Nina Williams, Cayman Islands. Photo by Andrew Burr
Taking Charge
Tired of inadequate gear, lack of role models, and a thick glass ceiling, women are rebuilding the outdoor culture and industry for themselves
As soon as she hit the black ice, Stephanie Nitsch was in the air—once, twice, maybe three times—as her truck cartwheeled down an embankment.
Nitsch was living out of her rig at the time, hustling through Canada to promote her women’s splitboard company, Pallas Snowboards. She was shaken but unhurt, and the more lasting impact was on her wallet: Money she’d saved from freelance writing gigs to put toward a house down payment? Poured into fixing the truck. Nitsch has never drawn a salary from the brand, and she was completely wiped out.
In the aftermath, Nitsch considered pulling the plug on Pallas. “We’ve crested that five-year hump in the small business world, but it’s a fucklength away from being sustainable,” she says. It would have been easy to close shop. Reclaim her free time. Restock her bank account. Maybe even put down roots.
But even as she mulled the fantasy, Nitsch knew it was just that—a fantasy. Pallas
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