Kimmy Fasani
Kimmy Fasani interview: “This board is great for a more experienced rider who loves all types of conditions because it’s responsive with camber under foot and a little bit of rocker in the nose.”
Two-time Women’s Rider of the Year Kimmy Fasani talks about the Burton Story Board that she helped design and her life as a professional snowboarder.
Kimmy Fasani
Kimmy Fasani interview: “This board is great for a more experienced rider who loves all types of conditions because it’s responsive with camber under foot and a little bit of rocker in the nose.”
Two-time Women’s Rider of the Year Kimmy Fasani talks about the Burton Story Board that she helped design and her life as a professional snowboarder.
“I was originally sponsored by Burton when I was fifteen years old. I would get a couple boards and some clothes and I was so stoked.”
It’s fair to say that Kimmy Fasani made her mother proud.
Having ushered her nine-year-old daughter to swap skis for board, she witnessed Kimmy tick every box en-route to her current status as a pro snowboarder.
Kimmy started young, as most professional athletes do, embarking on a winter hobby that, she says, “quickly grew into a deep rooted passion.”
Watching your daughter drop from a helicopter onto the sheer slopes of Alaska’s back country as yet another sheet of snow falls perilously away beside her can’t be every parent’s dream. But it was Kimmy’s, and before she passed away at the beginning of last year, Kimmy’s mother had watched her daughter live it.
It is Kimmy Fasani’s commitment to that dream that has elevated her to the station of one of the world’s most influential riders. The slopes are where she belongs, the back country every inch her territory.
It is a pursuit that takes Kimmy to some far flung corners of the globe, far from the Mammoth, California home that she loves returning to anyway.
“Right now I am just getting back in the groove of being home! We were just traveling for three months so adjusting to life in Mammoth and catching up on the last bit of Fall. Lots of hiking and outdoor adventures are in the future.”
Trekking the blue lakes, picking her way between the ancient sequoias and along the granite mountain trails of Mammoth, is a long-standing love of Kimmy’s and husband Chris Benchetler’s – himself a pro winter sports athlete, albeit on two planks. But last year the hiking party grew by a member when Kimmy became a mother to Koa.
A glance at the Kimmy Fasani Instagram feed shows the happy family very much at one with nature, often as not accompanied by their Yorkshire Terrier Reese. Or @reese-the-explorer. Yes, Reese really does have her own Instagram account.
But for Kimmy Fasani the future is not defined solely by her role as a mother. The more she talks of snowboarding and the mountain, the more obvious it becomes that she has an eye on the chapter in her boarding career that is still to come. Maybe that’s what shapes her ambitions and contributes to her trend-setting application to riding. Because Kimmy’s two consecutive Rider of the Year awards encompass something more that just a book of tricks. Instead the aim of both awards (Snowboarder Magazine’s and Transworld Snowboarding’s) is to recognise a rider’s overall contribution to the sport. It’s about elements like presence, attitude, and influence on the very culture of snowboarding. Key to getting nominated for the awards is perception: the winner must first have got the respect of a very prestigious and very substantial sector of snowboarding’s professional denizens. More than a hundred of them in fact. Evidently they liked what they saw in Kimmy.
Put bluntly, she is a big deal in the world of snowboarding. Officially.
In fact you might say that the sport of snowboarding chose Kimmy almost as enthusiastically as she chose it.
“I learned to ski when I was two years old and when I was nine years old my mom surprised me with my first snowboard. I had been begging her to let me try it for a while and she finally agreed. I fell in love with it and by twelve years old I was only skiing a couple times a year and I was snowboarding the majority of the season.”
Like previous ice a trail guest Roope Tonteri, Kimmy is a Burton rider and enjoys the benefits that the relationship brings. Sure, she gets her snowboard gear all but handed to her on a plate which is the stuff of dreams for most riders, but there’s more to the partnership that just handouts.
“I ride the Burton Story Board,” Kimmy tells me. From a style suitability point of view, the Story Board is right up her alley. Which is no coincidence, given that she helped create it. “I designed this board to be an all mountain women’s board with a tapered tail and wider nose so that it can be versatile for powder days as well as blue bird days of groomers. This board is great for a more experienced rider who loves all types of conditions because it’s responsive with camber under foot and a little bit of rocker in the nose.”
Snowboarders will be fully conversant with terms like camber, rocker, directional and the like, but there’s a bit more information in the first Getting Technical feature here. Alternatively just stay with us as the series continues because I’ll be talking to more pros on the subject of what’s-good-and-why across a range of manufacturers.
From the Burton perspective though, it’s interesting to hear how Kimmy has fostered such a successful relationship with them.
“I was originally sponsored by Burton when I was fifteen years old. I would get a couple boards and some clothes and I was so stoked. After having some amateur success they bumped me up to a national level sponsorship. I changed sponsors in my mid twenties and then came back to Burton six years ago to represent their women’s AK line. Burton makes the best products hands down and they are very focused on having rider driven gear. We have a few meetings a year that focus on product feedback to ensure the customers are getting the best products possible after we – the riders – test them. To me, this shows how committed Burton is to the industry and to creating the most technical and quality gear on the market. I am so thankful to have their support.”
It’s appropriate to hear Kimmy talk about creating new concepts and moulding the future of the brand, because as a rider she knows all too well that the shaping of the self is paramount to success, and every bit as fundamental as the gear you’re on.
“My best advice is to be authentic,” she says when I ask what counsel she might have for the aspiring pro rider. “Chase your dreams, and if you’re passionate enough a career in snowboarding will unfold. By being yourself you’re going to be able to create a unique voice and that is very valuable in today’s social media friendly world. Most importantly have fun and enjoy the journey of getting to know the mountains.”
If that advice sounds universal – applicable to almost any modern-day endeavour – there’s good reason. Kimmy Fasani doesn’t do anything by halves and has a finger in a lot of pies. Or cakes. Take a look at her official partners and alongside brands like Skullcandy, Evo, Zeal Optics (and of course Burton) you’ll find a badge for one Dessert’D, Organic Bake Shop.
“Dessert’D Organic Bake Shop was established in September of 2011. Some friends of ours, Mimi and Delaney Council, had a dream of opening a bakery in Mammoth Lakes, CA. They came to my husband and I with a very well thought out business plan. We decided to become business partners with them and six years later the bakery is thriving. We have just set up the business so it can be franchised which is really exciting!”
Kimmy Fasani is a snowboarder. She is a businesswoman. She is a mother.
Chronologically speaking anyway.
If we’re talking priorities I’d have money on Kimmy ascribing a different order to that list, but no matter, she has and will probably continue to excel at all three. And even if she has a lot to look forward to, there are undeniably components in her past that have shaped whatever is yet to come.
Not least, the mother who bought Kimmy her first snowboard, who brought her to the foot of the mountain – and got to witness her at the very summit.
My thanks to Kimmy Fasani for her time and insight.
If you need another perspective, Steph at The Good Ride describes the Burton Story Board as ‘Super responsive and buttery through turns – the torsional flex gives me so much control but it’s also stiff enough that I feel stable and confident riding big lines at speed.’ For Steph’s full video review go here.
You can find the Burton Story Board at the online retailers listed below. Just so that you know, snowboards.com is an affiliate partner of mine, which means I receive a small commission for any sales that come via the link on this website (if you do, thank you!), the rest are not connected to me in any way – as always my priority is providing a relevant and trusted place for you to browse, i.e. somewhere you can actually buy the product in question. In either case please be aware that I’m not responsible for any sales or contracts you enter into with any retailer/supplier so you know the rules – read their terms and conditions. Shop responsibly my friends!
US: snowboards.com
Aus: melbournesnowboard.com.au
Europe: blue-tomato.com
You can keep up with Kimmy at the following places, and don’t forget to check out the link to Dessert’D as well (no I don’t get commission but I’m secretly hopeful of a free cake next time I’m in the neighbourhood):
Kimmy Fasani Website: kimmyfasani.com
Kimmy Fasani Instagram: @kimmyfasani
Kimmy Fasani Twitter: @KimmyFasani
Dessert’D: dessertd.com
Kimmy Fasani Facebook: /Kimmy-Fasani
Related article: Roope Tonteri