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weren't "official" entrants. Both girls high a�d stuck the landing, stoking th into a renzy with a higher decibel Ie even the best guy pros could stir up t To the announcer's shock, they hiked to do it again. This time, the c Ri chter. Such is the stuff from which season all-women's series of cross-country boots J_,.'ft''- � the surfing industry, surf titans such as O'Neill, Rip Curl and Body more women's wet suits in their lines this year than ever before. magazine had a woman on the cover last summer-World Cup nner Lisa Anderson-albeit only their third female cover shot in the Q1a!gazine's thirty-eight year history, So why didn't this "women's explosion" in sports happen say, ten or years ago? Perhaps, as Dennis Jenson, Burton Snowboards' senior vice once said, Hlf you can't see the market, you won't make it. n it three years ago and their Freestyle was the first woman's snowboard with a woman's last (mold). In its first year, it sold out in the first ' ow more than a dozen snowboaJd boot manufacturers offer women nd boards. All this is a reflection of a new generation and inc future o� sports where the women's market is finally VIE!WE!a.ca!i who aren't easily intimidated and line skating and particularly snlowboar(�me: ty that women are among the Perhaps the glass ceiling in viewers their own pro board models in Rr'MIJumltaiin Dew with Morgan LaFonte and Victoria Jealouse, It second time' in two years that Mountain Dew featured women ,,,.= -,, ,,n .. ' .. years since I first saw Basich ride in Alaska she's become a pro snowboarder. Two months ago, she shot a com- �S'iiil)w'bo,arders, In two days, she's headed to the Winter X Games in Snow Summit, California, which is being televised worldwide on ESPN and ABC. Perhaps this explosion of international recognition for the women of snowboarding has more to do with the culture surrounding snowboarding than the sport itself. Since women are continually making up a larger seg ment of the sport, they, too, become a part of the fame and recognition. Yet despit.e the influence Basich and other women pros have in snowboarding, the Saran ceiling isn't completely ripped open. Take big media, for example. When it comes to making the call for who gets air-time at competitions, women take a backseat. At the Winter X Games, only snip pets of the women's boardercross and slopestyle competitions made it on the air, These two events are the most exciting competitions for the women. Instead, ESPN chose to cover the Big Air competition-a sixty-foot kicker that had such a gnarly landing even the hucking queen herself, Morgar'\ LaFonte, chose not to launch. In the end, only five women competed (Basich being one of them) and only three cleared the gap to stick. the landing. At the European Big Air contest for MTV Europe last season, guys hesitating. But leave it to asich �nd Dunn to sha ings up. "We went to Mikey Basich." recalls Dunn, "and he said, 'Yeah, I think you guys can do it if you really want to. '" Wearing pigtails and pink jackets, Dunn and Basich psyched themselves up �lnd decided to just have fun even though they clothing designs with own Unlike other female athletes, boarding don't have to wait �en'tv.lo� for the right equipment or the them. "We're already a part of rsnowloo� says Basich during a tram ride powdery day this past winter. ·We culture-from the roots-you can't out. H l� fti�'e Burton phone nature she each other in snllwlll l(llrdl Xl Games showed J?J�19rnDics. we'll bring a new class competition]. We'll all show up the U.S. and Norwegian and European be hanging out together the night