LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1508038
Women of the ADKS: An Adirondack Ski Film by Josey Brady LOCALadk 28 We pulled up to the trailhead on a dreary February morning. The gray sky should have held the possibility of snow, but it seemed like it might rain. I traipsed a few hundred yards down the trail to Penny Glades and confirmed what I suspected: the snow conditions were definitely underwhelming, bordering on sketchy. It was far from an ideal scenario for the project before us. That morning, we were to start filming for a video project about women who ski in the Adirondacks, a subject that I hold dearly. I could spout off a list of no- ble intentions for the project, but the truth is I wanted to make this film for myself. As a dedicated skier and as a woman, I find myself skiing mostly with male ski partners and I felt an almost desperate desire to know what it's like to ski with a group of all women. This film gave me the chance to meet three women who ski the way I aspire to: hard charging, methodical, and filled with joy. I was also eager to participate in the overdue and painfully slow shift in snowsports media toward featuring more women in ski films. As women, we are used to seeing a lone female skier on the screen, always skiing with the boys. For me, this led to a false belief: if I want to be an expert skier, I have to ski with men. Being able to keep up with the boys, sometimes leaving behind other women in the process, became how I knew I was measuring up. Unlearning this belief is an ongoing process, and this film has been part of it. I wanted this film to be the one I have been waiting for: not a film where women are featured as one-of-the-guys, but a screen and a narrative dominated by women. Women who shred, hard. Women who hype each other up. Women who giggle their way up the skin track and leave trails of glitter as they rip down groomers. Women deeply in love with the wild landscape where they live and play. So I found myself at this unassuming Adirondack trailhead, nervously on the cusp of meeting these women I admired. They didn't know this at the time, but I put a lot of pressure on them to solidify my de- veloping belief that skiing with women was going to be powerful. They blew me away.