News, stories, articles and information about outdoor Divas.
Women are not small men. At outdoor DIVAS we live by this motto.
outdoor DIVAS is more than just a shop with a selection of 'ladies
models'. By devoting 100% of our space, inventory and energy to active women, we
offer superior products and a selection of gear and apparel designed exclusively
for women.
CMH Heli-Skiing trips are amazing plus they have a female guide; Kellie Erwin. She will be visiting our Cherry Creek store on April 21st.
Heli-Skiing in Canada with CMH
CMH (Canadian Mountain Holidays) Heli-Skiing literally invented the sport back in 1965 in the Bugaboo mountains of BC, Canada. Today CMH Heli-Skiing hosts over 5000 heliskiers each year in their 12 backcountry lodges located in BC for some of the best skiing on earth. CMH offers trips ranging from Powder Introduction camps, Shred Sessions with Transworld Snowboarding, Steep Ski Camps and K2 demo weeks. Check them out online at CMHSKI.com.
Outdoor DIVAS is pleased to bring in Kellie Erwin to share of her Everest experiences along with being one of the few female Heli-skiing guides in the industry who works for CMH. Join us on April 21st at our Cherry Creek store for a night of story telling and inspiration.
Kellie Erwin’s Bio:
Since leaving her hometown of Aspen, Colorado in 1975, Kellie Erwin has dedicated her life to adventure, climbing and outdoor education. Her diverse blend of experiences has taken her from the high Himalayas including Mount Everest, and Gasherbrum II, to the Atlas Mountains of Northern Africa, the New Zealand Alps, as well as to the rivers and mountains of North and South America, the jungles of Borneo and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Kellie's professional endeavors include becoming an AMGA certified Mountain Guide where she served on the board and helped develop their ski and accreditation programs.
Kellie's climbing and expedition resume includes four trips to Mount Everest, 100's of first ascents of rock and alpine routes in North America, and the first Nordic ski traverse of Denali. She is one of BAI’s head guides on Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro and Russia’s Mt. Elbrus. Her work in adventure documentary cinematography with projects such as the CBS film "Footprint on Everest" and the documentary "Everest at the Millennium", has received awards, and has established Kellie's competency in yet another arena of wilderness performance.
A night filled with fun and style highlighted with a fast paced, energetic fashion show – Fashion Under the Flatirons is an event not to be missed. In its inaugural year, Downtown Boulder’s Fashion Under the Flatirons will incorporate a runway fashion show emceed by World Cup Freestyle Ski Champion Jeremy Bloom, beauty stations, silent auction, food and drinks all featuring local Downtown Boulder businesses. outdoor DIVAS will have 3 models in the line up; a sporty fitness Diva, a ski Diva and a yoga zen Diva!
►Attendees will receive a 20% discount from participating merchants between March 12 and 14.
►A portion of the evening’s proceeds will benefit Impact on Education, a local non-profit organization focused on raising support for public education.
►Approximately 25 – 30 Downtown Boulder merchants will showcase outfits, jewelry and accessories, not to mention hair and makeup.
►VIP tickets give attendees the opportunity to get in early, have a martini and a massage, be the first to bid on the silent auction, enjoy the show from runway side seats and go home with a fabulous goodie bag.
To start things off on the right foot (or ski) begin with the proper women's specific ski equipment. Make sure your boots are snug and fitted to you, please do yourself a favor and get a custom boot fit. Have a good pair of women's specific skis in the right size and style for your skiing preferences (be it a carver, mid-fat, etc.) wear the right clothing; waterproof jacket and snow pants with a layering system underneath, wear a helmet and eye protection. Don't forget to put on sunscreen and stay hydrated. Once your gear and clothing are sorted you are now ready to hit the slopes.
Warm up run -
Athletic position – hand position – hugging the big guy, lift tower
Use other sport for visualization – receiving a tennis serve, getting ready to be tackled, soccer, etc
Feet position – wider legs – fit a grapefruit between knees – avoid “the virgin clutch”
Ankle position – bend ankles forward on each turn, - squish a dime between the shin and the boot, squish a grape under your toes, pressure on ball of foot, pressure “knee to ski”
Stacking ankle, knee and hip.
Do not just bend the knee –avoid ‘sitting on the toilet”
Hand techniques -
pole plant downhill, 45 degree angle, reach away from body
pull pinky towards elbow, “cork the wine, serve the wine” , “ shine the flashlight – top of pole down the hill”
“SERVE MARTINIS” plant pole then serve your tray down the hill on steep gnarly terrain to remain in the drivers seat.
Hand techniques to avoid-
plant to “Velcro butt”
plant to outrigger - pole stays in snow too long, causing the upper body to turn uphill and away from moving down the hill and commitment to fall line, also moves the weight onto the uphill ski too much.
long pole plants – fear based “hanging on”
double pole plant “stabbing rats”
“Tyrannosaurus rex” - holding poles w/bent arms close to body
“the oh shit” - panic upper pole dragging on sketchy traverses – learn to rely on your feet – pole drag does not slow you down, and it makes you lean into the hill
Eyes, waist, upper body-
looking ahead
breaking at the waist – how to look ahead to avoid this and use feet/legs/ankles
“Push the bush” – commit to moving the body down the hill – avoids having the butt stick out and being in the back seat, and breaking at the waist
body down the hill “zipper down the hill”
body as a “T” facing down the hill
looking ahead at instructor down the hill, or pick and object way down the hill.
Stop looking at your bindings, or checking your bindings – looking up and down.
Feet/ankles/legs/hip-
“stiff fear leg” avoid the stiff downhill leg that comes with fear –use bumpy traverses to demonstrate/practice using ankles to absorb bumps and not the upper body or butt – have skis follow terrain – up and down, using ankles
wider stance – as terrain gets steeper feet get wider for balance and to keep weight on downhill ski.
move hips together – keep feet even
working uphill knee – uphill pinky toe
knee to ski or shin to boot – ankle flexion – front of boot – ball of foot
Say goodbye to cabin fever! Grand Lake knows how to have fun all winter long. This years winter carnival was Olympic themed which made for some very fun and festive winter outfits. Team outback DIVAS of Australia won best dressed in the tea pot curling. The outdoor DIVAS truck was a very prominent float in the parade along with the Jamaican Bob sled team and the nuns of team Vatican. The bed races down main street brought out the competitors in everyone as the Fighting Irish went against the Team Firefighters. Not to mention the human bowling and the flag football teams were out in full force. Be sure not to miss the Shenanigans next year. Fun was had by all!
All of the pro ladies we’ve talked to agree: the best way increase in females on the slopes is to feature more on the silver screen. Across the board these ladies cited a desire to see more rippin’ chicks in ski and board movies and not just the “token” ski bunny hitting small cliffs and skiing the easier lines, but pro ladies getting just as much air as the boys. Timing is everything, Generation Flings—“Flinga” is Swedish for snowflake—had just wrapped up editing their first film and the first ever all-girls ski movie, “Catch Us If You Can” when Leah Fielding met up with Sweden-based Janette Hargin, co-founder of the fledgling production company, for a transatlantic Skype interview…
LF: Was Generation Flinga a project that has been in the works for a while or was it a relatively new project?
JH: It all started end of last summer, beginning of fall.
LF: Whose idea was it originally?
JH: Pro skier Sara Orrensjö and I got a budget from a Swedish company that made it possible to start up the project. We got the budget and the first thing we were thinking was making our own ski movie!
LF: That's great! Was the original intention to be an all girls ski movie? Or did that come later?
JH: Pretty early on we had the idea we should make one just with girls.
LF: Would you say you've all been frustrated in the past by the lack of females in ski movies?
JH: I don’t like the idea that in all movies there are one or two girls performing just because there should be some girls in it. If you let more girls film then it puts more pressure on the skiers to perform! You should not feel safe just because you are female!!
LF: I like that; you’re holding women accountable. If you’re going to be in a ski movie, no matter what your sex you’ve got to go BIG, right?
JH: When we were filming just with girls it was really competitive, so all of us had to step up! Usually when you are filming with guys you get away with easy stuff just because you are the only girl! But not this time! So that’s why I think more girls should get the chance to film and as a result it would up the level of what we are capable of. All younger girls need more inspiration in that way and more role models. That was our big motivation to start the project from the beginning!!
LF: When does the movie premiere?
JH: November 4th is the release party in Stockholm!! BIG party!
LF: I bet it will be a blast! Is the movie still in post-production? Or is it ready?
JH: Its last week (mid-September) of producing at the moment!
LF: What company gave you the budget for the movie?
JH: Tobacco company Swedish Match is the original company that gave us a budget. Then after that we got sponsors into the film: HiQ, Recco, Peak Performance, Hestra gloves, Comviq. Swedish Match is not allowed to be the sponsor in the movie, because of tobacco laws, but they use us girls as ambassadors for the company. The response was great last fall when we started up and we were lucky to get sponsors even with the economy crisis!!
LF: Yeah, it just shows how needed an all-women’s ski movie is. So, tell me about the women you filmed with…
JH: Stina Jakobsson, young, most promising female in Sweden. Already been in films before, Down Film and Free Radicals. Competing in Freeride World Tour. Jennifer Farde, a really good friend, hasn’t been filming before, but is always happy and also competes a lot. Jennifer and Stina are with Peak Performance! Anja Pärson, Swedish alpine superstar!! It was her first time in a freeride movie! Rachael Burks, a good American friend, knows all of us from time in Sweden. Lynsey Dyer came in pretty late but we felt she is inspiring for younger girls (SheJumps.org) and that she fit right in! A lot of girls wanted to film with us but we had to be pretty strict in that it should be girls we really like and not just anyone!! We were planning on it with Grete Eliasen from the beginning but then she got into some two-year project that made it impossible...
LF: So did you exclusively film in Sweden, or all over?
JH: The trip and also the story in the film is: U.S., Alta, Europe, St Jacob, Sonnenkopf, Japan, Niseko, Europe, Engelberg, Sweden, Tärnaby, Björkliden. Rachael is in the U.S. segment, Lynsey is in Japan segment and Anja is in Sweden segment. The rest of us are in all segments!
LF: Did you use helicopters to drop in?
JH: Heli in Sweden, the rest HIKE! Some ski doo, as well.
LF: So from the pictures I saw on the Web site—www.generationflinga.com—it looks like there are some pretty big launches. What was the most incredible thing you saw or experienced while filming?
JH: Biggest memory was the European Alps, the beginning of February. It was snowing like hell every day and we had so much powder!! Had to shuffle the car out every morning and again after the day up in the mountains!! We found a unlikely place in St Jacob, Austria, we were the only ones at the whole place for three days, then the O’Neil big mountain pro bus came into town with all the best freeriders in the world!! They had a competition going on and were driving to the best location at the moment in the Alps!
LF: Sounds like a fun time! Have you had good reactions from pro guys about the movie?
JH: Most of the guys have been wondering what this will be and what we are capable of making, but after providing them with lots of good stuff, like the monthly updates and so on they are now really excited as well!
But its funny that they show surprise when its good!!
LF: So what film crew were you with or did you hire them freelance?
JH: We hired a cameraman for the whole year. Marcus Hansen, he’s Swedish, he did all the filming and editing. He has filmed for Free Radicals before.
LF: Wow, so it was just one guy and the rest of the girls?
JH: I don’t think he expected it to be that extreme just because it was with girls, but we challenged ourselves and sometimes he was standing there shaking!
LF: I'm sure he'll be proud to say he was a part of this. So Janette, what's your skiing background?
JH: I have an alpine background but have always been into freeride as well, some competitions and some have filmed before. I ended my alpine career after world champs in Åre 2007, and after that just freeride. I have been competing in FWT (Freeride World Tour) last year and now this film!! Next year is more competing and filming!
LF: So what has the reaction been from people when you tell them you are filming an all girls ski movie?
JH: Super good reactions!!! It’s like you said, this is something that is wanted out there!! AND NEEDED! And lots of companies want to be connected to things like this. The ski industry is trying to reach out to girls but they don’t know how to…
LF: If other women see “Catch Me If You Can,” then they will have confidence to try new stuff, because, as I’ve learned from the many great women of the industry, "if she can do it, I can do it!"
JH: YES!! I agree!! And that’s the thing with our group; we are supporting each other all the time, instead of just competing against each other! That’s why we didn’t want just anyone to be filming with us as well! I hope this is something that will shine through in the film.
Liquid Descent is owned and operated by experienced river professionals who are passionate about providing you with a fantastic river experience. You will notice their attention to detail in every aspect of their operation as you enjoy the best recreation Colorado has to offer.
They love running rivers and cherish the opportunity to share the experience with others. Liquid Descent strives to provide customers with a fun, safe, and unforgettable river adventure. The guides are experienced river runners trained in First Aid & CPR, and Swiftwater Rescue Techniques. They adhere to the Leave No Trace principles, and promote environmental conservation and awareness so that future generations can enjoy the great outdoors.
Even therapists recommend exercise to help with mental clarity and problem-solving. So make up your mind to sort through those conundrums while you're making tracks.
Same old great snowboard feel, brand new, hot looking top sheet. The outdoor DIVAS caught a glimpse of this simple, yet striking top sheet months ago when the National Sales Manager brought in some mock ups. Our top choice made the cut. So, we present to you the new top sheet for the Never Summer Infinity.
Glide down the mountain next year on this amazing 2011 Never Summer Infinity:
Dynastar Edens are getting more and more natural. This introduction to powder ski will help you naturally transition into the deeper snow with its natural wood look for next year. You can see the wood on the top sheet. The Edens were a hit this year, and with this look, they will naturally be a hit next year.
They are looking very sleek. Here is one of our favorite looks:
What a ski bunny!? She is looking pretty cute in the shinny pink puffy coat and white bibs. Is this a blast from the past? It's just a glimpse at what is to come for next season's snow fashion.
Under Armour and Spyder. Checkout their new diggs... Very patriotic. What do you think? Would you wear all stars and stripes to represent your country? The general consensus around outdoor DIVAS... we like. Go USA!
MARCH 11th, 7:30 p.m. at the BOULDER THEATER-
SEE THE MOVIE AT 
