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| She's Gotta Ticket to Ride 3.7.97 To date, females make up the fastest growing segment of all new snowboarders, with more than 30 percent of the total market being female, according to SIA statistics. Some women, like the from the Snow Sports Association for Women (SSAW), call this an "explosion" and are freaking that so many women are getting into sports in general. Unlike skiing or surfing that have been male-dominated for decades, women in snowboarding don't have that baggage to stop them and have charged the industry from the get-go. "Maybe it's because it's a new sport and exciting, but everyone is just stoked we're even out there—mainly the guys," says Tina Basich. "And it's evolved into tons of girls competing and the girls becoming really good." "Wow, women really do like to have their own stuff," responded one perceptive boot manufacturer who should probably remain anonymous. The result is a sport that's not only rattled the nerves of other sporting industries into action but launched a lot of snowboard companies to take a second and third look at their own hard and software goods for women this season. Ride, Burton, Sims, Rossignol, K2, Division 23, and Avalanche all have women pro models. And there are more than a dozen boot manufacturers making boots for women this year, molded from a woman's foot (last construction), and 4 manufacturers with small bindings for smaller boots.
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