Colleen Quigley launches Ladies Room at Waterville

By Matt Boxler

Waterville Valley pro rider Colleen Quigley is looking out for her girls back home – and she’s recruited four of snowboarding’s most “ripping” women to give her a hand. With East Coast riding in her heart, Quigley created The Ladies Room, a two-day snowboard camp for girls to be held Jan. 10-11 at Waterville Valley.

Pro snowboarder and Massachusetts native Colleen Quigley (photo by Jesse Rourke).The Ladies Room is designed for all levels of female snowboarders, ages 8 and up, who are interested in improving their terrain park riding. “Any girl who loves to snowboard and have fun would be perfect for this camp,” Quigley said. “Whether you want to progress on jumps, rails, in the pipe or just cruise, the Ladies Room will be packed full of fun times.”

Quigley, 24, credits the time she has spent coaching during the summer at the High Cascade Camp at Mt. Hood, Ore. with inspiring her to turn her dream into a reality.

“I’ve wanted to do something like the Ladies Room for a long time on the East Coast where girls can get together and meet other girls in the area that snowboard,” Quigley said. “I never had anything like that when I was growing up.”

Quigley is a native of Groton, Mass., and she grew up working/riding with the crew at Eastern Boarder, primarily in New Hampshire at Waterville Valley and Loon. Today, she’s making films and is sponsored by companies like Nikita, DaKine, Airblaster, Vans, Capita, and A.S.S. Industries, in addition to Waterville and Eastern Boarder.

Quigley said it wasn’t until she moved out West after graduating from high school that she really got serious about her snowboarding. For the last four years, she rodeat the University of Vermont and it was during this period that she got involved coaching at High Cascade.

“The snowboard industry seems very far away from the East Coast sometimes, and I wanted to do something to not only bring girls together, but bring some top pros to ride with them as well,” she said. “Picking the pros was easy, they are all friends who I ride with and they all love to have fun ... not to mention they all rip!”

Those pros include Hana Beaman (X-games silver medalist), Vans rider Jacqui Berg (14-year pro), Desiree Melancon (filmed with Berg in Runway Films’ “La La Land” and “See What I See”), and Iris Lazzareschi (Snowboard Canada’s November rider of the month).

“Waterville has always been at the forefront of snowboard progression on the East Coast, so the choice to host the Ladies Room here was easy,” Quigley said. “Waterville is run by an awesome group of snowboarders who have snowboarding’s best interestat heartand their innovative park has always reflected this.”

Deb Moore, director of marketing at Waterville, is equally thrilled about The Ladies Room. “We are so excited because it gives women snowboarders a chance to meet, on their own East Coast turf, the best female snowboarders in the world,” Moore said.“There’s nothing better than learning from the best.This is truly a rare opportunity for women snowboarders in New England.We also love giving young girls a chance to meet such great role models.”

Cost for the two-day Ladies Room is $235 and includes all-day coaching, breakfast, lunch, prize packs and giveaways from Quigley’s sponsors and other event supporters, including Burton, Oakley, Red Bull, Zinka and Snowboarder Magazine. Limited one-day camp options for either Saturday or Sunday may also be available at a cost of $150.

Online registration is now open at www.waterville.com.

“Girls who sign up should expecta full day ofriding and hanging with all the pro coaches and new friends, as well as a goodie bag packed full of prizes,” Quigley said. “The next day ... repeat. All ages and abilities will be grouped accordingly, and as long as you’re there to have fun you’ll fit in perfectly!”

Hosting her own snowboard camp isn’t the only item on Quigley’s “to do” list this season. “This winter I’ll be focusing on filming for the new Air Blaster video as well as the new Eastern Boarder team video.In between filming I’ll be at a few contests here and there, but mainly I’d like to film a really good video part.”

She encourages snowboarding fans to check out this year’s Eastern Boarder video at www.easternboarder.com.

(First published Dec. 17 at skijournal.com)