The first Games were held in Yellowknife, NWT in 1970 with the three contingents coming from Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. The Games were opened by then sitting Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau and hosted 10 sports: badminton, basketball, boxing, curling, cross country skiing, figure skating, hockey, shooting, table tennis and volleyball.
Nuuk, Greenland and Iqaluit, Nunavut hosted the first split community, split country Games
Yellowknife, NWT brought together the circumpolar north for this edition of the games.
The eighteenth Arctic Winter Games was held in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Northern Alberta.
Alaska hosted the circumpolar competitors for this edition of the Arctic Winter Games.
Alaska brought great awareness and much promotion to this edition of the Arctic Winter Games.
