Athletes

Two-time X Games gold medalist Gretchen Bleiler is one of the most accomplished female snowboarders in the world. As a top to her incredible list of medals and contest wins, Gretchen won the Silver medal at the most recent Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. Gretchen aspired to compete in the Olympic Games from a very young age, and found her passion in Snowboarding at age 11. She has been riding ever since and is now recognized as a role model and pioneer in the sport. Among her accomplishments, Gretchen jump-started the invert revolution for female riders as the first to land a Crippler 540 in competition, and won more halfpipe competitions in 2003, 2005 and 2006 than any other female snowboarder. In 2006 she won four of the five US Olympic halfpipe qualifiers and placed first at the FIS World Cup in Switzerland. In 2007 Gretchen had three first place finishes In the 2007/8 season, Gretchen will compete in halfpipe contests with the US Snowboarding team, but also plans to develop her all-around riding and spend more time filming for snowboard videos.

In 2007 Gretchen helped plan and develop the first-ever all-girls halfpipe competition and photo contest, the Snow Angels Invitational. Gretchen is an active spokesperson in the fight against global warming, working closely with stopglobalwarming.org to build awareness around this important cause. When she's not competing, Gretchen enjoys surfing, mountain biking, interior design and fashion.(11/07)