Video: Dark Horse Invitational Full Highlights

 It was pretty rad to see Tayte and Natasha open up and totally hang with this crew of female shredders, let alone show us some of their best tricks on these massive jumps. Glad you enjoyed it

 @christinachappetta: and kuddos for your coverage! of this event and in general for all the awesome content. you're killing it.

 The future is so bright, but I'd hardly say it's too late for you. You're still sending it on a bike and skis! Are you coming back to Whistler this fall?

 @estade: haha, doing my best to keep moving, but big jumps are not in my future. Especially after a two-year Whistler hiatus! I forgot how to get those tires off the ground at all.

 Right?! They wanna build this section of the sport and create support, make the rider list known.

Also, keep that line running at the resort

 14 is a big number

 I think you may have missed the point of the event. This is not a women's rampage or cranworx, this is more of a local girls jam. This is the watering required to grow that tree.

 I have to admit I was glad I didn't have to travel far to see this one. Whilst nobody can forsee injuries the finals day which was pretty well attended by folk expecting to see it thrown down found only about 8 riders left in the field, Miranda and Casey didn't ride and 2 of the other ladies got hurt pretty bad. I wonder if maybe a bit much was bitten off for a whole weeks schedule and fatigue had a major part to play it. Healing vibes out to those who did slam in the final they weren't fun to watch, get well soon. It was the first year though and I'm excited to see how this event and these ladies progress.

 Maybe I'm misreading your comment, but this seems kind of akin to asking why riders a decade or two ago weren't pulling cork 1080s or some ridiculous trick like that. Women's freeride is a relatively new phenomenon. It wasn't that long ago that women could pretty much only make money in mountain biking through racing, so obviously the older riders aren't going to have quite the same trick repertoire. That's kind of what they're trying to do here, though, encourage and inspire younger riders. Each gen shows the next one what's possible and then the next gen in turn has a chance to push the envelope that the previous generation set. That's how progression occurs.

 @Joe89: To be fair, her initial press release touted that 12 of the best female freeriders would be there, and while the mentors are maybe the most well known, they are not the best. Secondly it stated she would create a women’s freeride event that is welcoming and "inclusive". It didn't seem inclusive, it always seems to be the same line up of riders and that gets boring. As a female rider that loves watching this stuff, I want to see what's possible, not just a bunch of straight airs from the characters of Crankworx.

 @reneek Please name these Slopestyle women you speak of? And I want to hear more than one name. Sounds like you know at least ten that weren’t at the event. They can’t be BMX freestyle riders, I’m looking for Slopestyle riders.
And are you forgetting they are operating during a Covid year and international riders can’t come to Canada?
I think they did pretty good with the limits they had.
And next year will the level will be be even higher. Five years from now, it will be mind blowing.
So let’s encourage instead of tear down.

 @wfmbike: it will not be mind blowing.

 Absolutely it needed some good riders to get the stoke up a bit.

 @wfmbike: I follow womens slopestyle account and your WFM igs so I'm surprised that you can't come up with other names. If it was north america then my fantasy league would include: Vaea, Jordie, and Soriano, and from the slopestyle tour Stephanie, Ming and @shredulia. and Brooke Andreson and Natasha. Now THAT would be exciting to watch.
If we include overseas, then Caroline Buchanan, Veronique, Robin, Gemma Corbera, Alma wiggberrg and Vinny Armstrong. But even if I made a bigger circle to include more girls then they would probably still have more tricks than the pros that were at Dark Horse.

I'm sure I'm missing a couple but I'm happy we started this conversation. Who would you add wfm? and @Intense4life and @crazy9

 @gomez12: I had to leave on Thursday morning as I was heading off to Europe for the next 5 EWS rounds. Sorry to disappoint!

 @reneek: woah woah everyone chill on this. First of all, it’s Covid. You guys try flying across the world lately? It’s really hard. Second, Audi nines is literally right now. People gotta make choices where they’re gonna go.

Second, y’all weren’t there all week to see how it went down. You didn’t see how incredible this was. It was a really cool time of bringing everyone up and creating a space for not only girls freeride but bringing up the whole freeride movement as a whole.

You guys are way too harsh and I could never imagine you’d say any of this to a 16 year olds face so why you doin it for the whole world to see in these comments?

This website can be gross sometimes take a look at yourselves. Chilll oooouuuuutttttt

 @dylansiggers: It's not about the juniors- they are impressive, and the event itself bringing juniors under mentors was a great move. All you have to do is look at these events. Audi looks like a different group of girls which is exciting and good to see but if you follow the women you'd see some oddities. Don't get me wrong, my wife is a fan of Casey Brown but somehow this girl gets invited to every event with her 2 tricks. You can't tell me that this makes sense.

 @kmarmandy: Your post is the oddity. So your issue is that Casey gets invited to too many events?

 @mammal: Its one example sure. But it's the entire industry feeding into this glorification of specific riders instead of applauding actual talent.

 @kmarmandy: Isn't it applaudable for one of the more established "talents" to create an event with goals for emphasizing said talent? I don't see how Casey is taking flak here, what is it that you want to see changed, it's totally unclear from your post.

 @reneek: So it sounds like you are saying the juniors were out-doing the pros, which I think is actually a big positive indicator that things are developing pretty quickly in women's freeride. Was it that they didn't allow the amateur participants to take part enough, or you just wanted to see some bigger names than the ones who attended? If it's the latter, perhaps you need to adjust your expectations of a invitational freeride event put together in the Interior BC, mid-covid-summer.

 @kmarmandy: Casey is a great and well-rounded rider, and a pioneer for women's freeride. That's why she gets invited to everything. Without her (and a handful of other women), events like this wouldn't exist for women. This was a great event for what it brings the future of women's freeride.

@reneek I think what people said above about your expectations is correct. You thought this event was going to be something that it wasn't. This event was more important than just putting on a show for the fans. You're right, there are other talented ladies out there shredding too, but you can't have everyone at an event. And not to be a downer here, but the trick level wouldn't have been THAT much higher even with some of those people. Maybe a few flips or spins to add? What are you doing to progress the sport? Do you think you could have done better if you were invited to ride at this event? Could you organize a better event? These ladies were out there actually trying to elevate the sport for women. Shitting on them for "doing a bunch of straight airs" and not hosting the world does nothing to help anything. Events like this will help women's freeride become more mainstream, which will push more young women to do gnarlier stuff so that one day, it can be the event that you (and likely others) will actually be satisfied with.

I think this event was rad, and congrats to everyone that got to be a part of it, and thank you to Casey for getting the ball rolling. Formation was rad, and I'm stoked that Hannah has her jam happening in a few weeks and that Audi Nines are including women. This is a breakthrough year for women's freeride which hopefully leads to many more events that EVERYONE can appreciate that.

 @dylansiggers: Chea Boi!!! Way to speak up, because you were actually there and saw the progression. Keyboard warriors have no soft place in my heart when it comes to this toxic chat.

 @kmarmandy: But what you didn't see were THREE women at Dark Horse throwing down backflips and corked backflips into the practice jumps. Yeah maybe they weren't ready to throw them down in a jam sesh type atmosphere on 30+ft dirt jumps with spectators but the fact that they all 3 felt confident and safe enough to practice those tricks in the presence of their peers speaks louder than what you saw in a quick highlight reel. I chose not to share that footy because I wanted to focus on the official Dark Horse course. I'm glad your wife is a fan of Casey, we all are, maybe you could be one day too.

 @reneek: I was asking for people that could attend this event.‍♀️ of course I am aware of all those ladies you named and more. Iif you followed my feed then you know I have shared post them all many times before.
The majority of the people you named can’t enter Canada. Sam, Caroline,Vinny, Alma.Veronique,
Brooke is injured, Jordy was there, Natasha was there,
As to Brooke Anderson, I’ll be stoked to see her at Proving Grounds, so she is getting opportunities too.
Brooke and Ming get to rule the Freebird series if they want to.
Not sure what Shredulia is up to. But you may also be forgetting that may some people don’t want to travel due to Covid. they want to protect there families.
As someone who runs events, it has been an interesting time trying to do anything these days. Hats off to them for getting something off during Covid.

 @leon-forfar: Don't forget about Proving Grounds in Prineville OR in September!

 @wfmbike: That seems like a lot of lip service to me. I thought WFM was about creating opportunity, not feeding into a corrupt industry like all the other minions.

 @leon-forfar: It's about a clique. About inviting her friends or people to boost her event. It wasn't about bringing together a group of deserving women. Or why not keep it a local event? There's plenty of Canadians females that would benefit from that opportunity. Casey has the means to make a big event like that, it makes a huge diff. The problem is the people with the same levels of sponsorship just invite each other. High school musical like @kmarmandy said.

 @reneek: ...It was a local event. People that keep getting invited are the ones making efforts to promote their riding, and in turn, getting the publicity to attract the attention of the big dogs. There are tons of ladies who shred, but that is all they do, just ride. Some people don't care about stacking clips and trying to get more publicity or getting invited to events. If they aren't getting their names out there, it's going to be hard for the people organizing the event to recognize their talents. There's also only so many riders at the top end of the sport. The up and comers that were invited to Dark Horse were there for a reason. Tayte and Natasha are definitely going places, and I have yet to see any other girls shred as hard as they do at their ages. The other women that were there as mentors (Casey, Hannah, Georgia, Micayla etc) are there because they are recognized and are some of the only female idols that those younger girls can/ have looked up to. It's not about being cliquey, it's about getting the right people together to turn women's freeride into a proper discipline.

I honestly can't believe another female rider is shitting on such a new event designed to show that women have a place in freeride too. It basically sounds like you think it would be better that this event didn't happen at all because there weren't enough other women there... If you are bored of seeing the same women ride, then this is absolutely the way to get more women into the game and show that they do have a chance to make riding a career.

The most similar event I've been to would be the Backwoods Jam at CGP, and that generally has a stacked rider list, but it still doesn't have all of the top athletes. That doesn't make it any less cool, and it's awesome to see what riders choose to do (even if it's just stylish whips and basic tricks), rather than having the pressure of having to do their biggest moves for a contest.

 She did! See Christina’s IG feed for her POV ride

 The course will be open to the public soon! That was part of the deal for having funding for the event so it’s actually even radder that Casey made this happen. She is not only providing the chance for these women to ride something of this caliber but also for the local community as well. And yes, I did find the time to hit the course with the girls between filming 3 videos in 3 days

 Cheers! Casey is and has always been quite the pioneer for women’s mtb. Such an insane few days of riding with this crew!

 @christinachappetta: you ride whistler, you know there’s better talent than this on the hill every day. Get them involved !

 Thanks Lornny!! You legend! Thanks for supporting the progression as always

 Not deleted. Below threshold comments are hidden and can be seen by clicking the link at the bottom. Been like this for as long as I can remember.