A Weird Little Interview With Gold Snow Foundress, Laura Winberry - Part Uno
You Know You Shouldn’t Eat It, But What IS It? A Weird Little Interview With Gold Snow’s Laura Winberry.
Preamble: Yooo. So we are going to have a weird little interview coming out through our (most) local Outdoor Oregon Magazine. Until we can show you what it looks like in print, we thought we’d share the first half of the interview with you here.
Without further ado, some questions and photography by photographer-babe Katie Sox, alongside some answers by Gold Snow foundress Laura Winberry.
If snow were a feeling what would it be?
There are a few feelings and things that come to mind here—ecstatic familiarity, frozen comet trails, sensei. But the thing that pulses through them all is home. Snow is home.
Who did you last talk to?
Your mom. Just kidding, my mom.
How many jelly beans are in the jar?
Fuck jelly beans. I prefer those multicolored Scandinavian Swimmers from that snack store, Trader Joe’s. And to answer the question, there are millions of these Scandos swimming around in the jar. In fact, so many that the jar broke and now they’re just goddamn everywhere.
What is Gold Snow?
Gold Snow is threaded with that home feeling (even if home was hard for you as a kid, and even if the word still brings up complicated feelings). Because it’s a different kind of home. It’s by women, for women, and extremely passionate about platonic male love (because, in the end, such a thing just might save us all). It’s art first and everything else second. It’s women’s snowboard gear reviews, and interviews with women who ride and who also happen to do neat shit outside of riding. It’s a snow cone drizzled in Cholula’s topped with rose petals and Nori flakes. It’s all parts weird (depending on your barometer for weird). At its core, Gold Snow is an inclusive space for women. Beyond that, it’s for anyone and everyone who wants to consume well-written, in-depth reviews on snowboard gear, through an art-first lens that’s not shy about speaking its mind. Gold snow is also something you were told not to eat as a small child.
Why is this important?
We (myself and most of the other reviewers at Gold Snow) have been riding for a long-ass time. While it has been neat to witness the snowboarding industry’s gradual shift—from mostly men’s boards, to men’s boards with maybe one women’s version (differing in aesthetics only), to full quivers for men and women (with structural distinctions across the two), to women’s ski and snowboard companies (!)—there are the inevitable voids to be filled. The void I came across was in searching for a pair of new snowboard boots. The reviews by women were few and far between, and the reviews by men weren’t winning me over. That is, it didn’t make sense to have yet another white male tell me about the choices I should and should not make. It still doesn’t. And so, in early spring of 2019, I started to make Gold Snow a thing. Since then, we have connected with some great brands (namely K2, Never Summer, RIDE, Deeluxe, D Curve, Spark R&D, and Pallas), tested a bit of their gear, and slowly but surely put out informative and honest reviews that fold music (check out our Eat Gold Snow playlist on Spotify), pop culture, art, and style into the mix. Because, well, if you're taking the time to create a review, or anything really, why not let it be a rich experience for yourself and for your audience?
*Part dos of this thing coming at you next month. Until then, definitely don’t follow us @eatgoldsnow.*