We sat down with pro snowboarder Hana Beaman to chat about her 3rd annual Sled N Shred event—a female-focused snowmobile meetup in Washington. Hana shares why she started the event and why building community among female sledders is so important. All photos provided by Hana.
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Ridge Merino: What inspired you to start this event?
Hana Beaman: I was inspired by a combo of my love of snowmobiling and by the all-female motorcycle rallies I had joined over the past several years, like The Dream Roll and Babes Ride Out. It was super rad and empowering to see so many women come together to ride motorcycles and carve out their own culture within that space. I felt really inspired and I wanted to bring some of that magic to our snow world.
Snowmobiles are so fun (and frustrating at times!) and are such an amazing tool to access the backcountry. I knew there were women out there who mainly snowmobile, and others who use snowmobiles to access touring terrain for snowboard and ski laps, so I wanted to merge the ski, snowboard and sled crowd.
It can be hard to connect with other females since a lot of women learn through (and go out with) their guy friends or partners. Sledding is really a team sport so I wanted to help create a network of women who could lean on each other, learn together and find new riding buddies. I think there’s also lots of interest from other crossover sports like dirt biking and mountain biking… basically just connecting more friends who do the fun stuff we all love!
RM: How has Sled N Shred changed since you started it?
HB: It hasn’t changed much yet! I’ve been keeping it pretty simple and I just focus on having fun, making everybody feel welcome and encouraging connection. There’s been a little growth over the past few years, but it is expensive and a very niche sport.
There’s a lot that goes into getting out on a snowmobile, so it tends to be a smaller group. We had about 25 participants this past year, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s a lot of people to manage and keep track of in the mountains.
In the future I’d love to expand it to more novice/beginner sledders because that’s really where the challenging part is. There’s a lot of moving parts, but if we can get more women interested and feeling comfortable and confident on a sled, we’ll break through one of the big barriers of the sport.
RM: There’s snowmobile education and training plus some avalanche education, right? And lots of fun. Anything else to expect at these events?
HB: Safety is definitely a top priority. Most of the gals have at least basic avalanche knowledge. We go over some basic trailhead safety/etiquette, as well as talks with our local Northwest Avalanche Center forecasters and some informal avalanche/snow science on-hill.
Ideally I would like to see it grow and evolve, eventually offering more official clinic-style opportunities for snowmobile avalanche education and maybe even some basic first aid practice. But we’ve kept it pretty simple these first few years to focus more on quality days out where everybody just has a good time.
RM: Snowmobiling is fairly male-dominated. Tell us about the importance to you of bringing women together to build their sled skills and confidence.
HB: Definitely male-dominated! Most of the gals who come started riding with guys, but there’s more female sledders out there than you’d imagine, and there is a desire to connect with other women who are into sledding. Some of the presidents of our local snowmobile clubs have been and are women. Once you start looking there are a bunch, and more women are getting involved every year! It’s very exciting.
Once you get women together and show them how and encourage them to try, it’s like the floodgates open. Women are so patient and caring when they teach, it’s just a very different learning environment. We’ve had some really capable women like Ski-Doo ambassador Nadine Overwater and BCA ambassadors Dove Daniels and Brianna Warner (and even our "token dude" Aaron Leyland) out with us who are great at giving pointers and showing how to do something just a little differently that can make all the difference when you're learning.
RM: What is your favorite moment or memory from this year's event?
HB: On-hill I really loved seeing the gals get stoked on the small hill climb course I put up. It was just some cones on a mellow hill, but it was fun and challenging and made you really focus on technique to get through it. A couple of the gals were even going to a hill climb event the next weekend so they were excited to practice. It was a fun challenge for all levels and was rad to see the progression happening right in front of us.
Off-hill at the party, I was really stoked to see one of the XNF (Lummi Snowboard Family) leaders win the Ride Snowboard in the raffle. All the raffle proceeds went to their non-profit that helps local indigenous youth get out snowboarding, so it was rad to see one of them win a sick new board too.
RM: Any brands or groups to shout out that helped you put on this event?
We couldn't have done it without the support of Ski-Doo, and our local shop Lifestyles Ski-Doo. They made it possible for this event to be really special and maximized the fun for everybody.
Thanks to all the companies who donated so generously for the raffle. In addition to Ridge Merino: Mt. Baker Ski Area, Backcountry Access, Pit Viper, Vans, Ride Snowboards, Nixon Watches, Aloha Bags and 686 Technical Outerwear.
Shout out to NWAC for sending the amazing Irene Henninger to hang out and talk with us about avalanche forecasting. And a huge thank you to Chair 9 Restaurant in Glacier (Washington) for hosting the afterparty!
