Team SnowHunnys

Blake Koch from Snow Hunnys and Blake McCoy from Premontition films contacted me earlier about getting in a film date, they called and had originally wanted to go to Mt. Baker. I didn’t feel super comfy going someplace I hadnt been before without some peeps I knew really well. So I got em talked into taking the trek to Halfway. And as many of you know Halfway is my back yard and is pretty darn special to me. So I was stoked.

Tuesday was rough for the boys I showed up and met them at Stockmans and they had got into town at around 4 am, crappy road conditions and crazy gorge winds (which blew all the way to Baker) kept them on the road for a lot longer than expected… So we were pretty slow getting the ball rolling that morning. We set out to find a foot of new snow un plowed to the sno-park. (I was having visions of the LR 2 years ago trying to get B up there with her enclosed) at any rate we get on the trail and it is foggy and snowing, really????? really?????? foggy and snowy in halfway…… Who would have thought…. just kidding (its rarely sunny there) We rolled up the trail and I took off through the trees just kept going and going, they boys following, well we got to a stopping point down in a little hole. The sun just teased and it was a misty sunny mix, so they set up and took a couple of shots. So we decided to move on…. however it was not so easy to get out of there…. after countless Marmot manuvers and building them a freeway we got out of there. I have to say these guys no matter how many times they got stuck never had a bad attitude and we just had fun… I laughed so hard. By that point it was getting dark so we headed home.

Wednesday my best good little buddy Haley came to play with us… It was foggy in town so we didn’t have high hopes for a sunny shred day. We get almost to Fish Lake and voila the skys parted and we had sunshine and freshies all to our selves. We tore up meadows, hillsides, lakes, little tree areas and just had fun, just skipping around to our final spot sunset on sugarloaf. We had to say good bye to Haley that night, busy little real estate agent had meetings early Thursday Morning…. Did I mention Blake and Blake are freaking halarious, with these two around it is never a dull moment.

So Thursday, the boys decided one more day… so away we went and this time it was sunny from town, we had our excited faces on and went bee boppin up the trail…. and right off the trail I spotted it the most amazing line ever up thru the trees glistenie in the sun and powdery… I finagled my way through the trees to the oposite end of the line and carved up toward the boys… at first I though hummmm that was prolly silly, upon play back nope it is my most favorite clip ever. I could die happy just knowing that one clip happened, it just summed up my hole entire outlook on snowmobiling in 15 short seconds…. Others might think it is silly but to me it was perfect… Ok I’ll stop getting misty…. So we hit some more areas and went on to Sugar Loaf and started hitting the big powdery areas on the South Face there. So I’m just going all out freaking all over the place stella’s tounge is hanging out she is panting…… on a wide open throttle side hill… I hear tink……. tink.. tinktinktinktinktink and my stomach and heart just drop… I knew instantly it was NO BUENO…. And yep I was right it was NO BUENO…. Welp I called every one I knew getting a good diagnoses really summing up the fact it wasn’t something that could be swapped out on the hill. And no was the answer to that.

Well we started the tow… cept the problem here was that we were down, and we had an M6 and an old Polaris (which was having some sort of clutch issue) to tow miss piggy stella back UP…. Ok so after many comical attempts, we decided it was best to leave ( yes I said leave) my poor stella to sleep on the side of a cold snowy mountain top with the sasquatches for the night, until we could get a tow sled with some horsey power.

The boys headed back for Portland that eav, I had alot of fun with those guys, laid back and fun to be around I can’t wait to see their final product this fall! So I got Mike and his Brother to come up and get Stells outta there. We got her out (she is out of warranty) so Mike said he would tear into her for me…. And this is what he found….

-1 broken connecting rod…. and when it broke it took hostages, the case was mangled and the crank was toast, no bearings to be found just a pile of metal in the bottom. Luckily no metal made its way up, and my cylindars were in good shape. Called up Michelle at Oregon Trail Sports and low and behold she had a short block and pistons in stock (it was time for new pistons anyhow) So by friday she should be back up and running with a totally new motor, realigned clutches, and a major tune up….

Well sorry for the lengthy novel I just kept typing… LOL

Picts to follow

The TSH crew hits up Pemberton, B.C. Canada for a little fresh air and sick drops with some of the local talent. Nadia Samer, Steph Sweezy and Julie-Ann Chapman will make your faces smile when you see them huck off some of the most awesome terrain in the world, that they refer to as their “Back Yard”. Sweet riding, with cool people… You couldn’t ask for more.

From Risqué… To Respect, meet the girls of Team Snow Hunnys!

Original Story

With the upcoming release of a brand new all women’s snowmobile video featuring members of the Snow Hunnys riding team, Blake Koch, the owner and founder of Snow Hunnys is out to set the record straight.

Koch was just a senior in high school when he and his girlfriend hatched the idea to start up a new company and clothing line geared toward women in the snowmobiling community. Initially, he thought it would be a great way to market a group that is typically ignored in the snowmobiling community.

The first round of marketing based on sex appeal—a sort of Playboy bunny for snowmobilers—drew an immediate, negative response from the snowmobiling community. The biggest critics were just the people Koch said he was trying to reach—women.

“When we started,” Koch said, “We were all about the cutsie girls taking pictures for the guys. Ever since, we have been battling that image and working very hard to change people’s perception. We lost respect from key people and they tuned us out.” He said he feels as though his company sparked the use of sex appeal in the industry with their sexy, risqué concepts and said you can now find “vendors with girls in fishnets trying to sell stuff at the snow shows,” but said his company has moved on. Now at a more mature 22-years-old, Koch said the company is looking to showcase the talent of female riders and the new line of attack seems to be paying off.

“We knew we were in the wrong,” he said. “Slowly people are starting to believe that we are turning it around to go in a new direction. They can see that we are about the women riders and we want to promote them.”

If promoting female snowmobiling were easy, the statistics wouldn’t be what they are. Just 12 percent of active snowmobilers are women, compared to the 88 percent men. Yes, there are all-female riding groups. The Pink Ribbon Riders are an example of how the female snowmobiling community can come together and achieve great things, in their case, national fundraising rides for men and women with cancer. But, those kinds of groups are sparse because as Koch pointed out, the snowmobiling industry has largely ignored women riders. And he’s right.

Although there have been a handful of women riders featured in snowmobile videos over the last decade, there isn’t a woman who is as well-known as Chris Burandt. Yes, there are a few breakout female riders who are starting to garner attention with their riding expertise, but the snowmobiling industry still caters to the male crowd. Most industry films are created by guys, for guys, starring guys. If a woman does happen to make a rare appearance in a snow film, she’s usually onscreen for 30 seconds in a bikini and fluffy snow boots, which doesn’t speak much to her ability to boondock on an RMK through the trees.

But the tide may be turning. Koch hopes to create a family friendly atmosphere by giving men’s wives, girlfriends or daughters who ride snowmobiles a greater venue to participate in. Plus, he’s promoting the team with a website, clothing line (now “tastefully” photographed) a You Tube channel, appearances at North American snow shows, and the pièce de résistance, a new Snow Hunnys film by Premonition Films, due to be released in the fall of 2010. It is one of the first, if not the first, all women’s snowmobiling video. There are also more competitions on the way, and an ultimate goal of having team Snow Hunnys being sponsored athletes who compete in the Winter X Games within the next few years.

“I think it will define the sport and get a lot more women involved in the sport,” he said. “Every season we need to come out bigger and better. We want intelligent girls pushing the limits until we get to a point where female snowmobiling will get so huge that the name will stand on its own.”

What Koch sees as a fundamental defining moment of change in the snowmobiling world, the Snow Hunny riders themselves just want to prove themselves as female snowmobiling athletes. Delene Dipple, the star of the team, is incredibly passionate about the sport and about getting respect for female snowmobilers.

Rider Nadia Samer, from Whistler, BC, Canada, has several downhill titles in mountain skiing and just took up sledding in last couple of years. Logan, Utah’ Raysha Gladfelder is just 16-years-old, but Koch said he is blown away by how talented she is. There are other sponsored riders on this year’s team, but Koch declined to name names since negotiations are still in the works. Ultimately, he said, the success of an all-women’s snowmobiling team will depend on the girls themselves.

“Once they start snowmobiling and love what they do, then we feel like we are giving back,” Koch said. “Our biggest critics are the girls we are trying to promote—the same people we are trying to help. These girls want the video and they want respect and if they want it to happen they need to step up (meaning applications/auditions) or it will never happen. They need to be activists.”

For more information on joining the team, visit snowhunnys.com.

We just finished our trip to Utah to visit Raysha Gladfelder, one of our upcoming riders, at the age of 17 this girl rips hills with some of Utah’s finest! Guided by Nick Ropelato and the Renegade Sports crew we punched up into Idaho and battled the weather for a couple days getting some shots in the trees, but on our last day we finally got some breaks in the weather and got several setups for filming. We finished the trip with a group HDR photo. Webisode of this trip coming soon!

Premonition Films met up with the Snowhunnys crew for a trip to Eastern Oregon! We met up with local and team rider Nicole “Marmot” Sullivan. She boondocks the trees like no one’s business on an Arctic Cat M1000, a very large machine, it was very impressive to watch! We got some bluebird sunny days in and had a blast ridding some perfect powder with her. With many laughs had by all, we look forward to riding again with her soon. It was a great trip, the drive was a bit rough with a major headwind in the gorge, freezing rain, and curvy, snowy backroads into the mountains, but it was worth it! We had wonderful time hanging out with her, unfortunately halfway through the last day see blew out the connecting rod in her engine and we had to leave the sled behind! She already got it back and is had it fixed. She is a very motivated rider and wants to be out on the hill as much as possible, so we are glad she got it fixed we might have another chance to ride! Here are some pics of the trip to tide you over till the webcast comes out!