Fuelled by testosterone and needy egos, most young males will power through a rookie riding session. The average female, however, tends to hear a little voice telling her that slamming into ice is stupid and a steaming hot cocoa is preferable to on-snow torture.
Retention rates for women learning to snowboard are dismal. A recent Kottke Survey, a compilation of ski industry data collected by RRC Associates, suggested 70 percent of women don’t return after their first try. Dan Munn, Snowboard School manager at Stratton, Vt., says he often sees women quit after the first few hours on the hill, never mind the first few days. This kind of dropout rate hurts the entire industry. Luckily, key decision makers are taking notice of this and attempting to make a difference.
The Gender Divide
It’s no secret women learn things differently than men. Sometimes the presence of the opposite gender alone alters the learning dynamic. A recent article from The Toronto Star, a Toronto, Ontario-based newspaper, profiled a school that separated their Grade 7 and 8 math classes by gender. “The difference was unbelievable,” one teacher said of the students’ social and academic performances after the split. Both groups were reported to concentrate better and in-class participation grew.
It’s this kind of logic that led Burton Snowboards to introduce the brand new Women’s Learn to Ride (WLTR) program. Burton has successfully operated their Learn to Ride and Kids’ Learn to Ride programs for several years, but this is the first time they’ve examined the learning experience in relation to gender.
“We’ve always known the women’s market has been growing and that it’s a very important component to the continued health and growth of snowboarding,” says Burton LTR and resort project manager Shaun Cattanach. “But nobody has really focused on the learning aspect. Lots of resorts have women’s weeks or clinics, but those are typically geared to people who are somewhat proficient. Nobody has gone out and developed anything based on the learning aspect for women.”
The program debuts at three mountains this winter: Whistler-Blackcomb, B.C., Copper Mountain, Colo., and Stratton—each resort already has Learn to Ride programs in place. Each is implementing the program differently, but the key elements are consistent: female-specific teaching methods, smaller class sizes and no boys allowed (save the instructor). These features, Cattanach says, are the result of talking to a range of women who’ve experienced snowboarding in different ways, from beginners to professionals. With the help of University of Colorado student Sarah Steinwald, Burton gathered and processed the information and is now passing their findings along to resorts in the form of WLTR.
Information is one aspect of WLTR, but another key component is rental gear. Female-specific rental snowboard boots are constructed for women’s feet and legs, and as Cattanach says, being comfortable is number one when learning something new. Female-specific rental snowboards are more rare, but Rossignol Snowboards is debuting boards geared for females (in both adult and junior sizes) for 2005/06, signalling a shift towards rental shops stocking more girl-friendly gear.
Each resort participating in the program had different reasons for wanting to implement WLTR. Dan Munn of Stratton says the growing number of girls coming in for lessons prefer working with, and being taught by, women.
“There are a lot of young girls taking lessons and coming up here every weekend,” he says. “It just seems like the demographic right now. And they like being taught by girl instructors; they feel more comfortable with them. They like riding around with them, [because] they can relate to them and look up to them.”
Copper Mountain is getting women riding in two ways. In the early season, Copper is promoting WLTR with an on-hill tent where women can easily register, grab gear, and take a free two-hour lesson. Copper’s second promotion is Women’s Wednesday––an all-day, all-women’s program that’s been so popular with skiers, they created a separate program for snowboarders. Copper Mountain Adult Ski and Ride School supervisor Toni Fletcher says one reason they were invited to participate in WLTR is the knowledge they’ve gained from running Women’s Wednesdays.
“Basically women like to bond and feel comfortable,” Fletcher says. “With Women’s Wednesday, we promote the bonding aspect. You ride in the morning, get coffee, ride again and then all go out for drinks and have dinner.”
Whistler Blackcomb has traditionally enjoyed high numbers of female snowboarders, but Snowboard School manager Adam Schell says he hopes the Burton WLTR program will entice even more girls to take lessons rather than opting to learn on their own.
“I think that, since it’s a program where you know you’re going to be in a group with other women, and in an environment that’s more receptive for learning, they will want to participate,” he says.
All three WLTR-affiliated resorts say they’ve noticed more women, especially younger ones, joining winter sports. Other manufacturers have noticed too, placing new emphasis on women’s products. K2 has even assembled the Women’s Alliance, a team of women who test product and advise K2 on design decisions.
Shaun Cattanach says this kind of push by equipment manufacturers, in addition to media attention and ease-of-access to the sport, are why girls are getting involved. The goal of Burton’s WLTR program is to turn newbie women into long-term participants. If they think snowboarding is cool enough to get out and try it once, there’s no reason their opinion should change once they’ve strapped in for their first set of turns.
