Kelly Clark, the woman who I look up to as a female snowboarder, performed the first 1080 to ever be accomplished by a woman in the 2011 Olympics. Clark was one of the first women to gain recognition as a female snowboarder and she sparked the motivation within females all over the world to learn how to snowboard and be great just like her. Snowboarding soon became more and more popular all around, but females slowly started to take over the slopes. While the female snowboarding population isn't as big as the male population yet, we are getting there. As a female snowboarder myself I wanted to share a few things that I know every female snowboarder can relate to, even the pros like Kelly Clark.
1. Messy Hair, Don't Care
While we enjoy our long hair keeping us warm, sometimes it gets too warm. Even with a casual braid or a bun our hair always comes back to bite us in the butt, not even a helmet or beanie can tame the mess that is snowboarder hair. Trust me, snowboarding for six hours with your hair in a bun and a helmet on your head can still create mess of hair that only a bottle of hair detangled can calm.
2. Snow Hos
Ahh yes, the girls who wear the nicest brands, own the best gear and don't use any of it! As the only girl in my group of guy friends who snowboard it gets so annoying to see these "snowboarders" steal their attention in the chalet when all I want to do is get back on the slopes.
3. Flirty Boys
Ok I'm going to be honest, as a female snowboarder it is so nice to look at the guys sometimes since there are so many...BUT when I'm trying to focus on my tricks or cruise and a guy keeps flirting, while not getting the hint that I'm not interested, I can't help but get so irritated. Boys, yes I understand that it's awesome that females are snowboarding but just let us focus on our stuff without having everyone of you flirt with us. We paid for a lift ticket so we can snowboard, not find a boyfriend.
4. Lack of other female snowboarders
Since snowboarding is still a fairly new sport there aren't that many females involved in it yet. 99% of the time I find myself snowboarding with guys because there aren't that many girls to snowboard with. It's always so awesome to meet a fellow lady boarder and hit the slopes with them because it's an instant friendship! Snowboarding is such a great way to bond with someone and make friends, and I wish more girls would take it up. If you're reading this, and have been thinking about learning how to snowboard please DO IT!!!
5. Being recognized as a girl on the slopes
Since Females in the snowboarding world is still so new it still comes across as a shock when someone performs a super awesome trick, and then is recognized as a girl. With my face mask, helmet, and baggy snow gear on you couldn't tell I was girl by looking at me because of this I've been called "dude, homie, man, etc." and they never know I'm a girl until I speak to them, or pull down my face mask. Sometimes it's really funny to see their expressions and attempts to correct themselves once they find out.
6. Lack of gear made for female riders
Go on any snowboard shopping site, or in any board store and you can immediately see all of the guys stuff. Us girls have to spend more time online or in the store looking for what we need, and even those options are limited. Without a doubt there are more styles of gear available for men, but for women it's pretty scarce. Burton Snowboarding has been doing such a great job creating more options for women, but the other snowboarding companies should get their heads in the game and move forward with female snowboarding options also!! Right now I find myself wearing a lot of guys gear, but I wish there was more options for me in the female sections...guys snow pants can get pretty baggy and uncomfortable on a girl.
Although us female snowboarders experience these struggles, we still come back to the sport we love because nothing will stop us from doing it! We are the future of snowboarding for generations to come, and who knows maybe someday us awesome boarding ladies will conquer the male snowboarding population and take over the slopes!
