Last year, Summer Fenton took a trip to snowboard in a place that rarely comes to mind when you think of winter - India. With slopes (nearly) all to herself and her crew, Summer found new terrain both in bounds and out to ride and made time to connect with the local culture all around her.

Watch the full edit below and let us know what you think! Should you book your next winter getaway to India too?    

Also - in case you missed it, Summer sent us a recap of what the trip was like last season. To get more insight on this otherworldly adventure, go read it now!

Sustainability is important. You know this, we know this and here at Nikita we have made a commitment to sustainability and to increasing our efforts to help support a healthy planet and healthy life.

We aren't going to sit here and try and tell you that we're the best, or that we never make mistakes or that we know everything. We don't.

What we can do (and what we are doing) is trying - we're searching for more sustainable materials and rethinking our current practices and processes to see how we can improve on what we've been doing over the years. The goal is to be a part of making a difference in the world one step at a time.

So what have we been doing to make good on this? Nikita Clothing has begun integrating a new insulation into our outerwear. The insulation is a material from Thermore^® called Ecodown^®. Curious about what that is? Here's a little info from Thermore^® about this down-alternative insulation - 

"...the Ecodown^® product line is made of fully recycled content, derived exclusively from PET water bottles. The new Ecodown^® is the only synthetic product in the market to be made from 100%, post-consumer plastic bottles."

This insulation is made from recycled plastic bottles (keeping waste out of landfills), and through its careful creation its earned itself a bluesign approval. 

"BLUESIGN is a system that provides safer and more sustainable environments for people to work in and everyone to live in. Powered by a holistic approach, BLUESIGN traces each textile’s path along the manufacturing process, making improvements at every stage from factory floor to finished product. BLUESIGN changes the environmental impact of textiles for good. As a solution provider and knowledge broker, BLUESIGN acts as an independent verifier to secure trust and transparency. Corresponding to this approach, BLUESIGN encourages the industry to increase their efforts in sustainable processes step by step."

There are a lot of ways we can continue to improve and we love sharing what we do with you, our community, so you know what we're doing and what goes into your outerwear. We couldn't wait to tell you about this one and we STILL can't wait to tell you about what we have for our next streetwear collection coming up (hint: 'organic' ingredients aren't just for your food!)

Check out the pieces from this season that include the new Thermore^® Ecodown^® insulation and let us know which is your favorite!

Right now we're pretty stuck on the Poplar Jacket, but the Banyon seems to be calling our name too 🤔

The below pieces feature Thermore^® Ecodown^® -

Poplar Jacket

Sycamore Jacket

Banyon Jacket

Distortion Parka

STRAWBERRY (BERLIN) MEETS ALASKA – PHOTO EXHIBITION AND 25^TH SHOP ANNIVERSARY

Our friends over at Strawberry Shop Berlin are celebrating their 25th Anniversary of being in business with a photo exhibit of their most recent group snow trip - to Alaska! Read on to hear from Strawberry owner Juliane about how their trip went and where to find them to see the full photo exhibit in person.

My name is Juliane and I am the owner of Strawberry – a cool girl fashion store in the middle of Berlin which exists since 1995. I am organizing snowboard trips for girls only since the very beginning of the shop. We´re always trying to go to special spots like Hawaii Big Island, Sierra Nevada Spain, Saarisälkä Finnland, Oppdal Norway or Stryn,… so far, there was only missing Alaska!

No sooner said than done, our last trip beginnings of the year was to Alaska. We´ve been together with a professional photographer team called Cameraworkers.

Alaskan people are very crazy, but super friendly at the same time. At 23 Fahrenheit, all of them are wearing shorts and flip flops. It´s kind of a hot day for them. They are always looking for party, but on the other hand due to their roots, they are very close to nature.

This is understandable since the nature and the views on the top of the mountains are just amazing. If the weather is good, you can see the ocean while boarding. And at our arrival we´ve seen two reindeers in front of a house. Unfortunately, we haven´t seen any bears, but they told us that there is a bunch out there – maybe next time.

Regarding the snow, I am actually speechless. It was just incredible. The snow feels different, I am pretty sure because it´s so close to the sea and the clouds are snowing immediately. Furthermore it was snowing the whole time giant snowflakes. Every morning between 7 and 10 am they had to blow up avalanches. The idea behind the trip was actually doing some shots while Heliskiing, but it was impossible due to the heavy snow falls. The helicopter couldn´t event start. Therefore we had to search our own slopes on the hills and we were riding a lot on the slopes. Riding in Alaska is at a high level – they have so many black slopes for advanced riders. We (and you) definitely have to go snowboarding or skiing in Alaska (once again).

Convince yourself and check out our upcoming event on December 7^th. We´re going to do a special photo exhibition and celebrate our 25^th anniversary. Please feel free to join us for some hot wine and cookies. Furthermore, there will be the option to buy some of the shots of Alaska – (Do you still need a Christmas present?) and a photo shooting to win from Cameraworkers. We´re looking forward to seeing you!

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/789738531471587/

You can't know where you're going unless you take some time to look back at where you've come from. 

That's how we met this rad sister duo of Unnur and Anna - two sisters from Iceland that caught our attention. They live in a nice small town called Kópavogur, which is next to the capital Reykjavic, our town of birth.

Both girls are addicted to snowboarding, gymnastics and windsurfing. They do almost everything together; going to the same school, have same friends and almost all hobbies in common.

We had the chance to sit down and talk a bit to the girls and ask them about life in Iceland. 

How do you feel about Iceland, your home country?

Unnur: I love my town and my country. I love the freedom in Iceland and the bright summer nights.  I love that I can stay out till the night in the summer and I love that I can snowboard in the winter.

Anna: Yes I love my town and my country.  I love going to the north of Iceland in the winter.  That’s where the best snowboarding is.

What, to you, is special about living in Iceland?

Unnur: I think for kids and teens it’s the freedom.  I have met kids in Europe, and it seems like they don’t have as much freedom. Iceland is very quiet and calm place to live in, I think.

Anna: Iceland is very different from other countries. Very dark days in the winter and sunny nights in the summer.  The winters can get very crazy, but that is usually just means cozy times, because then the schools close and we can stay home.

What´s your favorite thing to do in Iceland? What should a tourist do in Iceland when they come to visit?

Unnur: My favorite thing to do here is snowboarding and mountain biking and wall climbing, and I also love going to gymnastics practice.  Besides the classic outback nature viewing and tracking a tourist should probably go to the swimming pools. That is the only thing that is guaranteed all year round.  Most Icelanders go to the outdoor swimming pools regularly, in all weathers. And the weather can get very bad here. The worse the weather is the cozier the pools get.

Anna: My favorite thing to do here is snowboarding, mountain biking, skateboarding, swimming and going to gymnastics practice. 

Tourist should go to the highlands in the middle of Iceland.  Very beautiful and nice to track or bike.  And they should bring swimsuits to bathe in hot rivers. If they are staying in the city or any town, they can also go swimming in the swimming pools. That’s what Icelanders do regularly all year round.

Day 3, the day that, this year, is boasting the famous sunrise shoot for Ms. Superpark 2019 at Big Boulder in Pennsylvania. When we say the girls were riding from sun up to sun down, we aren't kidding. Everyone roused themselves from their beds around 5am and shuffled their way to the slowly turning lifts for a first light session on the hill.

If you followed our Marketing Manager Jenna Kuklinski's takeover of the story during the shoot, you know a lot of the major highlights from the morning, but the Snowboarder Mag staff recap the morning shoot and more in their Day 3 photo recap of Ms. Superpark. See excerpts from the write-up below or head to Snowboarder.com for the full piece and more photos.

Photo - Mark Clavin

Words - Snowboarder Magazine Staff

Pardon any grammatical errors, this recap is being written after literally riding from sunup to sundown. That being said… wowo wat A grate dae itwas. Just kidding. We pride ourselves on grammar and punctuation here. That is why the SNOWBOARDER crew arrived on hill at 6:37am this morning after a group text went out promptly telling everyone to be ready by 6:30am. Alas our tardiness for the sunrise shoot and current sleep-deprived state to Google a better adjective, we will sum it up by just saying the morning session was lit. Huge thanks to Stefi Luxton, Nora Beck, Ari Morrone, Madison Blackley, Desiree Melancon, Jill Perkins, Nirvana Ortanez, Taylor Elliot and the rest of the riders for making the first sunrise shoot of Ms Superpark a success! Featuring the mesh wall ride that once resided at the DC Mountain Lab, 20+ ladies planted, slid, and stalled in and out of golden light until it was time for breakfast.

Rider - Taylor Elliott, Photo - Mary Walsh

After some coffee, it was straight to the hip up on Boulder Park run. Ty Schnorrbusch set the line and started off the session, with plenty of ladies in tow. Katie Kennedy lofted up some airs, Kailey and Ashley Bogart lapped through, and Stefi Luxton showed everyone exactly what a proper hip hit looks like. Emma Crosby joined in to warm up her legs, but everyone knew she had her eyes set on a different feature—the untouched step-down jump with a cat parked on the deck. It didn’t take long before a small crew hiked to the backside of the hip to start checking speed.

Rider - Emma Crosby, photo - Mike Yoshida

Once again dropping first, Ty Schnorrbusch went HUGE on the feature, stoking out the crowd. Next up, Emma Crosby borrowed Jess Kimura’s helmet and sent a few over the lip. Nelly Steinhoff joined in and in between wind bursts, pulled a solid method for the photogs on the deck. After both Nelly and Ty went down on the landing—sadly taking them out of the session, Emma charged on by herself and spun a few massive front threes, earning the respect of her peers and probably plenty of beers tonight. Crosby received a huge cheers as she walked into the lodge, even getting Jess Kimura to say, "That is the highest my helmet has ever been."

Read the rest, including an exclusive interview with Jess Kimura, on Snowboarder.com!

If you've been following our feed, you'll have been staying up to date with the latest happenings on hill at Big Boulder for Ms. Superpark. What the feed doesn't always give you a beautiful laid-out space where you can appreciated all of the images that are coming out of the long days of riding.

Snowboarder Mag does an amazing job at capturing the moments and the vibes of what it's like to be on hill with nearly 100 ripping female riders. We won't try to out-do the pros here, so check out these excerpts from the Snowboarder Mag photo recaps from Day 1 and Day 2 and if you like this sampling, be sure to go read the full pieces on their site here

Day 1 -

Words - Mary Walsh

"True to form of snowboarders in general, female riders especially have always been hell bent on making it happen, whether "it" is a movie project, video part, snow chasing road trip, or grassroots event—and when Ms. emerged as a way to come together for a week of park laps, the stoked was high. Over the past few seasons, women have gathered at only a few events designed specifically for them, Snowboy Productions' IT'S TITS! at Boreal, Kimmy Fasani's Amusement MTN, Nine Queens, and park camps, backcountry clinics, and ride weeks around the world. There was momentum and anticipation to add Ms. Superpark back into the fray as another opportunity for the community to come together, rider together, and push one another to showcase the creativity and talent within the collective group...

Far on rider's left, Boulder's Freedom park is a haven for jibbers. It's loaded with different features and it was the first place that crew of ladies started warming up and throwing down. The Rude Girls arrived all the way from Banff and started getting clips on the rails. Maria Thomsen immediately started putting on a clinic and Jenaya Jenkins, Lexi Rolland, Taylor Elliot, Taylor Davis, Savannah Shinske and more went from 0 to 60 right away. Soon the minipipe was being lapped, as Desiree and Bridges went plant-for-plant in the perfectly-cut pipe. A loaded crew including Savannah Golden, Nelly Steinhoff, Summer Fenton, Alice Gong, Kelsey Boyer, Christine Savage, and were hotlapping side hits and the minipipe...

Over on the rider's right side of Boulder, Madison Blackley was casually charging as soon as the lifts started to turn. The Salt Lake Native is best known for her tenacity in the streets, but she has heavy jumping chops, as well. Just before lunchtime, when the Boulder park crew had put the finishing touches on the Ms. Lane in Boulder Park and the sun had softened the snow just enough, Mads kicked off the first session of Ms. on the hi. Setting the line with her was Desiree Melancon, who was sending methods high over the horizon. Nelly Steinhoff, Emma Crosby, Kailey Bogart, Ty Schnorrbusch, and more were warming up for the week with a serious hip session."

Day 2 - 

Words - Mary Walsh

"If day one didn’t convince you already, maybe the day 2 recap will—5 years was way too long of a wait for Ms. Superpark to be back on hill! Tricks are being thrown down all over the hill, NBDs are in the air, and lucky for us, the handful of veterans and huge crew of up-and-comers here at Big Boulder are more than up to the task of pushing the limit of what was set a demi-decade ago...

Midway down the Boulder Park trail, side-by-side quarters were the site of a big day two session. Handplants, airs, liptricks and tranny finders were all fair game as the new arrivals (Stefi, Nirvana, Jill, and Jess) pointed it into the rider's right wall alongside Kelsey Boyer, Emma Crosby, Cori Stevenson, Summer Fenton, and more. Laura Rogoski and Christine Savage were dropping in for doubles. Savannah Golden was initiating surfy tranny finders. Stefi and Jess opened up the rider's right wall with proper handplants. The quick-dropping, consistent-stomping session not only offered plenty of fodder for the upcoming day 2 video, but also catalyzed trick-learning. Madison Blackley was dialing in McTwists. Jill Perkins and Maria Thomsen were learning handplants for the first time. Luminaries, veterans, and up-and-comers rode alongside one another and each trick that was landed launched a subsequent idea or variation.

[Jess Kimura], you have been a part of seminal projects that are devoted to women's snowboarding, most recently The Uninvited. Why do you feel that women's-specific projects, whether movies, events, etc. are important in snowboarding?
I think it's important just to get to know the whole community of all the girls. These events are super essential for supporting and feeding off each other. Today I was at the quarterpipe and I was learning handplants just from looking at all the other girls and getting so much inspiration. I think it's just super important that we all get together, inspire each other, and support each other because I think that's when we evolve the best. It's just dope to see all the girls kill it and that makes you want to step it up."

To read the rest of the articles and catch up on everything else Ms. Superpark, head over to Snowboarder.com now. Thanks again to Big Boulder Park for building the parks and hosting and to Monster Energy for coming in on supporting the girls and women out there riding all week.  

Hello one and all!

Gather around, because we've got some important news here- the final (! 😢 it's ok, don't cry), stop for our North American G.W.R. winter series is coming up quick and it's going to be one you definitely can't miss. We'll be at Ari Morrone's home mountain, Big Boulder park at Jack Frost resort, throwing down with both snowboarders and skiers!

You can expect tons of prizes, giveaways and possibly even some $$$  (👀🔥🍞)! given away to girls and ladies who land their best tricks.

What's more? If you pre-register using the form below and show up as one of the first 40 people to check in, you'll get a FREE, limited edition Nikita Fanny Pack (waht! Yes.). Seriously, you don't want to miss out on this.

Sign up now and we'll see you March 9th at Big Boulder resort for the best day of your winter!

Boardsliding into the G.W.R Rude Girls Recap Like......

On Jan 26th the second annual G.W.R. by Nikita Clothing hosted at Sunshine Village with Rude Girls went down.

Wow, what an amazing turnout. If you were at Sunshine Village the photos are up, please go tag yourself tag your friends. And if you weren't there get inspired by all these lovely ladies and go ride!

When I say Rude Girls y'all say YEAHH. Check out all these boarder babes. Who else wants to do a female shred day every day?

Can't wait to see you all next time coming in live from Nikita Clothing featuring Girls Who Ride.

Words By. Riley Elliott

ATTENTION ALL EASTCOASTERS: 

G.W.R. IS HEADED YOUR WAY! (SIGN UP HERE)

G.W.R. Girls Streetstyle by Nikita at Dew Tour from Nikita Clothing on Vimeo.

The first ever G.W.R. Girls Streetstyle event went down at Dew Tour on December 15th, making history for females at #dewtour!

Congratulations to the ski podium - Shondra Charbonneau for best trick Brooke Potter in 3rd, Nadia Gonzales in 2nd and Taylor Lundquist for taking 1st prize! The snowboard podium was another heater, with Nora Beck in 3rd, Alexis Roland in 2nd and Kaleah Driscoll taking both best trick and 1st place! Thank you to everyone who showed up, this was an amazing night.

Ski Podium L to R: Nadia Gonzales, Brooke Potter, Shonny Charbonneau, Taylor Lundquist

@dewtour photo by @bradyferdig

Snowboard Podium L to R: Kaleah Driscoll, Nora Beck, Alexis Roland

@dewtour photo by @bradyferdig

#FORGIRLSWHORIDE

Filming and Edit by Mia Lambson
Cover Image by Hunter Murphy

Originally posted on TWSnow- you can check out the full article here!

All photos - Ashley Rosemeyer

Why aren't there more women's events? This is the biggest takeaway from G.W.R. by Nikita Clothing at Carinthia Parks on March 31^st.  Girls traveled from Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to be at this single-day event. With so much interest and enthusiasm for something like this, it should be a no-brainer to get more of these progression and jam session days going. If you're a girl and you live somewhere they don't have an event like this, start organizing it! Get out there and bring people together!

With more than 70 girls gathered together at Carinthia's Lower Nitro Park on the morning of March 31^st, the excitement was high and the energy was infectious. Throw-back jams started playing over the speakers provided by Carinthia and the G.W.R. by Nikita Clothing at Carinthia Parks was on. If you're not familiar with G.W.R. events by Nikita yet- the format runs like this; the day starts off with a morning jam session coached by Nikita teamriders, and then after a short break for lunch everyone gathers again at the top of the park to throw down tricks they've just learned (or have already mastered) for a massive giveaway of prizes and goods. Prizes are handed out for riders when they land sick tricks, their personal best tricks, or even when someone just slams super hard; they earn themselves a giveaway and a huge round of applause for going for it.

Was that not enough? Head over to TWSnow now to get your fill on the rest of this recap and see more photos from our G.W.R. event at Carinthia!

Mirte van Dijk is a Dutch snowboarder, content creator and professional nomad. She most recently set off to Japan for a few months and has been taking FULL advantage of the unreal season they've been having there (and we seriously mean unreal- it's been dumping there since December!) We could not resist reaching out to her to get to know more about her. Could you? Read on to see what it's like living out of a suitcase, and never knowing where you'll land next. 

Hi Mirte! We’ve been seeing some of your travels lately and they are looking AMAZING. Those little bits are making us really want to know more- how you do it, why you do it and where you’re going next. 

So, tell us! Spill the beans!

 
What initially drew you to travel to Japan? 
I think Japan might be the only country that is on the list of every snowboarder, because of the massive amounts of snow, exotic culture and g-o-o-o-d food. It’s been on mine for years! And now I’m here, I leave it on my list, because one visit is really not enough!

Why Hakuba? What exactly are you doing there?

Two friends who run a lodge in Hakuba Valley needed some extra hands this season, only a few hours a day. Before I knew it me and Sébastien (the boyfriend) were on our way to paradise. And besides the great snow, beautiful landscapes and being surrounded by funny animal noises while riding, it actually turned out to be the classic ‘lodge life’. Friends became bosses and we were working way more hours than promised. Sébastien needed to take a break (and a beer), went out and found a new job while still zipping his glass in the bar that appeared out of nowhere. We packed our bags the day after and moved to the coolest riders lodge of Cortina: Hakuba Cortina Lodge (re-opening next season). From the first time since our arrival all the pieces finally came together.