The exit of the line on the preceding page. Robin found the spine and rolled through comfortably with few speed checks. Despite many previous accolades, she’s still improving her ability to find speed and flow in big mountains. Photo: Colin Wiseman “I’ve been able to trust my instinct, to follow my heart and be me.” MENTAL MANIFESTATION “Athena Ride was something I came up with, with the help of my friend Genna [Holgate], who I met while working in Argentina,” Rob-in says. “Athena’s name comes from the goddess of war and one of the first female astronauts, Sally Ride. She’s a calculated warrior, and she doesn’t care what anybody else thinks.” Athena’s the manifestation of all that Robin’s been working toward the past few years, a mental device to block out the noise and chaos of her multiple directions, a tool to focus on the moment and singular goals. “[Athena] just goes and does what she knows how to do, in the way that she wants to do it,” Robin says. “The last few years for me have been about being true to myself, riding like Robin and showing up like Robin and being good with that. Maybe she’s not the most styley, but she can definitely get down to the bottom of the mountain, go big and land. “I made a list of things that are best parts of me. And instead of listing the things I don’t like, I turned them into strengths. I don’t like how aggressive I can be—how I aggressively go after everything in life. But I learned this year that aggressiveness and motivation is how I got here. I’m succeeding because I went after the things that I wanted, and I’ve carried that momentum forward. It’s OK to be competitive, to take charge of your life and go for what you want—it’s really been the key for getting where I am, and I feel so lucky to be here.” The culmination of Robin’s year was winning the Natural Selection finals at Alaska’s Tordrillo Mountain Lodge. Last summer, she chan-neled her energy toward preparing, enlisting the help of her old Cal-gary roommate Chris Witwicki, who is now the lead freestyle coach for the Canadian National Snowboard Team. With the help of Genna, Robin found ways to compartmentalize her focus, from Fabric to guid-ing to riding and competing—and it paid dividends. Although Robin crashed in the Jackson leg of the Natural Selection Tour, she qualified by winning the Canadian stop, and blocked out the noise to throw down in Alaska. “I had done all this mental training, I had done all this physical training, and I felt ready,” Robin says. She made it through prelims in second place, then they moved to a steeper face for their last runs. She got to the bottom in one piece, stomp-ing a large drop in the process. “When they announced that I won, I collapsed into a ball. It was the pinnacle of my career,” Robin says. But then she was back into filming, back into Fabric , back to Alaska with Austen and Eric Jackson and Jamie Anderson, into her myriad roles as rider, producer, mentor and guide. “This year has been a roller coaster, and I know I’m not done yet,” Robin says. “But this year I’ve felt more true to myself than ever. I’ve been able to trust my instinct, to follow my heart and be me.” And that’s Robin. She’s strong, she’s opiniated, she’s honest. She’s not afraid to bite off a little more than she can chew. She’s gonna have fun along the way. She’ll speak up for herself, but she’s also committed to elevating those around her. Give thanks to Athena Ride. ROBIN VAN GYN 077
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 19.1: Page 77
