Women Climbing Harness

Lynsey Dyer Talks Jumps

Imagine pulling into a town you have never been to before, looking up the local SheJumps community and being out with a group of supportive females on an athletic adventure within hours. Lynsey Dyer imagines just that.

Co-founder of SheJumps, an organization that encourages women to get outside and push themselves to take risks, Lynsey Dyer walks the walk. Lynsey has jumped off 65 foot cliffs, won a gold medal in the Junior Olympics Downhill Competition, won every big mountain competition she’s entered, been featured in Warren Miller, Teton Gravity Research and Rage films just to name a few. Lynsey majored in graphic design and has her own signature line of clothing with Rossignol and Eddie Bauer. Yet the 27 year old is more than a premier athlete. At a relatively young age she understands the importance of being a woman and giving back.

Lynsey grew up in Idaho where as a kid she played baseball, soccer, skied, and water-skied with her family. “We were always camping and outside. That was the family lifestyle, those sports taught me everything I know about confidence, commitment and discipline. I can’t imagine kids who don’t have the opportunities I grew up with,” says Lynsey. So she aimed to do something about that.

Playing team sports, Lynsey believes, helped build confidence. As much as she loved to be outdoors in a ski town, she found it wasn’t easy to find a sense of community with women. “A lot of women feel as if they are alone, or they aren’t good enough or there’s no one else to do things with,” says Lynsey. SheJumps was created to fill that need and to nurture a community where women can find people to ski, hike, bike or jump with.

“Today, I see girls wanting to be the next Hannah Montana, or an actress or a singer. I want girls to know that it’s just as cool to be an athlete and to get outdoors.”

There were two key moments that led to the creation of SheJumps. One of them was learning to do back flips. Lynsey was at a lake, standing on a cliff with her friend, Vanessa Pierce, Co-founder of SheJumps when Lynsey said “I’ll do it if you do it.” It was an ‘aha’ moment for Lynsey. She thought ‘if Vanessa can do it, I can do it’ and realized that women can inspire each other to go further and to take risks they might not otherwise take. The other moment was when Lynsey was headed on a road trip to Canada and missed the camaraderie of her old soccer teams. There was something about working towards the same goal instead of as an individual that Lynsey was yearning for. She wanted to bring the team mentality to the world of women’s skiing. Women are not getting the recognition they deserve and Lynsey realized if they worked together, women could change that.

There are three levels of participation at She Jumps: elite female athletes looking for a network and recondition, already actives looking for a community to get outside with and never-evers, girls and women who would otherwise never have the chance to experience the benefits of an active outdoor lifestyle. Elite level female athletes serve as an inspiration to others by leading workshops and volunteering to help elevate girls and women to their level. Already active women are part of a network spreading out across the country that go on ski tours, overnight canyoneering adventures and more.  Women at this level are encouraged to start their own group and share outings on the JumpIn page. Never-evers are provided with sponsored gear for activities and access to events that help girls and women experience the outdoors.

For the third year running, SheJumps is facilitating a program to introduce never-evers to skiing. Claire Smallwood, another co-founder hatched it in Utah over four consecutive weekends where kids who have never been skiing are fitted with gear, taught to ride a ski lift and taught to ski. “Kids go from ‘no way can I do this,’ to ‘I can do anything!,” says Lynsey – all within a month’s time. The volunteer coaches get as much out of the experience as the kids do.

Lynsey’s philosophy of giving back spans beyond the United States to International programs. She recently returned from India working through the SheJumps program to donate time to an Ashram where boys and girls were rescued from the slave trade. “Giving a bike to a girl over there is like giving her a Ferrari,” says Lynsey. “It transforms them. After getting on a bike her face lights up as she realizes she’s powering the bike herself. When she gets off, even her walk is different, more confident. I’ve never seen such a direct form of empowerment as pedaling a bike by one’s own means. You can see in their faces that they believe they can do anything.” Besides being a ton of fun, bikes provide transportation that allow villagers to sell their goods at markets and bring income to families and villages.

Anyone who wants to experience the pure joy Lynsey gets when she’s helping others can sign up for the SheJumps online community and can start a SheJumps in their area or can join one. Right now the majority of events take place in Utah, which is where SheJumps is based. The program is very grass roots, but it is spreading and the community is continuing to build. Any woman can:
Jump in: get involved
Jump up: push yourself past your current comfort zones
Jump out: give what you love

“It’s okay to ask for support. We all need mentorship,” says Lynsey.  Women can start to help facilitate the resources in an area where they are. Organizations need to be connected. I think a lot of women newly exposed to SheJumps might get the wrong idea, that’s it’s focused on elite athletes but that’s not the case. You don’t need to be an expert to get out and ski or be active with other women, like going  snowshoeing in a group, or learning to rock climb. There is a place for women of all levels.

As a woman, Lynsey is transforming as well. When she was younger, she dressed like one of the guys, walked like one of the guys and acted like one of the guys. She thought the way to succeed in a male dominated sport was to be one of the guys. Now, however she realizes now that her power comes from embracing who she truly is, and is finally celebrating the femininity within. She sees so many women trying to compete with men and losing their essence in the process. “The secret lies in finding your own unique gift and celebrating that, whatever it might be,” says Lynsey. “Women bring a power and grace that men don’t have into sports.” Lynsey believes if women continue to embrace the attributes that only women possess, they wouldn’t have to fight for their place among the boys; they might just soar past them on a whole new dimension. “Women are intrinsically wired to multi-task and are more inclined to build communities. We have a natural drive to work cooperatively instead of competitively, and if we can all harness that as a group, big things can happen,” says Lynsey.

Lynsey wants to make it cool and accessible to be outside. “It’s the social norm to see women as actresses or pop stars but we rarely see athletes highlighted in main stream media. I want to create a relationship with nature and share that with all the little girls in the world. It’s time we step into our own feminine power to create amazing connections for our own personal development and for the world,” says Lynsey.

Visit SheJumps.org to sign up for their on-line community, volunteer or join outdoor activities in your area.

 

About the Author

Undiscovered Earth is a resource for Exploration, Environment, and Expression. Undiscovered Earth is a voice for those who love the outdoors, nature and the environment and features profiles environmental news , product reviews and poetry, fiction and essays.

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