Burton dropped in on Stevens Pass for the 2nd year in a row rallying ladies who plain and simple, just want to shred! From beginners to pros and industry veterans, call it a Variety Pack of ladies both in age range and ability.

Not to be mistaken for merely a day or two of pampering (though there were massages available), each attendee was there to progress and to draw on this incredible crew of instructors and mentors to take their riding to the next level. As the day moved along it was obvious that there was more than just learning to be had from this group of girls… yup, all that bonding was enough to make you teary eyed! I love it.

Originally i was planning to cruise on up as an attendee but ended up shooting some photo and video which worked out really well. No broken camera parts to report…yeah i know, surprising to me too.

Ill be honest, i was a bit nervous. I’d never really been in to these girly things and frankly, most of the people i ride with are guys. It’s not like i do it on purpose, it’s just my M.O. So yeah, not wanting to show up solo and stuck with a whole bunch of random girls, i sent a couple emails out and convinced Rachel and Jennae from the office to join me for the first day…..by Day 2 i felt like i had a crew of 30-40 (ish) friends that i had really connected with and i felt really comfortable around these people i’d known for barely 24 hours. It was really cool. I drew off their energy….it was contagious! It reminded me of the first couple years that i was snowboarding when i was learning something new every day and that feeling of accomplishment that you get after every run!

I definitely don’t think that men and women need to be segregated out there on the hill but providing non-intimidating learning environments are key for drawing new participants to this sport, especially women. Coupled with promoting awareness and making programs like this accessible will only create demand for more programs, competitions, products and attraction down the road. I guess the main point would be to get out there as much as possible, keep bugging your local shop about programs and product and love what you do!

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It all started in the city when temperatures started dropping, snow began to fall and Seattlites lost their marbles. I don’t know about you but i’d been getting nervous about the Pac NW snow situation. Being a week away from Christmas with barely a resort open, i was holding off on actually purchasing a seasons pass anywhere. Well, that is behind us now and the news is calling our current weather Blizzard conditions.

The morning after evo’s company holiday party I called in a sick day and headed up to Stevens Pass for opening day. 27 inches of new snow, sun… definitely the remedy i was looking for!

The whole posse was in effect, Greg, Kristen, D-mart, Courtney, Gorio, Jacob, Sean, Tom, Shalbot and a few out of towners, Jen Ashton in from Whistler, Kyle and Chris from Snowboarder magazine were dropping in on opening day.

Saturday i headed to the Summit with Mark and John B. to see what was happenin’ there. Was sunny there too, crowded but nice to play around and i got my seasons pass paperwork and the park pass class out of the way.

Otherwise, how can we forget about the wonderful delights of city snow?! … and the awesomeness that is, city drivers! I know you’ve all seen this before, but lets just recap. Charters bus + steep Seattle hills + snow + over confident male driver = ?. If you’ve yet to hear about this, you’ll want to check it out.

Oh, and here is Zoe being fun in the snow and making friends!

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