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Sister Summit 2.0 just happened, and despite the early season ski conditions, it was a smashing success, yet again!
It doesn't get much better than powder turns and tree shots with all the homies| Sister Summit photo.
Sister Summit has begun its second season bringing together the top female athletes, skiers, and snowboarders to inspire and push the sport and the feminine frequency in outdoors. If there was any confusion, Sister Summit is powered 100% by women, for women.
The founders of Sister Summit sought to create a space for women to collaborate and inspire each other to change the female frequency in the snow industry by creating career opportunity, building worldwide community, and educating for change.
This is the first all-female backcountry ski and snowboard event, contest, and media production of its kind; but we imagine this type of event will become more and more common as time goes on.
Ski touring with all the women was a highlight of the weekend - gotta earn the heli runs!| Sister Summit photo.
Our friend and Tahoe based pro-skier, Amie Engerbretson, was a panelist at the Sister Summit this year (and last year) and we got to sit in and chat with her about her experience speaking and participating over the whole weekend in Revelstoke.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
Marlowe Kushner: So, tell me a little about your experience up at Revelstoke! It seemed like such a fun time, what was it like being there this time around?
Amie Engerbretson: It was awesome. I got to go to Sister Summit last year as well, which was the inaugural event, this is the second year the event has been organized. And you know, this year it was a little early season; there weren’t exactly great snow conditions. So, we probably had slightly worse luck, but we still got some traditional heli skiing in, so that was really nice. It’s always beautiful to be able to get up above the clouds.
"We probably had slightly worse luck this year" - Amie on the snow conditions at Revelstoke... the snow looks good to us though! | Sister Summit photo.
AE: And it was a special experience because this year even more than last there were a lot of young women – rookies and up and coming women – who had never gone heli skiing before. It was really cool to be around those girls having that experience for the first time.
As much fun as the skiing was, another big part of Sister Summit is the off-hill kind of trainings, if you will. Most afternoons everyone at the Summit would participate in different workshops or panel discussions.
There were panels on motherhood, equity in sports, anti-racism and more. Each were led by different women at the event. | Sister Summit photo.
AE: This year, we had some really, really meaningful ones, I hosted a panel on sustainability, and I was able to screen The Hypocrite. The film sparked a long conversation with all the girls about empowering the younger generation of female athletes to use their voices and their platforms to be active, and stand up for a cause be it climate action, diversity and inclusion, you name it.
MK: Why would you say these panels were a part of the itinerary of Sister Summit? What made these talks such a successful part of the weekend?
AE: I think it's so cool to make a space to learn something. Not only that, but then there'd always be a conversation component where we could ask questions and feel like this was a place for women to get knowledge and inspiration from each other. That didn't exist when I was brand new and coming in.
MK: Tell me more about the panel you led on climate action. I understand you led a similar talk last year, what was that panel like and what else did you get to do this time around?
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Sister Summit 2.0 was held at the heli lodge at Engelberg; this was a talking point in Amie's panel on sustainability | Sister Summit photo.
AE: Yeah, so I monitored, or hosted, if you will, and this year the talk was focused on imperfect advocacy. I had Nina Aragon from the Protect Our Winters science alliance join, as well as Emilé Zynobia and Amanda Hankinson, and we focused the panel just really on kind of imperfect advocacy and how it may be perceived to be very hypocritical to have a sustainability summit or panel that's being hosted at a heli Lodge, right? Like that, that in and of itself is hypocritical. So, the topic that I directly addressed is just the, the inherent and perceived hypocrisy in being a professional sports athlete or professional athlete of any sort.
Heli skiing is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the skiing experience - yet it does raise ethical questions regarding the superfluous burning of fossil fuels | TGR photo.
AE: We wanted to show people how to find the confidence to speak up and use your voice and your platform even if you might get some criticism, or if some might call you hypocrite. Because at the end of the day, the journey forward to solutions is imperfect, right? There is not this perfect linear trajectory towards carbon neutral skiing career, right. So that was kind of the main theme of the panel.
Imperfect advocacy is not a new topic for Amie.
The Hypocrite discusses how our society's systemic growth has led to fossil fuel dependency and emphasizes the necessity for top-down, systemic changes to be made | TGR photo.
Last season, Amie spent a few months with some of TGR’s crew putting together The Hypocrite. A film which delves into a critical discourse that is becoming increasingly relatable to many pro-athletes across various spheres.
In the context of climate advocacy, the film examines the inherent contradiction between personal actions and systemic efforts. The story is woven through Amie’s perspective, confronting the complex interplay between advocating for change and relying on fossil fuels for athletic pursuits.
The Hypocrite is coming to a ski town near you very soon, stay tuned! | TGR photo.
The film aspires to foster unity and collaboration within the outdoor community, and to transcend perceived hypocrisy and feelings of not fitting in. Hoping to dismantle the culture of individual blame and guilt, by instead focusing on the systemic shifts required to pave the way for a sustainable future, The Hypocrite erases the boundaries that label individuals as hypocrites, and incites a new narrative pushing viewers to recognize the urgent need for collective action and change.
