Can we get a womens-specific section on this forum?

[ARKANA]

I’ve been a splitboard.com follower for quite a few seasons, and sometimes feel like I’m lost in a sea of testosterone (..funny enough, just like most of my touring days in the backcountry).

I know there are quite a few ladies on this forum.. and also there are a lot of well-mannered husbands and boyfriends looking for information on behalf of their significant others.

I appreciate the great advice and engagement people offer on this site, but I think a women’s specific section would really help engage the other half.. and direct those just getting into the backcountry (which can be intimidating for some).. or those offering advice to others. Let’s face it, we are a few that are surrounded by a male-dominated sport.

I’m not just talking about searching for how to find a new splitboard. But expanding to gear, apparel, or other tips as well (eg. the secret to taking a pee in the woods in skin mode and in boardmode). I’ve been riding with boys (skiers and splitters) for what seems like forever, and know that not all tips/tricks/systems work for ladies like they do for men.

Ladies, please respond or give out a shout.. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the idea too.. and any other suggestions you may have.

[bcrider]

Hi ARKANA,

Thanks for your post! We’ve had this request before and I’m all for giving it a shot. Especially if you’re willing to help. 🙂

What would you like to see?

What would you call the forum? Lady Splitters? Women Specific Forum? Etc?

If you look at the board index, each forum has a short description, what would you want it to say?

Also, looking at the board index. Do you envision the ladies section to have multiple sub-forums for boards, boots, apparel, etc? Or do you think if the lady forum (one forum, no sub-fourms) was just added to the Miscellaneous section it would suffice?

Let me know what you wanna see/do! :thatrocks:

ps. Your post is also timely as I’ve been meaning to make a post in the Help Wanted section. I’m need to recruit some help in a number of areas. One of which is to find a female contributor/gear consultant/reviewer/etc. It would be non-paying but there would be several perks for sure such as the ability to review women’s specific gear, get industry deals, potentially represent splitboard.com at events, trade shows, etc. Let me know if you’re interested and think you’d be a good fit or if you know anyone that would. Thanks!

A proper candidate should be:

self motivated
able to write articles and reviews
able to identify and recommend women’s specific splitboard and bc gear
responsible, reliable, professional, accountable
love splitboarding

[Chair2BoardSports]

I really don’t want to direct you away from this forum, because I believe this is hands down one of the best resources on the web for splitters. However, shredbetties.com is a pretty active female oriented forum with a lot of splitting ladies, I regularly post on

A women’s specific category in the gear section would fit the bill perfect I think.

[shesplits]

I for one think that this is an awesome idea!
Being relatively new to splitboarding, but an old hand at snowboarding I’ve been fortunate enough that I had some years of industry knowledge and plenty of opinions I could trust. Although I do find it incredibly difficult to find any women’s specific info floating around the Internet – just Google ‘women splitboarding’ and you will find a few pages on women’s boards but then it drifts off into mens again pretty rapidly.

That’s why I started blogging – im painfully passionate about women’s snowboarding and feel that if the support was available there would be more ladies lapping it up! My little blog probably won’t change the world, but I would love to pitch in anywhere to get the word out and support other backcountry babes in their pursuits.

Let’s get it happening!!

[shesplits]

On the same train of thought, I just happened upon this Marie-France Roy interview…

http://www.romesnowboards.com/sds-updates/2013/10/get-into-splitboarding-with-marie-france-roy/

The girl rocks!

[bcrider]

Thanks C2BS and shesplits :thatrocks:

more info soon

[tuff_enuff]

another vote for a womens-specific section! i’d be hella interested in advice on the peeing-in-board-mode issue, especially if you’re above the tree line 😉

concerning shredbetties.com – i’ve been pretty active there too, but hasn’t the forum been replaced by a facebook comment box due to spam? also, i hardly ever noticed any splitboarding/touring threads there – which does not mean that there were none, i might just have overlooked them.

[Kadydid]

Hell yes! I can help with this. I just got so excited to see this idea here again!
I always feel like the only resources out there to learn more about womens gear are what the companies them selves put out and mens’ extrapolations about their partners’ gear. Which is much appreciated since a lot of guys love talking about gear they often know a lot. But I really want to know what ladies think about the gear!

I second this!! :thumpsup: :thumpsup:

[ARKANA]

Great to see the responses. I touched base with bcrider so hopefully we can start our discussions under a new section on the forum in the coming days.

I’d love to hear what the ladies are rockin’ out there too. And speaking of.. I’m already looking for new snowboarding boots. More to come.. but I think these discussions would be better placed in the specific forum for future conversations/replies.

[barrows]

OK, I voted “no”. Here is why, IMO, women should not need a special section or anything, after all, we are all the same once we clip (er… strap) in, right? Honestly, I am always sad that there are not more female splitboarders, there are plenty of female AT skiers… I have personally introduced two women to splitting, and I try to encourage more every chance which I get. I just do not think it is necessary to treat women any differently when it comes to enjoying the sport.
Perhaps I am wrong… I would love to hear from the women out there, and to learn what would attract more women to splitboarding.

[shesplits]

Barrows, I do agree that no, women should not be treated differently because they have lady parts, that is the unfortunate reality.

We are built differently than men therefore our riding style and needs just aren’t the same. Our differnces also mean that we need equipment to accommodate us.
If women don’t need to be treated differently – why are companies wasting their time making making women’s specific gear? Sure I could go out and ride my partners xv split, but im going to get much more out of the experience riding something smaller and lighter weight. Why drive a ferrari around a race track when you can do the same thing in a semi-trailer, eh?

As it has already been mentioned, finding reviews by women or information directly relating to women is near impossible. Sure there’s plenty of guys out there that know their stuff and can explain ‘why’ something is good, but nothing can replace actual experience. All to often women are fobbed off by men in the industry, and if we can create an environment where women feel as though they are being taken seriously and are being provided with trustworthy information you will certainly have the pleasure of our company in th skin track

[barrows]

Shesplits:

Hmmm, I am not sure that I agree. Are women’s needs in gear really that different? Other than size differences, which really apply equally to men and women.
For instance, if we have a 5’7″ women weighing 145 lbs and a 5’7″ man weighing 145 lbs, with the same size feet, who are both aggressive, expert riders riding similar terrain, will not their equipment needs be similar?
I would agree that boot lasts, even for the same size feet, may need to be a little different to accommodate a women’s often lower volume foot, and clothing cuts and colors may be different, but really, what other differences are there, or am I just being dense?
Now, in no way am I suggesting that bcrider should not add a women to his staff, and certainly women’s perspectives in gear reviews should be welcomed and encouraged, I just would like to see this as natural and normal, rather than having to create some kind of special forum.
I guess my point of view is that it would be a shame to segregate women from men in terms of splitboarding, I prefer to treat women equally as men in the mountains, and, I guess to me, a segregation kind of promotes an idea that women need special treatment of some kind…

But, perhaps I am missing the point a little? In any case, I am in favor of anything which is likely to encourage more women to get out splitting.

[ARKANA]

Barrows, I’m looking forward to your gear review of Patagonia women’s briefs. I’d really be interested to hear your thoughts on the product based on its size and technical specifications as noted on the official website. We’ll just post it in the Gear section of the site…

[barrows]

@ARKANA wrote:

Barrows, I’m looking forward to your gear review of Patagonia women’s briefs. I’d really be interested to hear your thoughts on the product based on its size and technical specifications as noted on the official website. We’ll just post it in the Gear section of the site…

Hahaha! I guess I am not making my point clearly at all, sorry. My point is that there does not need to be any specific place for one to post such reviews, right now anyone (F or M) is welcome to post a review of anything in the “GEAR” forum, it is not called the “MENS GEAR” forum. I just do not think there needs to be segregation between women’s and mens gear, reviews of all types of gear can be posted, it just seems to me that we should be able to coexist naturally without any problem.
Certainly anyone should feel welcome to review anything here, are women riders reluctant to post up their thoughts as things are now?

[ARKANA]

Barrows, I do see your point. But I think it can be extremely overwhelming to sift through hundreds of posts if I’m just looking for a review of a womens boot, as compared to every other preferred mens boot out there.

I’m not suggesting that all females need to converse within this one section of the site. It’s just an easier way to find information and have specific discussions related to female-related products and suggestions.

[Kadydid]

Barrow, I don’t see a women’s forum as a way to segregate women from the rest of the forum. It’s just a place that all the women who have ever asked for suggestions on boots to go to see all the threads by people with similar feet and do a little research. Or boards or women’s briefs or whatever. Just like its helpful to have all the venture board threads in one place or all those about boots or mods or whatever in an easy access place.
I do see what you mean about size being relative and it just being a matter of discussing different size boards. But many ladies have ridden women’s specific equipment inbounds and found that it works well for them. Imagine you are 5’3″, 115 lbs, have a size 6 ladies boot (that’s 4 in men’s) and have been riding a women’s specific board inbounds for the past several years. Now with that in mind go read the gear forum imagining you want to get a setup that’s gonna feel great. (Hint It might feel like looking thru plus size blouses at the DI for one you can wear as a dress.)
I think guys offer a lot in terms of helping me understand the physics and design of equipment. I won’t segregate myself to a women’s only forum. Who knows if there are enough dedicated women who would keep this going like some of you guys have kept the rest of splitboard.com going, but if its one place where you can find a few good honest reviews then that’s a great start.

[barrows]

OK, well it looks like I am wrong. If the women on these boards feel like they would be better served by having a specific place, then I will totally support that.

I must say, for boards, I really respect Venture’s approach. They do not make “women’s boards”, they do make their boards in many different sizes, widths, and flexes to suit riders of all sizes. I have one partner, 5’3″, ~110 lbs, who rides a 152 Storm with a 24 cm waist and loves it (yes, she is actually a girl).

[shesplits]

Barrows, I think what you really mean to say is that there SHOULDN’T be a need, but it turns out that there is – in what I call the real world.
There are plenty of women riders out there participating amongst men (and other women), buying gear at shops that sell both men’s and women’s gear…but you know what, even stores separate their equipment into Men’s & Women’s sections. I wonder why they do that? Certainly not to segregate us into some kind of bizarre world where men’s and women’s things should never be seen together, right? Maybe it’s so it’s easier to find…or perhaps I imagined that.

As you pointed out there are few women (compared to men) splitting at the moment so why not make it easier to find the info we want, rather than sift through page after page of irrelevant information? Maybe that doesn’t suit your stance on splitboard equality, but just maybe it suits ours…and that’s the important point that you seem to be missing.

[shesplits]

In light of your post that I missed, I thought it worth mentioning that I too have ridden, and do still ride men’s boards. I was snowboarding before ‘women’s’ equipment existed.

Regardless of if I choose to ride a women’s specific, or small men’s board, I still like to hear what other WOMEN have to say

[barrows]

@shesplits wrote:

Barrows, I think what you really mean to say is that there SHOULDN’T be a need, but it turns out that there is – in what I call the real world.
There are plenty of women riders out there participating amongst men (and other women), buying gear at shops that sell both men’s and women’s gear…but you know what, even stores separate their equipment into Men’s & Women’s sections. I wonder why they do that? Certainly not to segregate us into some kind of bizarre world where men’s and women’s things should never be seen together, right? Maybe it’s so it’s easier to find…or perhaps I imagined that.

As you pointed out there are few women (compared to men) splitting at the moment so why not make it easier to find the info we want, rather than sift through page after page of irrelevant information? Maybe that doesn’t suit your stance on splitboard equality, but just maybe it suits ours…and that’s the important point that you seem to be missing.

Right on!:

“OK, well it looks like I am wrong. If the women on these boards feel like they would be better served by having a specific place, then I will totally support that.”

Yes, I have deferred to your point of view.

[Author]

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