Pretty Faces: The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead and Castleford.

Rachael Presky
Nov 22, 2014
3 min read

Back in early September, a.k.a. ski film trailer season, I was happily browsing Facebook when I came across a trailer for an all-female ski film called Pretty Faces. As soon as I watched it I got excited, showed it to everyone around, got more excited... posted it on Facebook and it looked like everyone had the same opinion, this film was special. It's not often females are perceived to be on par with men in the slightest in skiing and as a freeskiing female myself, I felt like this film could be the beginning of a whole new attitute. So I took it upon myself to contact the organisers with an idea of bringing a film premiere to the UK at The Snow Centre and combine this with a girly shred session. It turned out that Sophie Offord and Robyn Benn had also contacted them with a very similar idea so we teamed up and made it a tour!

Having never organised an event on such a scale before, apart from my 18th Birthday party (it was pretty rad), it was a shock to see how much actually went into the organisation. We needed licenses, venues, sponsors, budgets, graphics, the film, promotion, photographers, filmers, coaches and so much brain thinking power. I contacted some of my sponsors as I was sure they'd be interested and the response was so much greater than I could've hoped for, an instant reply from the awesome Finest Hour Clothing who became our presenting sponsor and Funi as a supporting sponsor showed just how exciting this event would be.

With a Facebook message chain longer than your average ski slope, support from some incredible companies, a feature on BBC Three Counties Radio and everyone feeling the hype, November came round and suddenly it was time for the events!

First up was The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead... we all took to the slopes for a super fun shred with a bunch of girls who were up for learning new tricks, meeting new chicks and having a blast. With GB Freeski Park and Pipe team member Madi Rowlands, England Snowboard Team member Cerys Allen and England Freeski Team member Millie Wilkinson coaching, the girls learnt a whole bunch of new tricks, whether it was how to slide a box or their first 180 it was so great to see everyone trying new things and learning to love freestyle skiing and snowboarding as much as we all do.

Our photographers and filmers were on hand to get some awesome shots of the girls and boys (we did include them too), check out the photos and edit below!

Once everyone was suitably worn out, we headed upstairs for a couple of drinks in the bar and then sat down to watch the incredible film. I've read reviews which claim this could be the best ski film of the year and to be honest you really aren't going to find a film which will get you as stoked as this film does, the girls shred seriously hard, have a bunch of fun and crack out some hilarious jokes.

Following this was a raffle with prizes from all the sponsors: Finest Hour Clothing, Armada, NUCO, Ellis Brigham, Leeds Snowriders, Smith Optics, Funi, Planks and Faction. All proceeds of the raffle and whole event went to the charity SheJumps.org who work to increase female participation in outdoor activities and 'Get the Girl's Out'!

I slept well that night.

A week later was time for the Castleford event, sadly I wasn't able to make it but from what I hear... this was even more of a success than the event at Hemel. With a crazy turn out of girls and guys who came to watch the film, shred and be coached by Olympian Katie Summerhayes, Anna Vincenti, Molly Summerhayes, Thea Fenwick and Millie Wilkinson.

We managed to raise £115 ($180) for SheJumps.org.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with these events, we really wouldn't have been able to do it without you!...

The Snow Centre: Jenny Bletcher, Amanda Quigley, Kris Amstutz, Hayden Fitch and Max Presky for making the film actually work!, The Park Team, Bar Team and everyone else.

Castleford:

Filmers: Max Presky, Richard Clark, Ollie Denton

Photographers: Emma Fitzgerald, RWND David Wren, David Allen, Richard Clark, Harry Foskett, Sophia Emekay and Daniel Evans

Coaches: Madi Rowlands, Cerys Allen, Katie Summerhayes, Anna Vincenti, Molly Summerhayes, Thea Fenwick and Millie Wilkinson.

Press: Chloe Hardy from Cooler Magazine, Twig Spensley from Newschoolers.

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