Women's winter sports have come a long way since snowboarding crossed into the mainstream. I can remember when I started snowboarding, seeing a girl on a board was a huge deal, almost a rarity. Now there's woman's specific gear, movies and girls flying higher in the halfpipe and dropping bigger cliffs than some of the guys out there. Claire Smallwood was in Banff for the Film Festival to do some speaking about her non-profit organization, SheJumps. Originally hailing from New Mexico, she has spent her time with other woman making sure that girls are getting out on the snow. Before she flew back to Utah to spend the season working as the executive director for SheJumps and ripping deep powder, I got more info about her plans to get more girls onto the slopes all over the world. In her words: "if she can do it, so can I."

Lynsey Dyer for SheJumps.Org:

You just got back from Banff for the Film Festival... how was that?
It was incredible! A gathering of inspirational people with great stories to share and no pretentious vibe. Banff is absolutely beautiful.

Why were you there?
I was speaking at an event, "So You Want To Ski In The Movies", to give advice to young skiers and riders about starting a career in freeriding. I chose to focus on telling people to manifest their dreams for sliding on snow by creating a life of adventure, and not letting the desire for sponsors or recognition fuel everything they do. If you do something with true passion, it almost always gets noticed and recognized. I also showed a slideshow showing what women in skiing and snowboarding are accomplishing today.

Tell me what SheJumps is all about.
The mission of SheJumps is to create a supportive community of females, inspiring them to reach their potential through participation in outdoor activities. Basically, we want to increase the number of women in the outdoors in any way, shape, or form by sharing inspirational stories and adventures.

Why did you decide to start it?  What inspired you?
So there we were (Lynsey Dyer, Vanessa Pierce, myself), knowing that we wanted to create this community of women who were not only into the outdoors, but willing to push themselves in other ways as well - like giving back. I got inspired by the idea that no one had ever done such a big thing that was all encompassing and that our organization could speak to the philanthropic, physical, and metaphorical levels. "Jumping" doesn't have to be about catching air and I was inspired to have such an open-ended life project.

What kind of events does SheJumps support?
Currently most of our programs are in Utah. We do avalanche and beacon seminars for women (free or suggested donation), advanced avalanche courses for women, winter camping clinics, meet up and ride groups (informal), water ramp/indoor foam pit jump camps in the summer/fall, movie premieres to share stoke and grow the community, as well as any other grassroots events that our online community (shejumps.ning.com) comes up! We've seen everything from hula hoop workshops to wine and wax (your boards that is) nights. We also have a Gear Grant fund, where people can donate their (lightly) used gear to SheJumps and we give it to a girl who needs it. The girl takes pictures using the gear and inspiration is automatically created!

Another succesful SheJumps event at Alta Ski Area in Utah.

What do you think is missing in women's snow sports?
I think there should be more media in general dedicated to female snow sports. It's really only a matter of more companies and publications allocating the resources for it. The ladies are out there shredding, but it's hard to see them because the ratio of women to men in snow sports is low. I see no lack of women progressing and pushing their boundaries in skiing and snowboarding, just the lens to shed light on it needs to be bigger.

Do you think the industry has made positive changes in women's snow sports since you started?
Generally speaking, yes. There are more women getting photos published and less of them involve bikinis - so they are getting noticed for the right reasons. It seems like there are still just "token" females in the big-name snow films. The film companies say it's because the women aren't performing at the same level as the men, but there is a need to address the growing market of females who want to see other women shredding on the silver screen.

Why should a woman sign up for SheJumps?
Because a) they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, b) they are tired of waiting for their boyfriends at the end of a run, and c) they want to share their passion for the outdoors with other women of all ages.

How many members does SheJumps have at the moment?
740 members on our online networking site, Shejumps.Ning.com, from all over the world. We want to get 1,000 members by 2012!

How many snowboarders?
We'll say roughly 1/4 of those members say snowboarding is their main sport, but most of our members list all the activities they love so it's hard to quantify.

Does Canada already have some groups formed for SheJumps?
Canada has a group called "Western Canada" that reads in its description: "For those crazy canuck ladies who like to get out and create adventures..." It was started by C. Meither out of Revelstoke.

(keep reading for more on SheJumps and some World Records they hold)