In a male-dominated sport such as snowboarding, only a handful of women can admit that they are able to handle the pressures, pain and difficulty in learning the sport. Snowboarding has always seemed to project a more aggressive, skillful and adventurous style of sports that men take to naturally. According to some critics, women have a harder time because of their built-in fear of accidents, but many women are proving these critics to be dead wrong and here is a list of two of the most popular, award-winning women snowboarders eager to take on their male counterparts in straight downhill snowboarding or aerial and jib tricks.
Barrett Christy is a 28-year-old Buffalo New Yorker who won both the halfpipe and big air events at the US Open when she burst onto the scene in 1997. She has yet to declare which snowboard is her favorite; she has been seen on a Burton Feelgood among others, snowboards made especially for women, on several occasions.
Christy went on to become part of the first US Olympic snowboard team headed for the 1998 Olympics in Japan. She is known for her signature move – the Barrett Roll, and holds the most medaled female athlete in the history of the X Games.
Tara Dakides is a very strong snowboarder and breaks the gender barrier every chance she gets. A self proclaimed rocker and a pro-snowboarder, this California native is known as the best female snowboarder in the world; she won the gold at the X Games in 2000 and 2001 in addition to winning Slopestyle at the Sims World Snowboarding Championships. Dakides’s good looks and easy smile have landed her on the front cover of Sports Illustrated for Women, a feature on Rolling Stones Magazine, Maxim and FHM.
Dakides would make a great spokesperson for the Burton Supermodel snowboard for women; however at this time she does not endorse any particular board.
The list of award-winning women snowboarders goes on and on and just as their competition is fierce, so is the competition for which board they will use. Although there are not that many women specific snowboards made, the Burton Feather makes a nice beginning snowboard for women who are just beginning their snowboarding career.
