Sun's Out Buns Out

What happens when 200 women and femme-identifying folks strip down at the top of a mountain and ski down naked? Our guest Jenny Verocchi dared to find out as the organizer of Boot Tan Fest, the largest backcountry festival for women. In this episode of Juicy Bits, we find out how this event came to be and what inspired her to document the experience in the short film Full Frontal Freedom.

Show Notes

Learn more about the Boot Tan Fest here.

What is Juicy Bits?

We created Juicy Bits because we wanted to continue the conversations that we start out on the trail and on the chair lift. Hosted by our CEO Jen Gurecki and Ambassador Jillian Raymond, they talk candidly about everything from dude soup, to sex, to politics, to equity in the outdoors. We occasionally (read: frequently) drop F-bombs, interview some of the most interesting people in the outdoors and beyond, and say things that many of us think but don’t feel comfortable saying out loud. If you are easily offended or looking for something that is G Rated, this is not the podcast for you. But if you love truth-telling and irreverence, get ready to laugh, cry, and maybe pee your pants a little bit. 

Hello and welcome. I'm Jillian Raymond, the co-creator of Juicy Bits and a coalition snow Ambassador. And I'm Jen Gurecki, your co-host and the CEO of Coalition Snow. For those of you who are new, get ready to laugh, cry, and maybe pee your pants. A little. Juicy Bits is about taking the conversation that we start on the cherry lift and at the trailhead and bringing them to you to explore alternative narratives that challenge the status quo about what it means to be a modern woman in the outdoors. Grab your helmet, because sometimes it's a bumpy ride. FYI friends, this podcast is for mature audiences, so you've been warned. Let's get to work and juice the patriarchy. Hey, everyone. This is Jen Gurecki, and I am super excited about our special guest today, Jenny Verrachi, who is the founder of Bouton Fest. If you don't know about Boot Tan Fest, you're about to know it's happening in March 2023. I will be there. Everyone's going to be there. It's an incredible event. And there also maybe happens to be a film also associated with it. So excited to get into that today. Jenny, welcome.

Thank you, Jen. It's so good to talk to you, as always.

I know I haven't seen your face since last March. So even though this isn't real, I mean, in real life, it's real. We're obviously really talking, but even though I'm not with you physically, it's always good to see you. Okay, so there's a chance that some of our listeners do not know who you are. So tell us about you. Who are you?

Yeah, I am Jenny, and I was one of the original co-founders of Wild Barn Coffee and Boot and fest. And Boot Tan Fest actually came from the coffee company originally because the logo on our can is a naked skier, a naked woman skier. So it was kind of one of those situations where you had to walk the walk or stop the talk. Bluebird Backcountry was one of our first clients, and so I was delivering coffee to Bluebird Backcountry, which is an all backcountry resort in Kremlin, Colorado, and I was delivering coffee to them on a monthly basis. And of course, I asked for free pass for the coffee delivery fee. And with that, I became really good friends with a lot of the employees. And so myself and my co-founder at the time were rock climbing with some of the ski patrollers, and we asked them if we could do an all women and femme naked lap, and they said yes. So it started in 2021, and we had a week to plan, and 27 women showed up, and it was awesome. And then in 2022, we decided to make it an actual festival. So over 200 women and fem folks showed up, and it was a magical day. The whole day is a backcountry ski and snowboard festival. So you're just out there skiing and snowboarding with all of your friends. And then we do our big party lap at 02:00 p.m., where everybody skins up and strips down.

Yeah, and let's be very clear by party lap, we are talking about skiing naked down a mountain, which I will okay, I will tell you I was nervous about that. I talked to you about this the night before. I was nervous about skiing naked for two reasons. Number one, I knew that I'd be one of the oldest people there. And while I have no problem taking my clothing off, I think people know this. The idea of doing it in front of like, 200 young women, I was like, oh, I don't know about that. And then also, 100%, I didn't want to fall. Like, I was like, it's not hero conditions. And I was just, like, super nervous. So I'm sure I wasn't the only person. Were you nervous about starting boot tan or, like, how did you work through that?

I was nervous. I think what I was most nervous about was just that we created this festival, and I was having nightmares of what was that festival that failed? Oh, the one on the island. The fry festival. Yeah, the one on the island. And I think I was having nightmares. I was sleeping in the camper, which you were a part of the night before in the parking lot. And I just woke up a bunch of times thinking that something like that was going to happen. So it wasn't necessarily I was worried about getting naked. It was more just, holy crap, people are showing up, and this is real. This is real. And I truly enjoyed our conversation the night before Jen came over in my little truck camper, the little 1980 mullet of RVs, and we were just talking exactly about that and our fears and our worries about getting naked. But the thing is, when you're with that many people, the energy, one, keeps you warm. And two, nobody's looking at anybody else's bodies. Nobody's even looking at their own body. It's just this collective stoke and collective joy that warms everybody up, and it just is a party. I don't think anybody I almost barely remember seeing naked bodies, as crazy as that sounds. It was more just feeling that I remember and took home with me.

Yeah. Once we got up there and everybody started to strip down, I thought to myself, like, okay, all right, you're going to do this now. And so I did it. And then once I was naked, I was like, I'm fine. We're good. Did I make turns? No. I was like, I'm not falling. I'm not going to do this. So it was not like my proudest run ever. But it was fun. It was super fun. What would you say to people who are maybe hesitant about coming out to this event? Because like I said at the beginning, the next one is scheduled. It's in March 2023. Tickets are for sale now, it likely will sell out relatively soon. What would you say to people who are on the fence? Either because of the backcountry skiing part of it and maybe that's intimidating to them or just the nudity part?

Yeah, so I think that I encourage the people who are fearful of coming to come, just come anyways. Even if it's your first time backcountry skiing, this is actually the perfect situation for it because one is a really safe and inclusive environment. Everyone there is there for a good time. Nobody's trying to take the sickest run. It's an inclusive community. I mean, there was women there last year who had never split board before. And I remember it was one girl took your coalition board out specifically, and there was so much going on. But I had a moment in time where I could sit with her and explain how to use a split board, take it off, put the skins on, put the bindings back on. And it was her first time ever skinning up a mountain. And I think that was obviously a memorable day for her. It was really memorable for me to be helping her. And the hard thing about backcountry skiing and splitboarding is you need a partner and you need somebody to take you into the backcountry for the first time. And it is dangerous. But this is a safe space. It's avalanche regulated and you have hundreds of partners. Anybody who is there is going to be willing and wanting to help out. So I say just come do it anyways. And the naked lap is optional. This is not a nudist event. It is fully closed all day long, all evening long, and it is optional. And I have to say, I think maybe 99% of women and fem folks who showed up also stripped down. And I think that there are people who are super nervous and like, hell no, I'm here to backcountry ski and snowboard with my friends. There's no way I'm getting naked. And I saw all of those people who said that they weren't going to do it. I saw them naked.

Yeah, most people did get naked once. We were all at the very top. No one really seemed to be concerned about those fears that we all had earlier in the day. Now let's talk about this resort because Bluebird Backcountry is super unique and is it the only backcountry ski resort in the nation? Let's talk about that for people who maybe aren't familiar with it.

Yeah, so Bluebird Backcountry, it's right outside Steamboat, about 15 minutes out. And there's ski patrol, there's warming huts. It's avalanche regulated, but there are no chair lift. And I think it's a wonderful place and an opportunity for people who are new to backcountry skiing or who don't have a partner yet to come and practice and play. And it's basically for Boot Tan Fest. We rent out the entire resort for a whole day. So it's basically just a giant playground for all of your friends. Another thing I like too is I'm from the East Coast. East coast skiing is so chill and laid back. We're all skiing ice. It's not often powder conditions. You use your grandpa's old Ll. Bean ski pants, whatever. It's just kind of judge free. And even I found myself moving to Colorado. You kind of get wrapped up in the gear you're using and wearing and who's sponsored by who. And this day there's none of that. There's no judgment. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner, if you're an advanced gear. We're all just there to hang out and have a good time. And I think that's the best part of it.

Yeah. What was some of the feedback you got from people? And maybe like, the feedback I love the most is the feedback from strangers, not the things that my friends tell me because I'm like, it's your job to make me feel good. So thank you very much. So I'm sure you got a lot of that, but what did you hear from complete strangers who came out to Boot Tan Fest last March?

It's been a crazy experience. I mean, I do drive a Wild Barn Coffee, and so Wild Barn Coffee is who hosted the event. And I drive a Wild Barn Coffee truck. And so I've had random people flagged me down in the middle of the road and saying that they were at Boot Tan Fest. It was their best day ever. I was at my partner's bike race this summer and a random girl came up to me and was like, are you Jenny? She was like, I was at Boot Tan Fest. It was the best day of my life. She was saying that she didn't have backcountry partners in Steamboat where she lives, and now she's got five of them and they hung out all summer long and they're extremely close. Now all of a sudden, I'm really close with this girl who was a stranger who came up to me at a bike race. But she ended up contributing to the film even more. And now I feel like I have this humongous network of women and people who identify as women as you have this awesome, inclusive network. So I truly believe that it was everybody's. One of their best days ever.

Yeah, it was a good one. People who know me know that I do nothing in the snow sports industry. Like, nothing. I'm like, I'm not interested in hanging out with you. There's too many bros. It's super hostile and not even like, hostile and that people are mean. It's just like this aggressive culture. It's this energy that you feel where I'm like, I don't want to be around that. And so I don't really do anything in snow sports besides just go snowboard with my friends. But this is probably one of the very few snow related events that I go to personally. But that Coalition also supports because it's just such good energy, such rad people there. I just felt good. And I can't say that about a lot of spaces in the snow sports com

munity that it feels good to me. And Boot Tan Fest certainly did. I'm super excited about it. Thank you. That means a lot coming from you. It's funny, even when I launched my company, Wildbarn Coffee, I remember sitting on the couch and we were Juicy. Bits has been around since 2018. Yes, because it was 2018 and I was listening and I was looking at your branding and I was looking at my co founder. I'm like, this is who I want to like. This is who's leading the example in the outdoor industry and this is who I want to be like. And I also remember there was an event. Oh, well, you're a wonderful throwing event. You introduced me to some of my absolute best friends by hosting an all women, gay and snowboarder outdoor industry event. And that's where I met Andrea Sluslarski from Drawing From Nature and LVDY. And I remember taking your magazine and going up to me like, I'm never going to throw this out. And you're like, what the I was all young and starry eyed and didn't I was about to get into but Coalition. And you have always been a hero for Wildbarn and Boot Tan Fest.

Thanks. Thank you. Let's talk about this film because you worked with Wheelie Creative to make a film shot at Boot Tan Fest, which I've not even seen the full feature yet. I will watch it. As soon as you send it to me, I will be watching it. Tell me about the film. Okay. This was the coolest thing. So I was sitting and having coffee after snowboarding with Andrea Sluslarski and Lisa Slagel from Wheelie. And I was telling him about this event and what's going to happen. And I think I'm like, oh my God, I think over 200 women are going to show up. And Lisa was like, we can make a film out of this. We can definitely do that. Oh, Lisa. Okay. Yeah. So we had such little time to plan. We knew that we needed an all female and feminine crew. So Lisa kind of pulled it together. She flew in a couple of girls from California. We had girls from Denver coming up. Nobody had met before. So these filmmakers had not even been introduced. And yeah, they showed up and we had I mean, it was crazy because we only had one day to shoot and we had one opportunity of the naked lap. That was a really wild experience. And I wasn't sure how women would feel about getting films and being naked. So I made an announcement before and just silly me, what girl wouldn't want to be on a movie in a ski movie? So actually everybody wanted to be involved. And the film is called Full Frontal Freedom. And right now, I'm licensing the film. So if you want to show it yourself, you absolutely can. And the reason I'm licensing it is because we want to keep it pretty private up until it's in film festivals. So it'll be in no Man's Land film Festival and hoping to be in Five Points as well. But it's really awesome because a lot of people who see the film are going to recognize either themselves or their friend who's in it. And it is just a really happy film. I think that we wanted it to be inclusive. I think it's really cool that the ski film made about women by women, but also it's about collective joy and freedom and it's really fun and silly and you can't not smile when you're watching it. And I think that that's what the outdoor industry in the world really needs right now, is just something that's fun. And that's how I would describe full frontal freedom.

Yeah, I can't wait to see it. Speaking of fun, do you want to talk about the one place you were going to show it and then you couldn't show it? Because that email that you sent, I was dying. I was dying. The reason why I bring this up is that you can't make something like this and not have people try to get in your way of finding that joy and people get in your way of being sit successful. So I'm curious if you want to speak to that or even if you don't want to mention the exact names, if you want to talk about what happened.

Yeah, so it was interesting. I mean, it's funny enough. So I was the producer of the film as Wildbarn Coffee, and it was my first time producing a film and producing an event, really. And for first film to be about all naked women, it was really hard to just explain the concept of that and that it would be appropriate. We've got live animation going over the bodies, so trying to get money for the film was a challenge in itself, but I actually really enjoyed the process. And afterwards yeah, one of our sponsors, their parent company, caught wind of the film, and they think I don't know if they saw the film, but they recognized it as a nude film. And they told that our sponsor, that they needed to pull out, and they were no longer allowed to support the film, the project, the company. And yeah, we had a scheduling showing at one of their locations and they called me the week before and so we had to change some things around. But I think it's frustrating in general, being one female entrepreneur. I mean, trying to raise capital for Wild Barn Coffee when less than 1% of women actually get funded has been the biggest challenge. And it's frustrating because you run into these situations all the time and it's an extremely well done film, it's beautiful, it's artistic. And for somebody to kind of put it down, it always, of course, hurts, but it also sparks a fire underneath you to keep going.

Well, it also just speaks to the need for it, too, because this parent company uses explicit and gratuitous images of women to sell product to men. It's heteronormative. It's super sexist. I don't even know if I would say that. I've seen ads that don't feature anything besides very thin white women catering to preferences of men. And those are the people who found your film to be inappropriate, which that's just the world that we live in. Right, but those are the things that we have to be able to acknowledge and push through, because if we don't, then what's left? If we don't stick around after those kind of blows, then they're still here and we're not. And then how do you actually work toward making that change that we all want to see?

Absolutely. And it's challenging and it's draining to try to be the change that you want to see because of the major corporations have so much control and so much power and money. So the little companies, it's much harder for us to survive, but also the smaller companies are the ones who are able to innovate and able to be the change. So, yeah, definitely as an entrepreneur, especially a woman entrepreneur, it's definitely a lot more challenging to stick with your values and morals in order to survive. And now my lesson learned from that is this year's sponsors, their values really need to align with ours and hoping for more small businesses to support the event.

Yeah. And that is such a big part, I think, of running a small business, a values driven business, particularly now, is that you really do need to vet your partners, which is something that we've been working on. And I've even been thinking about how can we even create an internal rubric that we use at Coalition to evaluate who we work with and who we don't? Because you can find yourself in these situations where you're sort of at the end of a project, you're at the execution phase and you're like, wow, this is not what I thought this was going to be, or this doesn't feel good anymore. And so much of it, it's not even about being able to put out a good product. Like, there's so much that happens behind the scenes and those interpersonal relationships and just sometimes you learn that the people who you think are supportive and share your values that they don't share your values. So it's not easy at all to find those people to work with. I don't know how you feel. I feel like for us at Coalition and I don't know, sort of everything that I do, there's certainly been a financial loss to choosing that it would be much easier to show up in the world where the general public. And by the general public, I mean just average people, straight white people, primarily men and straight women aren't offended or don't feel uncomfortable by anything that you do. And when you choose to do something differently, I do think that there's like you take financial hits for it, for sure. You do.

Yeah. It goes back to what I know best is running the coffee company and our morals. We want fair trade, organic, sustainably sourced. We would love women farmers and then in sustainable cardboard and cans and it's just up, up with the price and so you lose customers. But you also want to easily I mean, liquid debt is a great example. I could easily can some water and market it. But you know what? They got a $10 million raise within the first year of them doing business because it's run by all I hate to say it now, I'm going on to tangent, but it's run by all men and I've been in business for four years and have a really loyal following and it's been difficult to raise capital. But yeah, to run a business with morals is definitely challenging. But it's what the world needs more of.

Yeah, absolutely. I don't know, sometimes I feel like I feel this way and then I quickly tell myself to shut the fuck up, stop saying those things. So I will start with that. But sometimes I do think like, you know what could be different if we just showed up in a way that was more pleasing. Like if myself personally and my brand showed up the way that the world wants women to show up that were nice, that we're pleasing, that we are endlessly forgiving, that we cater to everyone else that if we did that, business would be easier. And then sort of how I backtrack on that is I think, well, God, but you would be so unhappy, Jen. That's the kind of stuff where you can't sleep at night because I wouldn't even be true to myself. That's not me at all. So I don't know what it is that you have to tell yourself to stay the course of being values driven. But it's certainly like I have these conversations not only in my head but out loud with myself all the time because I live alone so I can talk to myself and there's no one to think that I should stop. So it's constantly talking out loud. But what are the things that you say to yourself to kind of get over the doubt?

Yeah, I've got a really strong journaling practice and I try to just do positive affirmations. But truly, every day we've talked about this every day is an emotional rollercoaster and you never would know what email is coming into your inbox so it's really hard to stay on track. But yeah, I've got my list of values and I think by following my values something like Bootcamp Fest has come to fruition. Maybe I don't have the best sale for the coffee, but you know what? I stuck with my values. And now we've got this wonderful festival for women and them leaning folks to just come and be themselves. And I think by creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment for women, more ideas will come to the table. It's almost like meeting of the masterminds. Like by having all of these women together who are like minded and outside because that's where everything good comes out of from being outside with friends.

And so a lot of people ask, well, why does it have to be all women? Or why can't it be more inclusive with men? And it's like, well, we would love to stop saying a female entrepreneur, a woman entrepreneur, an all women's event, but you need to make some big waves in order for everything to be neutralized. So I think by sticking to your values, something good is going to come out. And with this event in particular, there's no way that you could have straight men there, certainly because then it just turns into another event that caters to them. I think that that's what men miss, is that when they are not a part of something, it allows other people to be centered. And when they are a part of it, they are the ones who are taking up all the space. They are talking more. Everything sort of caters to their preferences. And so when you remove men, you actually have this opportunity for women to shine. And there's enough things in the world that everybody gets to go do. So just let us have a few fucking things. Please let us have a few fucking things. Every day is your oyster. You get to do all your things every day. And now that we finally have a few things that are ours, it hurts your feelings. Stop. Go to therapy, have your own journaling, practice meditation, do whatever it is that you need to do, but let us fucking have it. And that's the case with any affinity space. Right? So when there's black women who want to have an affinity space, white women, if you're upset by that, ask yourself why you're upset about that. Because it has nothing to do with Black women having an affinity space. That's your insecurity probably maybe some of your racism. Like why does that impact you? Right? And I just feel like it's that way for any affinity space. Let people have it so that they can feel really good about themselves. And when more people feel good about themselves, then everybody actually gets to feel better.

Yeah, I clearly have no patience for them. What about us? It's always been about you. It's our turn. Yeah, exactly, it's our turn. And we've got this awesome day now. Yeah, I love it. It's a holiday. I feel like Bhutan Fest needs to just become a holiday. It feels so good it really should be. We're recording this today's. Giving Tuesday is the day that we're recording this episode. And so working in retail, ecommerce, snow, sports, we are just coming out. We are in retail hell right now. You all think that the number of emails you get in your inbox is hell. Try being the people who make all those emails and then keep your fingers crossed that the sales come through. It's like, this is not happy, joy holiday time for us at all. So definitely looking toward March. Yes, please, let's make that a holiday. Because also Boot Tan fest. It's not about selling things. Of course there'll be tons of brands. There like Coalition Snow will be there. There'll be different ways to support the businesses who are there. But it's not an event that's set up around capitalism or commerce. It's really an event that's set up around community.

Exactly. I love this community so much. I can't say enough about it. I don't know. It's just a good event. And I'm excited to see who shows up this year as vendors or sponsors. Absolutely.

Okay, one more question about Boots and Fest. If people don't backcountry ski or snowboard, could they still come? Because we have a couple of things here, right? We have the high cost of backcountry skiing and snowboarding. So there's, you know, at Boots, there's bindings, there's the skins, there's the skis. Like backcountry skiing and splitboarding has a much higher cost than even just resort skiing. So there's that. And then also the naked part isn't going to be a place where every body, literally everybody feels safe or comfortable. So if you're somebody who either doesn't backcountry ski or snow snowboard, or you're somebody who really feels like my body has never been accepted by society, I don't know if this is a place for me. What would you say to them? If you're new to backcountry skiing and snowboarding and you don't have any of your own gear, you can rent gear there. There'll also be demos. So I booth everything. So I highly encourage you coming out. I do recommend you knowing at least your pizza and French fries before coming out. It's blue terrain, but because it is in the spring, it's going to be kind of bumpy, probably skied out conditions may vary. So at least get your pizza and French fries and fallen leaf down. But beginners. Welcome. And if you've never shown your body in front of anybody before, it even it brings me sadness to even think that somebody might be uncomfortable in stripping down. And I so feel you on that. But just come anyways and it'll be an inclusive space. I mean, I would love for there to be more diversity there as well. Would be huge.

Well, yeah, because you can't like I mean, if we're honest about it, like, you have a backcountry skiing event and so it's going to be a lot of white women just. From that in and of itself. So I know that you've been doing a lot of work to make the event be inclusive and feel welcoming to everyone. And that's certainly our values at Coalition Snow, too. But I think it's important to speak to the real issues that people face, like both the barrier of the cost of entry, not having that skill set, either because you're not interested in it or it's expensive, and then literally not feeling like your body is accepted. So I think one of the ways that we can try to move past that is create events where we can prove to people that this is a place where you are welcome. And I would, as someone who's been to the event, even if you don't hike all the way up to that mountain, even if you don't take your clothing off, there's still a lot of really great people to meet. I just think a lot of good things can come from it. Even if not every little piece is something that you're ready for. Right?

I agree. Thank you for saying that. Yeah. And thanks for taking the time to talk about Boot Tan Fest. This is fun. Of course. Okay, so if people want to know more about Boot and Fest, where can they go? I will put this in the show notes. But where can people go? So you can go to the website, which is Bootanfest.com, and there's tickets available and it will sell out. We've already sold. We just announced ticket sales yesterday and we have already 100 tickets sold. And all of the cabins, I believe, are sold out, too. There are options to car camp, and I highly suggest that it is a Monday Tuesday event. So Monday night we'll be camping with live music by LVDY, a live painting by Drawing from Nature. Yeah. And then we're still looking for sponsors and vendors. So if anybody is interested, just email [e-mail].

Perfect. And if people want to see the film, where can they find out more about Full Frontal Freedom? Yes. So you are welcome to host an event in a showing yourself. I'm charging a small licensing fee to help support the film, and then otherwise there's dates on the website. So Bootcampfest.com is where you can find all that information and we would love to see everybody there. Awesome.

Well, Jenny, thank you so much for chatting with me. It is always such a pleasure every time I get to talk to you. I'm so excited about this event in March. You'll definitely see me there. I'll probably come early. You'll have to hang out with me more. Sorry. And you're welcome, and I can't wait for it. So, everyone, I hope that you visit the website, visit the Instagram account, get this on your calendar, get tickets, reach out to either one of us if you have any questions. This is really, truly an exceptional event and something that we've been waiting for, something like this in snow sports for a really long time. So thank you for creating something that I finally want to fucking go to. It only takes nearly ten years of working in this industry, for one thing, where I'm, like, that speaks to me. I can actually do this. So thank you. Thank you so much. All right, Jenny will talk to you soon. Listeners, thank you so much. And as always, feel free to share any feedback or ideas with us at Juic [e-mail]. Bye, everyone. Bye.