03/25/2026
First, some geography — Dawson City, Yukon, is approximately 1,500 to 1,600 miles south of the geographic North Pole and 1120 air miles north northwest of Seattle. Located at roughly 64° latitude, it lies just south of the Arctic Circle, making it a northern, but not polar, location. Second, the 3rd Dawson City Ice Bowl was held on January 31 with 24 inches of snow on the ground. And finally, the Dawson City Ice Bowl tournament director, Paul Robitaille is not only the Dawson City Parks and Recreation manger, but is most likely disc golf’s biggest promoter in the Yukon Territory, and is definitely a huge disc golfing addict, having played 4 or 5 days a week for over 144 weeks. Paul shared this write-up with his Ice Bowl report:
Our Dawson City Ice Bowl this year was a great time — and honestly, almost funny compared to last year. In 2025 we played at -46°C (-46F), full Arctic cold snap, survival-mode disc golf. This year? A balmy -15°C.
We had rescheduled the event from December 21 to January 31 because my wife and I were about to have a baby and life was just too hectic heading into Christmas. Ironically, had we kept the original date, it would’ve been -48°C (-48°F), colder than last year. So yeah… slight disappointment for the extreme-weather crowd — I think a few people were hoping for another “sufferfest” — but it was way more comfortable and honestly a lot more fun to play in.
We still had a great turnout for a small town — 25 players, ages 8 to 70+, including 10 kids, which we’re really proud of. We’ve built a solid junior group here, and they keep coming back, usually bringing a friend each event. A bunch of them say disc golf is their favorite sport, which is pretty cool to hear.
We played 18 holes with three divisions — juniors, intermediate, and beginner. Gameplay was mostly standard winter disc golf, but we spiced things up with random mandos, alternate tee pads, alternate baskets, and pin prizes on every hole. In the intermediate division, the layout was pretty-heavily modified and it definitely made scores balloon.
Despite that, Spruce Gerberding won MA2 with a -1, which was super impressive given how tweaked the course was, and that division even went to a one-hole playoff. The junior division was awesome to watch — Ethan McDonald won MJ12 with a +3, which is really quite solid for a 10-year-old in winter conditions. And in MA3, which ran a more standard layout with no modifications, Nick Wozniezki took the win with a +2. Small field, but great to see newer players out making nice shots.
Our course at Crocus Bluff Disc Golf Course is short, but it’s honestly awesome in winter. It’s tucked into a pretty-sheltered spruce forest, and we don’t get buried in snow like some places — usually just a few feet on the ground. One big advantage we have is that the City owns a Snowdog, which we use to groom walking trails and the disc golf course. We groom regularly, but before the Ice Bowl we went harder, and the conditions were about as good as winter disc golf gets.
The whole point of the Ice Bowl is promoting winter disc golf, and we’re lucky — people play here year-round. While traffic definitely slows in winter, it never stops. I’m probably the most obsessive one — I’ve been disc golfing 144 straight weeks, usually four or five rounds a week — and that consistency keeps tee pads shoveled, trails packed, and the course playable. The Snowdog just takes it to another level and makes it way more inviting.
In the end, we raised $500 ($376US) plus food donations for the Dawson City Food Bank, which is exactly what Ice Bowls across North America are about — fighting food insecurity while proving winter disc golf is very much a thing.
So yeah — maybe not the brutal Arctic ordeal some folks were hoping for, but an awesome day, great vibes, and a really solid showing for disc golf in the Yukon.
