every once in awhile a folks earn their dtripes and should be recognised

[H2SNOW]

as a memeber of the KSA (Klondike Snowmobile Club) and a former director I as all members do ..we recieve Snoriderswest magazine ........

I recently came across a story about a gal who used to hang her helmet in Revelstoke

any how this was a great read and I am sure that Stephany if she should see this would be most appreciative .

All though I have never met her personaly I believe she is most worthy of this recognition


Way to go Steph !!
Just ride with it
Stephanie Schwartz is an extreme mountain sledder, an active spokesperson for snowmobiling and one goofy chick

Stephanie Schwartz is a woman playing a predominantly male game. Her riding ability, dedication and success with the sport has inspired many women to forget the stereotypes and get out there and ride.

by KALI LOVE
Stephanie Schwartz jokes that she was conceived on a snowmobile. Throughout her life, sledding has been an integral part of her family and her career. Her father is Ron LaRoy, the membership chairman of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club, and he never left Schwartz at home when he went sledding. Her older brother, Jason, also helped pave the way for Schwartz on a sled and she had to work diligently to keep up with them. This year, the LaRoys were awarded the Canadian outstanding snowmobile family of the year from the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations.


Stephanie Schwartz
As a woman in a predominantly male sport, Schwartz has had her times of ups and downs. However, her career in snowmobiling has sky-rocketed and the fact that she is a woman has perhaps helped drastically. Her first job offer happened because someone saw her riding.

"My brother and I were up on the hill riding one day and we knew some people from Red Deer, Alberta," said Schwartz. "(One of them was a salesman) from a dealership and he saw me and talked to a guy that knew me, and said 'what's up with this girl? She knows her sled stuff,' and it was as simple as that. He called me and said 'are you interested in a job?' "

Currently, Schwartz has her fingers in the corporate side of snowmobiling and has been in many extreme mountain snowmobile movies. She was first recognized by Slednecks—an extreme mountain riding film company—and she has moved on to work with Tahoe Films Ltd. This winter she will be filming with Team Summit in California and Jeff Aiello, the camera man from Extreme Home Makeover.

"They had seen me in a previous film through Tahoe Films called Sled Heads," said Schwartz. "Jeff does this segment each year where he puts one woman in that can really ride. It is a small community when you are a girl in the sled industry, and they had asked over the last couple of years if I was interested. I had actually given up filming for a couple of years because it was a boys game and I was tired of it …but they are a different group than I had ever experienced."

In Schwartz's spare time she and her husband go back to Revelstoke to ride with her family. They have just bought a house there and Schwartz puts on ladies ride weekends through Glacier House Resort. Previously, she hosted the weekends six times a year, but because of her busy schedule, she hosts one weekend each sledding season. Schwartz said she had been pushing for more women in the sport and men would constantly approach her and say, 'oh I wish my wife or girlfriend would ride.' Through these statements, Schwartz found her niche market and developed her own ladies weekend—all of the money from the weekends go to cancer research.

"Guys don't have the patience to teach," said Schwartz, "and even if my husband is trying to tell me something, I don't listen, so it turned into a girls weekend. The husbands drop off the women on Friday night and they don't see them again until Sunday. It covers everything from loading and unloading to avalanche safety, but I encourage them to take their own courses. Some of them want to learn how to mountain ride, some want to learn to jump, and some want to learn to carve…it's everything and anything in between."

In addition, Schwartz and her friend Darcy are working on starting their own version of the Way Out Women (WOW) relay—a cross-Canada snowmobile ride that raised money for breast cancer. Unfortunately, the WOW relay was cancelled in 2006 and has not happened since. Schwartz said the relay was for such a great cause and hopes that she will have their version of it up and running by 2011.

"My friend Darcy and I are in the works of starting our own from scratch," said Schwartz. "I don't think we will get it done in time for this year, but we have our letters and proposals out to the manufacturers. If it ends up not being across Canada, (it will be) at least across Western Canada, which will include Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C."




http://www.snoriderswest.com/rideon/justridewithit.php

[ski-doo junkie]

Awesome.
Good for her.

[enis750]

is that "stephy" from snowest???
great read and glad to see chicks representing in this sport!

[Ollie]

That's great.
It's nice to see her get the recognition she deserves for the hard work she's put in.

[m8magic]

hey you missed one thing.....not only can she ride...but she is HOTTTTTT..!!!!!!

[MOMMA DRINK]

Just awesome!

[Wolfrun]

I am very glad to hear about this. I like to see women get into mens domains. As i have said I have worked construction over 50 years and the first week in Wyoming a gal drove up in a cement truck and started getting her shutes down, i grabbed one and hooked it up, she took a look at me and said "get your F,n hands off my F,n truck" and believe me she meant it. Another thing I have bossed a lot of scraper spreads all over the country and the very best push cat hand i ever worked around was a 22 year old red headed gal, very hot too. I like to see the gals get out of their niche.

Another little story about the push cat gal. We were pioneering diagonally up through a rough set of cliffs. I had just hired a new push cat hand from Alaska all and he knew it all. he didn't like working with a woman and was constantly hoorawing her. One time while waiting for the scraper to get by she had backed up a real steep bluff with her blade facing out, Alaska backed up side ways in front of her blade. After the scraper went by she put her blade against his track frame and pushed him more than halfway off that cliff. He bailed off out over the fuel tank, walked a mile cross country to his truck and nobody ever saw him again. I never said a thing to her about it. I brought the tractor down off the cliff , ran it the rest of the shift and and that was that.

[Skadi]

Yup, that's Stephy from SW... she'll find her way over here eventually I'm sure... I'll make sure and tell her you boys are all drooling over her!!

Stephy is a true ambassador of our sport; it's wonderful to see a woman in the position she is in. Spending a day in the hills with her is always a highlight of my season (last year my tether cut out on my sled and I was denied the pleasure, you can be sure I was bummed!)

I saw that article too and was soooo proud to be a friend of hers as well as just a fellow female rider; I love what she stands for an how she chooses to represent herself. no snobbery and no holier than thou... just bad arse chick in a position to make a difference, gotta love it!!

[SNOWCHICK]

Very cool. Sounds like an awesome lady.

[darkeyes]

Yes, Stephy is an amazing woman! She's done so much for us ladies in this sport and is truely an inspiration, for all sledders. She definitely deserved this recognition!