By: Nicole Birkhold
Suzy Chaffee was allowed to be a member of the Denver University Ski Team, but wasn’t allowed to ride in the team van to practice because she couldn’t pass a male physical. Wendy Fisher put up with traveling with only men for years for the sake of a movie part. Kristi Leskinen and Sarah Burke used to forerun boys events just to get a chance to hit the same jumps.
The seven women on the following pages — from the very first freestyle ballet skiers to the X Games sweethearts we all know — have faced the challenges of being a girl in an industry that is well known for being a boys club. Without them, the landscape of women’s skiing wouldn’t be what it is today.
CLICK BELOW TO READ THE PROFILES
This story was originally published in the November 2009 issue of Freeskier.
