Featured Image: L – R: Punchy, Nes and Jibber / Photographer Credits: INISIGHT Collection, Shannon Doohan; Dagan Beach; Rich Glass
This article continues on from last week’s first installment featuring the reflections of three pioneering women from the early ‘golden age of snowboarding’ – ‘Punchy’ (Sherry [Newstead] Boyd), ‘Nes’ (Vanessa Stark) and ‘Jibber’ (Jennifer Godbout) – on the progression and progress of the sport, of the culture. These three ladies are all still making their respective marks and all helped carve a track for girls to come.
Punchy — a former member of the National Team, Alpine Dispatch worker and snowboarding stuntwoman for film — recalls “I actually had an older gentleman [skier] chase me down and come up to me as though he was going to assault me. And then I took off my goggles […] to show him that I was a girl. And he stopped. I said, ‘are you going to assault me?’”
In the beginning, there was no women-specific gear. No boards, no boots, no nothing. “I’d just wear extra socks,” smiles Jibber – former snowboarding coach and current member of Whistler Search and Rescue and backcountry split-board guide. Suited up, girls were often assumed to be boys.
“I’ve been whipped by poles. But as soon as I’ve like turned around and they found out I was a girl, they were like, oh my God…,” Jibber recalls. Not only were these women navigating their way through the ‘Boys’ Club’ of their own sport, they were also manoeuvring through the initial tensions of ‘skiers versus snowboarders’ on the slopes.
Punchy reflects on past workplace dynamics where she was blacklisted for being a snowboarder, where it was insinuated and continuously affirmed: “you’re one of them and you are not welcome here.”
Nes — the first female to ever do ‘Air Jordan’ on a board, celebrated visual artist and former snowboard Park Ranger — inserts: “Even now, I ride the gondola and parents will be like, ‘Oh, don’t talk to them, they’re snowboarders!’”
Jibber suggests that a pivoting point for the culture of snowboarding has been parenting: “I think there’s a lot of dads that now have daughters that are competing. And I think that is the huge difference because all of a sudden they’re like, ‘well, my daughter deserves an opportunity.’ No shit, she does. … It’s different now that you have a daughter, eh? Treat them differently, eh? I mean, people have grown up, too. And everything is different. But I also remember.”
And remembering is key. Learning from our histories – and her-stories – are what help us collectively shape our futures.
And it also important to note that the under – or mis-representation of women – is not exclusive to snowboarding. It was, arguably, a pervasive social practice of the time that females (and males) are still trying to overcome. “Women in business, women in all sports, like it didn’t matter the sport, we were all experiencing that same thing,” comments Jibber.
But things are changing. For the better. Much better. Way better.
Punchy, now married to World Cup Ski Race Winner Rob Boyd, recalls “as much as snowboarders always got a bad rap from the uptight skiers, they very much cared for their own. There was a lot of love, a lot of camaraderie.”
And it’s that continued love and admiration that shines through, as these trailblazing women all beam with pride at the upcoming generation of female snow (and skate!) boarding go-getters, carving their own unique courses. Local names like Leanne Pelosi with her Full Moon Film and associated community of projects, the initiatives of Marie-France Roy, Jess Kumera’s The Uninvited film series and the work of the Real Wild Kittens and but a few of the many groundbreaking initiatives spearheaded by women: pioneering powerhouse pivots in the sport embracing multi-facetted inclusion.
Jibber comments on how she wanted to “make a deeper, broader path for the women behind me. And then I hope they do the same. And that’s always something that I really believed in is that you pay it forward.” And the notion of caring for ones’ own is clearly being evidenced in the sport, in the culture. She continues, “I think there’s a lot of incredible women who are forging forward. They’re just stomping down that path and making it better for the generation behind them.”
As Punchy urges: “don’t ever discount yourself. Believe that you are capable.” And that’s exactly what the gals are proving (still and again!)
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The Museum is hosting an exciting Speakers Series ‘Recording the Scene: The POWerful History of Local Snowboard Documentation’ with an all-star cast on April 13, 7:00 pm. Purchase tickets through www.whistlermuseum.org.