After soaring over the great mountains of Alaska, Lawrence Grassi Middle School teacher and adventurer Karen Girouard will make her film debut in Lynsey Dyer’s all-female ski film, Pretty Faces.
Girouard will get her first glimpse of the film this weekend in Revelstoke, while the rest of the Bow Valley will wait until Monday, Oct. 20 when the film will screen at the Cornerstone Theatre.
“The film will feature tons of female athletes doing some cool things in the mountains,” Girouard said. “I’m super grateful to be part of this thing; I believe it’s going to change things in a positive manner.”
Even though women make up 40 per cent of skiers in the U.S., and 30 per cent of adventure sports film viewership, they’re grossly underrepresented on camera. Women made up only 14 per cent of all athletes appearing in ski films in 2013, up from nine per cent in 2012. Dyer’s film aims to change that, and she’s assembled a large collection of female athletes for her film, including Girouard.
The film aims to attract more women to snow and adventure sports, providing role models for those interested in pushing the boundaries of their sport.
“Young girls need more positive role models to offer as an alternative to the world of skinny jeans, reality TV and fashion magazines. We aim to provide a positive source of inspiration for young girls first and foremost,” states the movie’s mission statement.
It’s a problem Giroard has encountered as a paraglider in the Bow Valley, as she still wants to find more women who share her sport. She’s flown off the top of Lady MacDonald to show her students what women can do.
“I don’t know when women decided to stop doing these things,” Girouard said. “For me, these sports are a saviour. It’s where I feel happiest. I become my true self. I can be myself as a whole.”
Girouard isn’t sure how much she’ll be in the film, although she submitted a lot of her footage flying in Alaska and off Mount Lady MacDonald.
She’s not resting on her laurels either. Girouard wants to earn her tandem flight licence this winter so she can teach more women how to fly. She also spent the summer taming rivers in Alaska, and kayaking the Bore Tide southeast of Anchorage.
Girouard returned to Alaska this summer in search of adventure, and found it soaring around peaks in her speed wing and kayaking the Bore Tide wave, a massive swell that breaks only twice a day on a remote lake in Alaska.
She also wants to watch the film to discover more adventurous friends.
“I’m really looking forward to it, to see who else is out there, who I can do cool stuff with,” Girouard said.
