At the first stop of the Natural Selection Tour in Jackson Hole, WY, Robin stepped to the Great Wall hit near the bottom of the course and laid out a backy. She didn’t land the 50-foot stepdown but came up smiling. It was a statement either way—in classic Robin fashion, she went straight for the showtime kicker rather than logging a safety score. She’s always a fan favorite. Photos: Dean Blotto Gray / Red Bull Content Pool / Natural Selection (top) and Tim Zimmerman (bottom) “Let’s make sure that everybody is represented and that women—young girls especially—have an opportunity to design their own life without any gender stereotypes holding them back.” FABRIC Among the many things Robin was juggling toward the end of 2020 was her commitment to Fabric . An ambitious two-year film project fo-cused on female mentorship in the board-sports world isn’t the easiest thing to pull off, let alone during a global pandemic. But Robin felt it was her time to give back. “Some days I yell, ‘Why?!’” she says with a laugh, “But [ Fabric ] was one of those things where I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but I do know I need to do it.” Robin wanted to carry forward the energy of an all-female snow/ skate gathering she did with Barrett Christy and Hana Beaman a cou-ple years back at Mt. Baker Ski Area called the Layback. There, she saw connections being made, the web of the women’s board-sports community strengthening. When the event fell through the next season, she chose instead to focus on a film that showed this com-munity building in motion. She identified a group of friends who were prominent enough to help raise awareness of the project and hit the ground running. It became “far bigger than we should have made it,” Robin says, but that’s Robin’s way. When COVID hit, she lost funding halfway through production, but she entered 2021 with a streamlined version of the project: five 10-to-20-minute webisodes rather than a full movie. Featuring prominent riders like Spencer O’Brien and Leanne Pe-losi alongside Hawaiian surf stylist Mainei Kinimaka, skateboarder Kristin Ebeling, artist and board-sports enthusiast Hannah Eddy and many others, Fabric documents various ways in which women can empower other women and build momentum toward something greater. Whether it’s Sandy Ward of the Lil’wat Nation helping Spen-cer explore her indigenous identity, or Leanne Pelosi taking Juliette Pelchat under her wing for backcountry missions around Whistler, the series helps viewers discover the many connections available in the mountains and beyond that can elevate the board-sports community through cooperative action, big or small. As multifaceted as it was, Robin managed to pull off a winter and summer of shooting from the BC interior to the California coast, alongside Justin Taylor Smith, who’s been functioning as a DP, co-pro-ducer and more. Ultimately, the goal is to further break down gender stereotypes and inspire young women to get out and live exactly the kind of lives they want to live. “I never felt like I was an anomaly,” Robin says. “I never felt like I was especially outdoorsy, or especially good at snowboarding. I just loved it. And if I have one hope for the project, it would be that it inspires more women to participate in outdoor activities—to not be afraid to take a surf trip to Mexico with your girlfriends, to go out into the mountains by themselves. Women are still really underrepresented everywhere [in the action-sports world]. It’s getting so much better by the minute, but we’re not there yet. And when we work together, we get really good. Let’s make sure that everybody is represented and that women—young girls especially—have an opportunity to design their own life without any gender stereotypes holding them back.” ROBIN VAN GYN 071
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 19.1: Page 71
