Who we are
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Who we are *
Allison Marriner- Founder.
Allison had a dream to bring accessibility and exposure to women curious about the ski industry, so she did something about it founding SHE GROOMS back in 2023. Allison has a lofty and impressive grooming resume with experience and stories to boot. Ranging from 8 years on the Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek; including the 2015 world championships, 3 winters at Jeongseaon Alpine center in the Republic of Korea for the 2016 men’s alpine downhill world cup, 2017 women’s and paralympics world cup, and 2018 Olympics and paralympics world cup finals. Now she stakes her claim at Mount Hood Meadows since 2019 where she has been slope surfaces manager since the winter of 2022.
Kait Burds- Social Media.
Kait hails from Dubuque, IA where she began her love for the ski industry at her local ski hill, Sundown Mountain. A graduate from the SAM Program of Gogebic Community College, Kait performed her internship running cats at Beaver Creek where she stayed for 2 more years learning the ins/ outs of fleet and solo grooming. She picked up a season down under at Thredbo, surrounded by greats, taking in winch experience and taking part in the push phase of the 1 hit wonder.
Ultimately, Kait returned to the Midwest pursuing a career in dirt and is now an Operating Civil Foreman on renewable construction sites. She lives full time in her camper following the work which allows her to fulfill her ski industry fix having worked at Mt. Hood Meadows winching in 2023, making a training comeback in 2026 and spending last winter building terrain parks in southern WI.
In 2024, Kait took part in and won a women’s operator skills challenge hosted by CAT. Attributing her abilities to time spent in a snow cat, Kait is setting her sights on promoting opportunities and closing skills gaps for women in both industries, through public speaking and camps such as SHE GROOMS.
Sabrina Straszewski- Schweitzer
It all started in 1995, Sabrina Straszewski attended a job fair at Ski Santa Fe that changed her life forever! Hired on to be a ski tech her first season, then transferring to lift ops for a second and third. Sabrina being super excited about the ski industry knew she had not found her niche yet. Once she got into the slopes side of ski operations she decided she wanted to be a snow cat operator and became hooked! Ski Santa Fe offered a lot of opportunity for Sabrina to learn about snowmaking and grooming, working on cats and other equipment and summer trail maintenance. Knowing this was a forever love, Sabrina moved to Summit County, Colorado in the fall of 2006 to accept a grooming position at Copper Mtn . There she worked on the snowmaking, grooming and trail maintenance teams. In 2011 opportunity knocked to be part of the installation of the automated HKD Snowmaking system for US Ski team venue which she jumped at! Rounding out the year Sabrina was honored to receive the 2011 CSCUSA Snowmaker of the year award. After a year as snowmaking foreman upon her return to Copper, she delved into Grooming Foreman, where she winched, park groomed and lead the graveyard crew until 2015. When it was time to change it up she headed over the pass to Beaver Creek, where she worked with Allison, Katy, and Kait. Having been a great experience it still didn’t feel like home, so Sabrina headed north finding exactly what she was looking for as a full time winch operator and shift lead at Schweitzer Mtn in Idaho! With vast and well-rounded experience she jumped right into their snowmaking and winching operations! For the inaugural 2023 SHE GROOMS, Sabrina was able to reunite with Jenn from Santa Fe and the ladies from Beaver Creek to coach. In the summers she owns and operates her own lawn care business (3 Rivers Mowing) and tends to the Idaho Club Golf Course as well!
Katy Crook- Ski Cooper
A Midwest girly, she moved from Illinois to Colorado in 1998 to attend Colorado Mtn. College to earn a degree in Ski Area Operations. After learning about snow cats in college she decided she no longer wanted to manage an entire ski area but focus solely on snow cats and slope grooming. From 1999-2011 Katy worked at Copper Mountain, there she free groomed, winched, built and maintained terrain parks, boardercross courses, half pipes and quarter walls. During 2005-2006 Katy ventured over to Crested Butte for a season but ultimately came back to the I-70 corridor where she became grooming supervisor at Beaver Creek in 2011. You can now find Katy over at Ski Cooper which she has called home as Grooming Manager since 2020. Katy boasts vast experience is many areas of catting and is a wealth of knowledge as an original coach of SHE GROOMS! In the summer she mostly keeps busy on the Mt. Massive Golf course as their maintenance team, but you could catch her operating, waitressing or landscaping as well!
Jenn Ambrose- Stevens Pass
Jenn is from Santa Fe, NM. Her first job was shoveling snow at Ski Santa Fe when she was 16. She'll never forget the first time she saw the snowcats roll through the base area one night - she thought they were the coolest things she had ever seen! Jenn started running cats at her local mtn in the winter of 1997 and learned all about snow farming; from summer brush cutting and setting snow fence in the fall, to wrenching on cats, snowmaking and grooming.
She stepped away from the industry in 2003 after moving to Seattle, WA to start a family and attend nursing school. Her work as a Covid Nurse made her realize how deeply she missed the quiet beauty of the mountains at night, and watching the sunrise from her cat. She returned to the industry in 2021 at Stevens Pass, WA. During the Winter months she splits her time between Grooming at the Pass and a busy, downtown Seattle hospital where she works as a Trauma Nurse.
Even after nearly a decade in the seat, she still thinks snowcats are the coolest thing she’s ever seen! In the summer she can be found barefoot on a boat, working as a swamper in the Grand Canyon.
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