In British Columbia's Sea to Sky, Shredcatz Brings Women Snowboarders Together Through Events and Meet-Ups

When you type Beatrice Franke’s name into the Google search bar, it’s not her contributions to snowboarding that land the top spot in your search results. As the face behind the Vancouver- and Whistler-area women’s snowboard community Shredcatz , Beatrice is not only an integral part of the Sea-to-Sky scene, she’s also a successful physicist with a PhD. You’ll find her name popping up on Google Scholar, Research Gate, and the University of British Columbia. For Dr. B, the women’s snow and skate community is what she focuses on when she’s not in the lab.

Hailing from Germany, Beatrice learned to snowboard in the late nineties, spending time in the Austrian Alps while managing work and her academic path. After relocating to Vancouver for a job opportunity in 2016, she found a work/life balance that took her from 15 days on snow to 60+ a year while working full time. She hasn’t quite pinned down the point in which she felt drawn to building up the women’s snowboard community, but mentions it might have something to do with working as a physicist and researcher and becoming more sensitive to the barriers to participation for women.

“I eventually recognized the huge benefits and also the need for fostering female communities in male-dominated environments," she says. "It also just hits different when you ride with other women and are reminded how empowering it can be.”

With that, Beatrice launched Shredcatz YYC and has been organizing events and meet-ups with the Vancouver and Whistler snow and skate communities ever since. - Ally Watson

How long has Shredcatz been around?
I started the Instagram account [ @shredcatz ] in April 2022.

How did it start?
My main goal to begin with was to have a platform to share edits and photos of the growing community of female riders in Vancouver and Whistler. Another big part of it was to create connections between the pockets of riders at the different resorts in Vancouver and Whistler which would often not have a lot of overlap – they’re close by but require different season passes.

Yes, totally. Who else is involved in Shredcatz?
The involvement of others kinda ebbs and flows depending on people’s availability, like I had a bunch of different people provide critical support during different stages of how Shredcatz has been evolving. The type of support also differs so much, there’s photo/videographers sharing their shots or coming to our events giving their time to shoot and edit, artists helping with logo or sticker creations, on-the-floor support during the events, shops and brands providing product, and many others. I’m so grateful for every single one of you! Emma Chamberland, is my right hand for all things Shredcatz and always there to help or take some tasks off my plate.

I always see so many hands in the pot, it’s essential. What is the mission statement or objective?
Get more girls and women into snowboarding and the park specifically, boost their confidence on and off snow, build connections, and showcase our local female talent!

Love it. What value have you found that Shredcatz has contributed to the community, was there something missing that you filled?
I hope we’re able to hit all the boxes from what I said above about our objectives. Another hope I have is that by sharing footage of riders at different levels is to spark inspiration in the girls to try a new trick or a new feature that they saw someone else do. [They] can relate to it because they ride the same park or can simply see themselves represented in the content we create and share.

How was the season this year?
It was a low tide winter in our area which made things a bit challenging. We had a big ride and demo day lined up for January at Cypress Mountain which eventually we had to cancel. For the other events there was a lot of uncertainty about the snow situation, so we were constantly looking at adjusting dates and as a consequence, announcing events with a rather short notice, which is less than ideal, and not being able to provide the park setups we had in mind but more so just work with whatever was feasible. That being said, I’m so stoked we were able to pull through with a ride day at Mt. Seymour, a casual meetup in Whistler, a couple of skate meetups, and our rail jam at Grouse Mountain which was actually my favorite.

Sick, it was definitely a tough season, and the Sea to Sky can be difficult to gauge in any year, especially the Vancouver resorts, glad you pulled through. How has the community grown since the beginning?
That’s hard to say for me, as I might have some type of tunnel vision, ha, but I do feel that the momentum is picking up as more and more women are keen to participate or also help out at our events. Brands and ski resorts are showing more interest and support as they are seeing the value that it brings to the community and their businesses.

You do some collaborations with other groups and events, do you want to talk about how that started?
So at this point I want to give a really huge shoutout to the Nothing In The Pantry crew from Silverstar – they reached out to Shredcatz in the Fall of 2022, which was our first year, and asked if we’d like to do a joint ride day in Vancouver as they were branching out into holding events outside their home mountain. I immediately agreed and it was absolutely critical to have their support and experience, in particular being able to showcase the success of their previous events to get the endorsement of a local ski resort to even start talking to us! Thus, we were able to hit the ground running and it was truly a kickstart to our community!

Based on that experience we’re always open and stoked to work with other crews as long as our values align and there’s good vibes. I think it’s important to not create any sense of competition or scarcity because in the end that could result in gate keeping or other unnecessary resentments.

Which would ultimately just oppose the whole goal in the first place. What’s a typical meet-up look like for both snow and skate?
It kinda really depends, a meet-up is different from a ride day, which is also different from a rail jam, and so on, but what’s really important to me, personally, and what I also want to see from anyone who gets involved to help or support, is a welcoming environment! Snowboarding, skateboarding, and parks can already be quite intimidating, so I wouldn’t want anyone to feel like they don’t belong because there’s some cool-guying or any other type of judgemental behavior going on.

Beyond snow and skate, what do you think Shredcatz has brought to the community?
Well again, hard to say just because I’m in the middle of it, but I guess I can just hope that we’re creating opportunities for anyone who wants to be a part of the community. No matter if that’s encouragement, new friendships, a cool photo hitting the park, winning some sick prizes or giveaways at our events (and not just some leftovers after stuff has been handed to the boys), or maybe even visibility toward sponsors when coming to our events or being featured on our stories or posts.

Amazing. What’s happening next? Any summer plans?
It’s been a bit slow as I’ve been busy with some personal stuff, but we’re working toward some skate meet-ups, social/networking get togethers for the Fall, and trying to start prep for next winter! A dear friend is also building a website for us, so I hope to launch that before the next season kicks off.

How do you see Shredcatz growing or evolving?
I’d love to keep going with our current involvements and make sure the stuff we had to cancel this past season can actually happen. We have tons of ideas, but we also need to find more avenues of support in terms of additional hands and funding because there’s only so much we can do as a couple of individuals, while remaining sustainable and not burning out or losing our passion over it.

Thanks, Beatrice!