Snowboard program aims to make the sport more inclusive in Yukon

Antje Schiebel has been working as a snowboard coach in the Yukon for more than a decade and has noticed how many women don't feel comfortable being coached by a male or riding with men.

"They always feel intimidated or they feel like they're not good enough and can't do that," she said.

That's why this past weekend, Snowboard Yukon organized a two-day program called Steeps and Bumps Clinic, which welcomed women, trans, non-binary and two-spirit people.

"Snowboarding itself has been a white-male dominated sport for many years, and we are seeing a huge shift towards diversity and inclusivity," said Schiebel, who used to run the Mount Sima Ski School.

Through this camp, Snowboard Yukon is trying to shift the narrative and make the sport more inclusive and welcoming for everybody, she said.

Although the organization has run a women-led and women-only camp for four years now, Schiebel explained this time they went the extra mile and made their language more inclusive to female-identifying people.

"We sure are not experts in diversity and inclusivity, but we are trying to learn …. So, we are open to adjusting these programs and learning about what works and what can be improved," she said.

The territorial organization also has coaches who are non-binary.

Schiebel said the overall goal is to see more people snowboarding and enjoying the outdoors in the winter months, riding with friends and having a great time.

"We want to create that safe space for everybody to come out, enjoy riding and learn and be coached."

Since starting previous women-only camps, Schiebel said the impact has been outstanding.

"We saw women coming out shredding with us that we haven't seen before. And it's amazing.

"Now, a few years into running and coaching these camps, you meet them on the hill, you see them out shredding and riding with their kids. You just see the motivation behind that coaching and training and it feels good," she said.

The weekend programming was open for intermediate to advanced riders ages 10 and up but the number of registrations were lower than expected.

Organizers aren't sure why and would like to get feedback from the community to see how they could get more people to attend.

Snowboard Yukon will be hosting similar programming across the territory in the upcoming months, including in Dawson City and Waston Lake in March.