Girls, Girls, Girls

jewel of a video
STRAPLESS LADIES oooooooh

Hi Slidie Peeps,

we know you have been waiting for this one and so the hell have we. We had some technical troubles plus our trip to the Leise Bretter snowskate comp put a delay on this post but we can promise you it was well worth the wait because this blog is full of ladies and snowskates, and what more do you want?! We asked the girls and women from the US and Europe to answer a few questions. So let's hear it for the ladies:

1.Hello! Can you please introduce yourself? What's your name, how long have you been snowskating and how did you get into it?

Melissa Spiers (photo by Predog)

Melissa: Hi, I'm Melissa Spiers, I'm 42 years old and have been snowskating for 1 season! Jim’s wife and step-mom to Aidan & Mathilda Spiers, who both place regularly in snowskate competitions, so I got into it through relentless family pressure!

Geraldine Hello my name is Geraldine but my friends call me J.
I first rode a snowskate years ago; My man introduced it to me.

Mathilda Hi my name is Mathilda Spiers and I'm 16 years old. I have been snowskating for about 5 or 6 years, my dad introduced it to me when I was around 10 years old.

Randi I am Randi Rettke, I live on Snoqualmie Pass, WA, USA and I have been snowskating for about 6 years now. I was introduced to Snowskating by Victor Zurn.

Michelle Hi. My name is Michelle Minahan Hickman and I've been snowskating for about four seasons. I started snowskating at Sierra at Tahoe when my husband and his friends switched over from snowboarding to snowskating. They would all go up on Sundays and skate and then bbq in the parking lot.

2. Who do you like to go snowskating with?

Melissa: I love snowskating with Mathilda, Aidan & Zac Spiers because they’re so unfailingly polite and supportive of my flailing attempts! I also adored snowskating with a complete newbie newspaper reporter this year who came to try the sport out; it made me feel like I actually knew a few things and could be helpful, plus I loved sharing the excitement of the sport.

And here is the actual video of the newspaper reporter, Julie Jag, giving it a go with help from Predog.

Geraldine Mike Steinhauser; Chris Guyot; Lions and Adri Barat.

Mathilda I love snowskating with my dad, brother, cousins, and any friends from the snowskate community we are like a big family!

Mathilda Spiers and little pink shredder (photo by Predog)

Randi I like snowskating with Pat Daly the most because he’s always coach me and pushing me to go bigger, and then there is Brian Wilson, Rebel, Braden Pratt, and Adam Cooper that I ride with a lot… and then there are some really kick ass ladies that I ride with too, Dre Powell and Kaite Naylor

Michelle I love to skate with my husband, Bill Hickman, but now that we have a beautiful baby boy we take turns on the mountain.
This season, I have been skating at Heavenly Ski Resort with Kristof Zschaler, Andy Quintiliani, Joe Pronsolino, Jason Mcleod, John Zapata, and a few others. Reek Ellis Atkins, Billy Bradford, Sean Davis, and a few others have shown/taught me some tricks. Even got me to try the C-Box.

3. What kind of riding do you most enjoy? Park ,pow or all moutain?

Melissa: I will never be a park rider. I got my first pow experience a month ago-totally hooked- but usually it’s just regular mountain runs.

Geraldine I like all of them but I enjoy the most my home backyard park and riding in the powder.

Mama Boardslide (Geraldine Flechon) (photo by 0910)

Mathilda Riding powder is by far my favorite thing to do on a snowskate, but next to that I love riding park and trying new things.

Randi I enjoy riding it all. It just depends on the conditions and the day on what I am going to be riding. But you will never catch me in the park on a powder day!

Randi Rettke (photo by)

Michelle I love Heavenly's Groove Park. The boxes are super fun!

4. How do the guys react to you snowskating? Are they supportive or do you have to shred extra hard to gain their respect?

Melissa: I don't think I'm good enough or young enough to be a threat to any guy's ego with my riding,so mostly I've found they're just sweet and supportive and totally into the boards. Snowskating just gets attention!
 

Geraldine The guys are really supportive and always willing to give tips and cheers.

Mathilda Guy's think it's awesome! They are always super supportive of  it. I mean you're going to have some of the guys who think they are better than you at everything, but you have to show them how awesome you actually shred! When the guys are around I feel like I have to try a little harder than I do if I was with all girls, but usually I am with all guys- just in a lot of other sports I do- which pushes me to show them that I don’t have to be a guy to be good and keep up with them.

Randi All of the guys that I ride with are super supportive of what I do. I do have to shred extra hard because they don’t give me any special treatment because I am a girl, they treat me just like I am one of the boys!

Michelle The guys are great. They treat me like one of them. All snowskaters are great for that matter. I haven't met one rude skater!

Michelle Hickman (photo by unknown)

5. What is your advise for other girls who want to get into it?

Melissa: You MUST!!! Don't let anyone tell you it's harder than snowboarding or that you have to ride rails or whatever it is that's holding you back: it's an absolutely awesome ,accessible sport and so much fun! It's not a crazy skateboarding teenaged boy thing (uh…like I had previously assumed) - everyone can do it, and girls have to get out there and swell the ranks!

Geraldine Take your time and take it easy at first. Snowskating is all about having fun:

Geraldine (photo by 0910)

Mathilda GO FOR IT! I guarantee that you will have tons of fun and you will have a lot of respect from everyone. At first it was a little intimidating for me because there were only a couple other girls in the group or none at all but, once I let go of that I made a lot new friends and I learned to have more fun!

Mathilda (photo by Predog)

Randi Its tough at first….. but once you get the hang of it you won’t want to stop! Just stick to it! Its sooooo much better then snowboarding J

Michelle Advice? Just go out and do it (But, wear a helmet)!

Michelle (photo by unknown)

6. What can be done to get more girls into snowskating?

Melissa:I think comps should have better women's prizes: often the guy winners get cash and cool equipment and the women's winners get token prizes. Also, I think that the most of us who represent it at all levels and ages, the more girls will be emboldened to try it. And we have to support each other. The top female riders on the West Coast - Michelle Hickman, Randi Rae Rettke, Tara Curtis, Kendra Wilson, Mathilda Spiers, etc - are all so friendly and open and enthusiastic. They truly inspire everyone to go out and do it. 
 

Geraldine Girls love snowskating; some of them just don't know it yet. It would help if every resort will allow to take their lifts and it needs more main stream media coverage. 

Unfortunately this blogspot will not let us upload a higher quality of this awesome video provided by 0910 featuring Geraldine Flechon. For a better quality please go to:

http://vimeo.com/41014662

It's worth it!

Mathilda Call me! Haha no but, if you are a girl and are interested in it get a bunch of your girlfriends and go have fun! We need more girls out there showing the guys that they are not holding us back. All you have to do is try snowskating and after that you will be hooked for life!

Randi I think that as the sport grows more and more ladies will be introduced. Woman being recognized in magazines, websites, blogs, and videos this will show other girls that snowskating isn’t just a men’s sport. I personally always am willing to lend out a skate to anyone that is wanting to learn and welcome newbie’s with open arms!

Michelle Have a girls demo day?

7. What is on your headphones or what tunes get you pumped for the hill?

Melissa I’m an 80s pop-music fan, with some Tom Waits thrown in for good measure.
 

Geraldine Nature

Mathilda Something up-beat, I listen to anything from urban to hip-hop. Basically anything I can sing to. If I’m not listening to something on my ipod, I will be singing something random making my own music.

Mathilda (photo by Kasey Kitchen Forshey)

Randi Honestly I don’t listen to music at all when I am riding. I feel like it is distracting and I like to be aware of my surroundings.

Michelle I don't listen to music on the mountain. I want to hear my surroundings. I've gotten my ribs broken before - after being run into...

8. What snowskate set up do you have?

Melissa I ride whatever Jim gives me to ride for the day! J I was SO thrilled with his swallow-tail powder board the one day I took it out, but usually I just ride whatever small-ish board Jim is trying out with Predog designs. And a Predog bungee leash - I like them so much better than retractables.

Geraldine 0910,vans snowskate shoes and Oakley clothing and eye wear.

Mathilda PREDOG of course!

Randi Well I have 3 I set ups, all with Rocker Trucks. The Pioneer 43 is my park set up, The pioneer 49er is my all mountain ski and probably my favorite (but I love them all) then I have the Pioneer Pow ski for the deep powder days and I rock all of my set ups with Anonymous Leashes.

Randi and her gear (photo by)

Michelle I skate Lib Tech. Stock. Going to try the Rockers next season. All the boys are rocking them. HaHa.

9. Would you like there to be specific snowskate gear or are you happy wearing snowboard clothes?

Melissa? I’ve actually been entertaining the idea of going totally old-school ski gear and wearing my mom’s handknit sweaters from Squaw in the 1960s with super tight wool leggings and some great fur-topped Cole Haan boots. One of the great liberties of snowskating is getting to wear any shoes you want…so why not dress for that?! BUT…I figure I have to be very good first before pulling off a retro look – otherwise I will just look like an old fool who never changed it up. And I'm going to get Predog to put out girls' t-shirts - no one-size-fit-all bagginess!!

Geraldine snowboard clothes are fine, but I would love to see some girly designs on the boards one day

Mathilda Snowboard clothes work perfectly fine for me.
 

Randi I would like snowskate specific pants. I have short leg and when snowskating I wear skate shoes I always drags my pants all over the ground end up destroying the bottoms.

Michelle The only complain I have with snowskate gear is that they do not make snowskate specific shoes for small boys or women.

10..Do you have a funny snowskate story?

Melissa Not really. I did babble on and on to a reporter recently about how much I used to hate snowsports, and what a complete bitch I was to my whole family every time we went to the snow (i.e. every weekend) because I sooooo hated snowboarding and all the awful equipment. I meant it to be an uplifting story of happy ending because I found bliss and family harmony in snowskating finally…but I think I may have just come off as a woman who terrorized everyone with huge pouting fits when forced to snowboard. 

 

GeraldineYes I do; We just moved in a small cabin, in a very small ski resort in France, only to discover that we were not allowed to take the one and only lift......so we hike.

Geraldine (photo by 0910)

Mathilda: My cousin Zac and I were getting off of the lift and somehow we got wrapped up in each other's leashes. We stood on our boards to ride off and he accidentally pushed me over and was sitting on both my board and his board pulling me with him because I was attached to the board. We were laying on the floor laughing for so long after that. 

Well, it's not really funny but, I usually go to Boreal Mountain and one time I was getting my pass checked and one of the lifties told me I was his hero because I was always out here with all of the guys. Later I found out he told my dad what he had told me and was trying to make it very clear that he wasn't trying to hit on me. Now every time I see him there I make sure he sees me. 

Randi Well this story is kind of funny but mostly I just thought that it was really cool. So the other day I am skating at Summit Central with some friends, its like 60 degrees out and the sun is shining and we are having a blast. I noticed a lot of people out on skates that I had never seen before which I thought was awesome. I skate up to the lift line and I see this guy with a pioneer 49er so I introduce myself, and he tells me that its his first time skating. I ask him “what got you into snowskating “ and he says to me “ I was out the other day and I saw this guy snowskating and asked him how his day was going, he turn and said to me, I am having the time of my life! That’s when I went out and bought this skate, because I wanna have the time of my life too!

Summit Snowskate Session with Randi (photo by Burt Cooper)

Michelle n/a
I have to say that Randi Rae Tettke, Mathilda Mae Spiers, Kendra Wilson, Tara Curtis Atkins, and Jill Zapata are all super fun to skate with and they all kill it! Randi even had us all trying that crazy stair case flat down box at Sierra.

We hope this blog has inspired your girlfriends, mothers, daughters or any other strap wearing girly girls to grab a snowskate and go for some free footed fun! We hope to see more of you on the hills soon. 

  STUFF TO CHECK OUT

1.0910 SNOWSKATES 0910 Homepage/ Webzine
2. Predog Snowskates  http://www.predog.com/

3. Pioneer Snowskates http://www.pioneersnowskates.com/

4. Heavenly's Groove Park http://heavenlyskiresort.net/tag/groove-terrain-park/

5. Julie Jag's article for the Santa Cruz Sentinel http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/sports/ci_20238232/julie-jag-snow-job-sc-company-predog-givig
6. Snowskating with Geraldine Video  http://vimeo.com/41014662