she was in her 21st winter of teaching skiing and the 10th year in the process of earning her Level 4 teaching certificate.
“When I got the email to say I won, it took weeks to sink in,” she said. “I’ve never had that kind of public recognition in the ski community. It catalyzed me to say, ‘Oh, right, I actually deserve support.’ I truly believe that everybody does.”
In Canada, women make up only roughly 10% of the Level 4 and 20% of Level 3 instructors. And, having worked several seasons as the sole female coach, Bate struggled with feelings of isolation, fear of failure, and the pressure of feeling like she was carrying the torch for her entire gender.
During the long process of getting her Level 4, she had to come face to face with her fear, and she knew that in order to push through it, she was going to have to find something that was more important. For her, that something was simply to achieve her potential.
“I knew it was there, and I needed to get out of my own way,” she said. “I wasn’t just doing this just for me. I was doing this for women and people who support women. And for everyone who was following after me. I can’t pay everyone back who helped me, but I can pay it forward to help other women coming up.”
She was accepted into the Hilaree Nelson Professional Development Program at the moment when she needed it most, and it gave her a positive external affirmation that women do have a space in this industry. But while that affirmation helped her shore up her belief in herself, she also had to dig deep to find her own source of confidence throughout the process.
The confidence I needed had to come from within. I realized that accomplishing my goals in life, and in this case finishing my Level 4, wasn’t going to make me feel like I am enough. I needed to realize that I was already enough. I was going to stand there and belong there, regardless of the outcome.”
This is what W2W is all about—creating space for women to discover not just what they can do on the mountain, but everywhere else. Or, best said by Bate in her Hilaree Nelson impact statement: “W2W nourished several beliefs. I am enough. I do belong. I deserve support.”
W2W will continue to work hard to make the next decade less about proving women deserve a place in skiing—and more about watching what they build when that place is unquestionably theirs.
A decade ago, the ski industry had a problem it barely acknowledged: Half the population that has been systematically overlooked since the beginning of time were being sold gear that was, by and large, still designed and made by men.
“If Leslie hadn’t pushed this program forward, I don’t think I would be the skier I am today,” said Sam Tischendorf, a female senior bootfitter, Masterfit trainer, orthotic technician, and a member of the W2W focus group.
“Three…two…one…dropping!” We skiers all know this line, radioed from every athlete in ski movies just before shredding an Alaskan spine, artfully arcing above the slough spilling down the troughs.
Elisa Vottero, a former ski racer and current ski instructor in Italy, had the idea years ago to create a community of women who could inspire each other through skiing.
