ANCHORAGE, Alaska (BVM) — Emily Lonkhurst and Lisa Miles met at Alyeska Ski Resort in 2017 while riding snowboards. It was their first winter in Alaska, and they made an immediate bond.

“For women, in general, snowboarding is a lonely sport,” Lonkhurst said.

An immediate friendship developed. As they spent more time together, they began to have what Lonkhurst describes as light bulb moments.

“’What if we had a platform that made it easier for shredders to get to know each other?,’” the pair would ask themselves.

With that in mind, they created ShredMaiden, an organization of women designed to support women in their sports endeavors.

Miles has been an AASI snowboard instructor for 10 years and holds additional freestyle, adaptive and children’s certifications. For 20 years, she has also taught string music in the state which has helped her become adept at teaching all ages and abilities.

Lonkhurst earned her Level 3 AASI snowboard instruction certification in 2017 at the age of 22. She is the only woman in Alaska with Level 3 certification, which involves extensive training in psychology, teaching, physical ability, and the technical aspects of the sport. She was also the recipient of a Nancy Oakes Hall Scholarship to attend the PSIA-AASI Women’s Summit in Snowbird, Utah, from Feb. 28 to March 3 of this year. The all-expense-paid, four-day training gave her valuable tools to thrive, lead and progress in her leadership role.

Substantial credentials aside, Lonkhurst’s and Miles’ driving passion to empower women are what inspired them to create ShredMaiden. The organization’s stated mission is “to support ladies through outdoor sports education, sisterhood events, and merchandise, while protecting the wild lands where they love to play.”

Though ShredMaiden began as a means to connect female snowboarders, it has grown to include other extreme sports, such as backcountry skiing, wakeboarding, skateboarding, and mountain biking. Lonkurst, in addition to her other credentials, is a certified PMBI mountain bike instructor.

The network that began as a few ladies in Girdwood has now expanded beyond Alaska to Washington, Utah and Colorado, as well as internationally to New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

In addition to events held in person, Lonkhurst and Miles use Facebook, Instagram, Zoom and their website to connect and engage shredders in trainings and challenges.

In February, a group of ShredMaidens traveled internationally to Hakuba, Japan, for a six-day, all-female snowboard camp that was coached, mentored and organized by Lonkhurst and Miles.

“Our snowboard camp was hugely empowering for the women who went because they hadn’t done something like that before,” Miles said. “Traveling to Japan, facing fears in the terrain park, and facing physical challenges by climbing a mountain in the backcountry were all new to them. With the training and support we organized, the women who attended our camp discovered they could do more than they realized, and their lives are forever changed because of it.”

Since its inception, ShredMaiden has held numerous beneficial camps and events. In July, a skate challenge inspired women from three different countries and across the U.S. to get out and skate and send pictures as proof. For each tagged skate day, participants earned stickers and swag from ShredMaiden.

“It was really awesome to follow social distancing guidelines yet still live by our mission statement and keep building,” Miles said.

All summer long in Girdwood, as weather allowed, ShredMaiden hosted a Saturday Skate event at the Girdwood Skate Park.

On Aug. 29, there will be a ShredMaiden pop-up tent at Alyeska Resort for the final women’s downhill bike workshop of the season.

ShredMaiden organized and raised funds for a trip to Manitoba that was scheduled for late March. An avalanche awareness and rescue course was to be taught by well-known backcountry skier, Brooke Edwards. It has been postponed due to pandemic restrictions and is tentatively on the docket for 2021.

Sales of ShredMaiden swag support ShredUcation. Stickers, hats, art and base layers are available at ShredMaiden.com’s online store. Furthering their goal of opening the intimidating world of extreme sports to females of all ages and abilities, scholarships funded by sales of gear are awarded, when needed, to those who wish to participate in trainings.

Lonkhurst and Miles are passionately nurturing, educating and advocating enthusiasts, while instilling a reverence for nature. The website states, “We must preserve the Earth in order for people to continue to enjoy the outdoors.”

ShredMaiden’s mantra, “I am ShredMaiden. You are ShredMaiden. We Are ShredMaiden,” is about inclusion, support, empowerment and sisterhood.