"Rad Boob" refers to a calendar put together by a group of kick-ass women skiers to raise money for breast cancer. Organized by skiers Sarah Frood, third place finisher in 2008's Overall Canadian Freeskiing Tour and the Lake Louise Freeski Competition, and Tessa Treadway, third place finisher in 2008's Canadian Freeski Tour, the calendar features top women skiers in some amazing action shots, along with personal stories of how breast cancer has affected their lives. It's a calendar that everyone -- Ski Divas and non-Ski Divas alike -- will want to own. And with the holiday season approaching, it makes a great gift, too!
Here, Sarah gives us some background on this remarkable calendar.
Q: What was the inspiration behind the calendar? How and why did you decide to do this? A: It seems like everyone has a breast cancer story, whether it’s personal, a friend, a mother, an aunt; it affects so many people. My mother had breast cancer about two years ago and is still going strong as a survivor, but it was a terrifying experience for my family.
We had a group of girlfriends that would ski together at Kicking Horse a couple of seasons ago. We were all wearing pink one day for a promo video we were filming and we randomly came up with the idea. It took a couple of seasons of talking about it, but last year we finally went into action. The support we’ve received from our friends and families has been amazing!
Q: The women in the calendar are incredible. How did you select them? And how'd you go about getting the pictures?
A: The women in the calendar are all friends or women we’ve met through skiing. The ski community is pretty small out West so it was easy for us to think of twelve girlfriends that rip! They were all excited to be a part of the project as soon as we mentioned it. We basically sent out an email to everyone asking if they would be willing to donate photos from their ski season for the calendar. We started collecting photos February of last season and it’s been ongoing since then. It’s definitely been a learning process. Luckily the photographers were happy to donate their photos to our project and we didn’t have to organize any photo shoots. We have photos from Jordan Manley, Dave Mossop, Re Wikstrom and so many more! Holly Walker put hours and hours into the design of the calendar (she’s Ms. December too!) and she did an amazing job.
Q: How are people finding out about the calendar? What's response been like?
A: Most people are learning about it through radboob.com. We’ve been trying to spread the word through a lot of social networking. We’re trying to encourage blogs to write about us and forums like TheSkiDiva have really helped us out. So thank you for all of your support! Also, I bring it up in every conversation I have. I’ll throw in a “…speaking of….have you heard about the rad boob club calendar?” We’ve had some articles written about us on Doglotion.com, Biglines.com, and some local newspapers as well.
Q: The women in the calendar are incredible. How did you select them? And how'd you go about getting the pictures?
A: The women in the calendar are all friends or women we’ve met through skiing. The ski community is pretty small out West so it was easy for us to think of twelve girlfriends that rip! They were all excited to be a part of the project as soon as we mentioned it. We basically sent out an email to everyone asking if they would be willing to donate photos from their ski season for the calendar. We started collecting photos February of last season and it’s been ongoing since then. It’s definitely been a learning process. Luckily the photographers were happy to donate their photos to our project and we didn’t have to organize any photo shoots. We have photos from Jordan Manley, Dave Mossop, Re Wikstrom and so many more! Holly Walker put hours and hours into the design of the calendar (she’s Ms. December too!) and she did an amazing job.
Q: How are people finding out about the calendar? What's response been like?
A: Most people are learning about it through radboob.com. We’ve been trying to spread the word through a lot of social networking. We’re trying to encourage blogs to write about us and forums like TheSkiDiva have really helped us out. So thank you for all of your support! Also, I bring it up in every conversation I have. I’ll throw in a “…speaking of….have you heard about the rad boob club calendar?” We’ve had some articles written about us on Doglotion.com, Biglines.com, and some local newspapers as well.
Q: How did you choose "Rad Boob" as the name?
A: The name "Rad Boob" actually came from a group of female skiers in Golden, BC. We used to ski with a group of guys called the Rad Dude Club who wouldn’t allow girls to join, so we started our own! We basically just ski around together and have fun.
Q: Where's the money you raise going? Do you have a specific goal?
A: We’re aiming to raise $10,000 for Rethink Breast Cancer. Here’s a short description about them from their website:
“A charity helping young people who are concerned about and affected by breast cancer through innovative breast cancer education, research and support programs. Rethink is a national volunteer-driven registered charity. We are thinking differently about how to beat breast cancer.”
We chose to donate the money raised to Rethink because we felt like it would be an effective use of the funds. They support some exciting research in the field, but they also encourage prevention and awareness. They were also very supportive of our project and gave us a lot of advice along the way. As skiers we all lead fairly healthy lifestyles and it was important for us to support an organization that would have similar values.
“A charity helping young people who are concerned about and affected by breast cancer through innovative breast cancer education, research and support programs. Rethink is a national volunteer-driven registered charity. We are thinking differently about how to beat breast cancer.”
We chose to donate the money raised to Rethink because we felt like it would be an effective use of the funds. They support some exciting research in the field, but they also encourage prevention and awareness. They were also very supportive of our project and gave us a lot of advice along the way. As skiers we all lead fairly healthy lifestyles and it was important for us to support an organization that would have similar values.
Q: Is this a one time only thing, or is it something you plan to do every year? Also, I see on your website that you're planning to travel around to raise awareness of breast cancer. What do you plan to do, and where?
A: We’re not sure if we’ll do it again next year. I think we want to get through this year, make sure we sell all our calendars and raise a big chunk of money for Rethink and then go from there. It’s been a lot of work, very rewarding but we’re not ready to think about next years project until this one is done!
As for travel plans, these are our confirmed dates:
Sat Dec. 19 Kicking Horse
Sun Dec. 20 Lake Louise
Thur Jan. 7 Whistler "Deep Winter Photo Challenge"
Sat Jan. 9 Revelstoke
We’ll also be selling the calendars at various stores throughout Whistler and Vancouver and Squamish, such as:
Surefoot in Whistler
The Zephyr Café in Squamish
Steed Cycles in North Vancouver
And more to come!
Q: Are you planning any other fundraising events?
A: Nothing as of yet, but we’ll keep you posted!
Q: Do you and Tessa coach or instruct anywhere?
A: Yes, we both coach for Girls Day Out. It’s a really fun weekend. I recommend it to all women out there! We’ve both done some big mountain ski competitions, as well. Tessa skis for Carrera, Faction and Peak Performance and coaches for Extremely Canadian in Whistler. I’m getting support from Rossignol and Smith and am still searching for that “perfect job."
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To order your own copy of the Rad Boob calendar or to see these amazing pictures -- after which you'll definitely want to order this calendar -- go to radboob.com.
Be sure to visit TheSkiDiva.com, an internet forum especially for women skiers, where women skiers can connect with one another to talk about everything and anything ski-related.
Be sure to visit TheSkiDiva.com, an internet forum especially for women skiers, where women skiers can connect with one another to talk about everything and anything ski-related.
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