Colorado ski area Arapahoe Basin, or A-Basin as it's familiarly called, is known for its abundant snow and lengthy ski seasons, which can run from the first week of November to early June. That makes it the perfect place to stage what has to be one of the most unusual of fundraisers.
Breast cancer awareness month ends on Oct. 31, which is when Ketchum resident Lauren Young, 23, and her fellow K2 Alliance team will ski in the first-ever Pink Chase Fundraiser at Arapahoe.
Team athletes from the U.S. and Canada will be challenged to ski as fast as possible to cover some wild amount of vertical feet in a four-hour period. Hardcore? You betcha.
"It's a global challenge," Young said. "But it's also a kind of competition between ourselves. As it's Halloween, we're going to have to wear some kind of pink outfits."
Young is one of the six-member, K2 Alliance women's development team that designs and tests all of K2 women's products, including skis, helmets, poles and clothes. A percentage of the sales of women-specific products goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the total since 2000 last year reached the million-dollar mark. Team members range in age from 21 to 51, so they cover all adult skiers demographically. The fundraiser brings together two important aspects for women who ski (in particular): skiing and well-being. Besides K2, Ketchum-based Smith Sport Optics is one of the other sponsors, along with Arapahoe, Polar, Tecnica USA and Helly Hansen.
Through Thursday, Oct. 30, people may support the Pink Chase cause and Young by donating or pledging online at K2skis.com/pinkchase. The money raised will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
"Our aim is to raise as much money as possible for breast cancer research," Young said.
Arapahoe is scheduled to open for skiing on Friday, Oct. 31. Donors can pledge a sum from $1 to $100 for every thousand vertical feet that Young or one of the other team members skis during the four-hour period. K2 estimates that the skiers will ski an average of 17,000 vertical feet. As well throughout the fundraiser, donors will have opportunities to win prizes from the sponsors, both in a weekly raffle and during the fundraiser.
Young moved to Ketchum from Seattrle in June 2007.
"I grew up coming here with my family to ski on school breaks," Young said. "It's been our vacation spot for long time."
She graduated from the University of Washington and began working for K2 as an intern, something she said, that "changed my perspective on how I want to spend my time, and focus. They've donated a percentage of the sales ever since they started the women's products in 2000. None of this is for my own possible gain. It's for the cause."
Her job now is like something out of a book of dreams. She skis for K2 and designs and tests all the equipment, including snowboards, skates and bikes.
"Everyone on the team is overly qualified in their department—the engineering and marketing departments really listen to what we have to say," Young said.
Nice job, if you can get it.
Lauren Young will go high and ski hard in the PinkChase fundraiser. Photo by Willy Cook
