The Pipeline
Words By: Lisa Richardson | Photos By: Chad Chomlack
Robin van Gyn conceived the week-long event, Research & Development, as a pipeline for mid-ground athletes to break into elite backcountry snowboarding. It's back at Whitewater, BC, February 24-March 2 2025.
Robin van Gyn is a self-confessed shit disturber. It’s the only way some things get done. No less congenial for her feistiness, she’s tired of waiting for people to become enlightened. Sometimes, progress needs a helpful nudge.
Van Gyn has advocated proudly for women in snowboarding. When she lobbied for more equity in elite spaces and was met with the challenge, “well, what are you doing for women in snowboarding?”, she put her gloves on. She was ready to get her hands dirty building a field of opportunity for the next generation.
Enter: Research & Development (@rndsearch), a backcountry freestyle event at Whitewater, BC, that gives 12 invited women riders the chance to win $5,000 cash and a spot in the pre-eminent Natural Selection Tour.
The snowboard community has given me so much. Snowboarding was an outlet where I could be without judgment, and tap into my deepest desires and dreams with people who are like-minded. I want to create space for people to enjoy the same support I did. 
But things have changed since van Gyn was coming up. “Backcountry filmmaking and snowboarding have become harder to break into, and a lot more expensive.” Sleds, filmers, helicopter time – all take serious budget, and riders have got to have sponsor backing to get into films. But how do they get discovered by sponsors, if there’s no place to show what they’ve got? How do they grow, if there’s no field to test themselves against? How do they crack the algorithms and stand out in a sea of DIY content? It all adds up to a widening opportunity gap, for those wanting to get to the next level.
Research & Development was van Gyn’s answer.
Not interested in a vanity project, she wanted something that could represent all the women in backcountry snowboarding. “We’re all still here. But where’s the next line?”
She consulted with Jess Kumara, founder of the Uninvited Invitational, Marie-France Roy, founder of the West Coast Triple Plank Invitational, as well as Kimmy Fasani, Hana Beaman, Leanne Pelosi. “I need your help,” she said. “I need this to represent us a group.”
Dropping the RnD pipeline onto resort terrain – instead of using sleds, helis or snowcats – created the best entry-level playing field for the riders with the most potential. “It’s a petri dish. A place for riders to get some experience and have the opportunity to try. A space for the next line to level up and for brands to see who is the strongest group of women right now at this emerging elite level.”
The 2024 debut was proof of concept – a selection committee of established female riders sent out the invitations. “The elite-level riders know better than anyone who is nipping at their heels, or who is on their team and actually killing it, but not getting enough opportunity. Some of the girls who are literally outriding us have no support. It’s like, wait, what?!”
It’s already worked.”We didn’t know if it was going to, but we’re seeing it working in real time.” Van Gyn knows of a few athletes with new contracts on the back of the debut Research & Development, as well as the discovery of new talent that nobody knew about. “I think people saw that given the opportunity, women will progress, women will rise to the occasion.”
All they needed was for someone to create the occasion. It’s coming again: Whitewater Resort will host the return of Research & Development, February 24 – March 2.
