Thursday, September 29th at 6:30 PM Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, Stowe
Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum in Stowe will kick off its popular seasonal Red Bench Speaker Series on Thursday, September 29th at 6:30 with an interview and Q&A session with Vermonter Hillary Girardi, an acclaimed high mountain athlete who now lives in Chamonix, France.
With French ski mountaineering partner Valentine Fabre, Girardi set the first women’s speed record for skiing the legendary high alpine route, La Haute Route, between Chamonix and Zermatt, Switzerland in 2021. They covered 26,000 feet of mountainous terrain and 66 miles of glaciers in just over 26 hours, a feat that takes the average skier five or six days.
In a casual back-and-forth interview format with moderator Peggy Shinn, Girardi will discuss how a kid growing up in St. Johnsbury, VT and Middlebury College graduate, ended up living in Chamonix, setting the Haute Route record and becoming a pre-eminent skyrunning champion. This is an event that will interest skiers, runners and climbers.
Skyrunners practice a sport that pushes their limits where the earth meets the sky, running in mountains above 6,500 feet in altitude, with an incline over 30% and the difficulty of climbing is not more than a II° grade. This month, Girardi again set a record winning time for the prestigious Italian Trofeo Kima skyrunning race.
When not racing, Girardi holds down a day job at the Research Center for Alpine Ecosystems in Chamonix, France, where she keeps getting after other mountain passions as a skier and alpine climber. She's a sponsored Black Diamond Equipment athlete.
The evening’s moderator Peggy Shinn is a senior contributor to TeamUSA.org and has covered seven Olympic Games. Her book, World Class: The Making of the U.S. Women’s Cross-Country Ski Team (2018) delved into how the current U.S. women’s cross-country ski team began finishing on the podium and is a look at what it can take to build an effective team. She lives in Rutland with her husband and daughter.
Doors to the Museum will open at 6:00 and guests are invited to enjoy the exhibits and socialize.The discussion begins at 6:30. A $10 admission donation helps support the museum's mission to "Collect, Preserve and Celebrate Vermont's rich skiing and snowboarding history". New this year is our Red Bench Season Pass. For more information visit www.vtssm.org/new-events
For decades the red bench drew skiers together around the fireplace in the Octagon at the top of Mount Mansfield to swap tales of adventure and innovation. The tradition continues today with the Red Bench Speaker Series which focuses on topics currently relevant to skiing and snowboarding. Today the red bench is prominently located on the Museum's first floor in Stowe, VT.
Series sponsors include Schoeller Textile, r.k. Miles, Sisler Builders, and Vermont Ski + Ride. This event has special support from von Trapp Brewing and Stowe Cider.
The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum thrives by collecting, preserving, and celebrating Vermont's skiing and snowboarding history. The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum is a 501c3 non-profit organization that welcomes visitors from around the world to share, reminisce, and enjoy the collections and their stories. The museum creates visually stimulating and historically in-depth exhibits, along with year-round educational programming and statewide community events.
