I could see is just things going wrong, and I was frozen. I would call like “drop” and then I wouldn't drop, because I was completely frozen.

That’s why Vitamin was such an emotional video as well, because I felt like by the end of the season, I had worked through it, and I feel much better now… and actually I feel completely fine now.

What inspires you in snowboarding?

Well, I'm always really inspired by street snowboarding - it's like the spots are speaking to me. I have this trick in my mind and I want to do it somewhere and when I find that spot, then the trick and everything just comes to me because it just makes sense.

I feel snowboarding is so diverse right now, there's so much to get inspired by; what people are wearing, how people are riding, the music they're using for their edits, or even just Instagram - and there's so many good snowboarders to look up to. The amount of things I watch and think, Wait, what was that? How was that even possible? It's a really, really cool time right now in snowboarding.

What inspires you outside of snowboarding?

I'm really inspired by music. I always ride with music, I love music – it’s a source of great inspiration. Recently I started mountain biking, which is actually really cool. It's so much like snowboarding because you're moving fast, and you're finding your line - your way down the mountain. I love being in nature generally - going hiking, swimming, it’s all beautiful.

What advice would you have to girls that are starting out in snowboarding?

It really doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl. Just go for it. Find your way and do whatever tricks you like to do, try not to copy anymore. Be you and find your unique style.