Kim Petersen’s identify is among the many legendary girls who skated vert, bowl and pool competitively within the early 2000s, serving to to validate girls on this area and set up a neighborhood. Kim grew up in a small city referred to as Dewitt, Iowa, west of the Mississippi River, and had an athletic background in aggressive gymnastics. In an interview for Juice journal, Kim stated that he first time she tried skateboarding was as a bit of child. “My mother had a bit of wood banana board, and I can bear in mind pushing round on it after I was a child” (Ament).
When the household moved to York, Pennsylvania within the late Eighties, “I found that some children in my new neighborhood had a yard mini ramp. They might skate and we’d hand around in their little clubhouse and hearken to music… I attempted launching off a soar ramp within the driveway, the blokes laughed, and I form blew it. I didn’t imagine I may get on a skateboard and rip. That confidence was a number of years down the street” (Ament).
Above: photograph by Andy Kemmis from Juice magazine interview
Kim started snowboarding after highschool, transferring to Washington, DC after which in 1995 she headed to Montana to embrace mountain life and faculty. “The reality is, snowboarding gave me the arrogance to get on a skateboard and actually attempt. My greatest buddy needed to study too, so it was on. Lastly, I found the thought of woman energy. It made studying much less scary. Much less intimidating” (Ament). To make her manner round her faculty campus, Kim naturally selected to skateboard. She additionally had entry to a 6-foot mini ramp in a skate store and began to study the fundamentals of transition, though Kim opted to not give the store a shout out as a result of “the store proprietor informed me I used to be lame for attempting to discover ways to skate and that I’d by no means get anyplace as a woman.” Thankfully, this remark solely motivated her to show him unsuitable.
Above: Pictures from Juice journal interview by Olga Aguilar and Andy Kemmis
Kim was capable of skate concrete parks by touring to Seattle after which Burnside and Orcas Island throughout a Westcoast roadtrip, in addition to Colorado and even an abroad change in New Zealand. Her first contest was in the summertime of 1999 in Missoula, Montana towards the blokes, the 12 months Kim graduated from faculty after which moved to Washington. In Juice journal, Kim recalled assembly Jessica Starkweather shortly after and acknowledged her affect. “She stoked me out as a result of she put the pedal to the steel. Full velocity assault mode was the usual and I discovered the arrogance to step on the gasoline.”
Together with her background in gymnastics, Kim had been a coach throughout faculty after which translated her skillset by touchdown “a training job at Woodward Camp in Pennsylvania through the summers of 1997-2000. I labored with gymnasts all day after which skated at night time” (Ament). It was at Woodward that Kim first witnessed a feminine skater on vert, which was Jen O’Brien performing a demo with Bob Burnquist. “I skated the wood bowl with Rebecca, Bob’s sisters, and a few very nice ladies. That session was extremely inspiring. I at all times bear in mind campers like Alexis Sablone and Lyn-Z Adams, who had been little children on the time, already ripping past most youngsters their age.”
Photograph: Kim and Cara-beth!
In an interview by Sasha La Rochelle for RealSkate.com, Kim defined that it was due to skilled skaters, Cara-beth Burnside, Jen O’Brien and Jodi McDonald, that she determined to step up her skateboarding recreation after seeing their pictures in magazines, pondering to herself, “I can try this too.” There was additionally an article in Punk Planet (Might/June 1998, Situation 25) referred to as “Not simply boys’ enjoyable anymore: the rising ladies’ revolution in skateboarding” by Dan Sinker, that actually impacted Kim. She was blown away that ladies had been blasting air on a skateboard, and it helped Kim imagine that it was attainable for her to progress as nicely.
Kim had been a sponsored snowboarder for Burton however was much less within the aggressive circuit. Skateboarding turned out to be a bit totally different, since contests might be an ideal social outlet. Kim shared how “in the future Jodi McDonald got here to the Butter Bowl. Jessica Starkweather, Nicole Zuck, and I had been skating and having a bit of session, when Jodi rolled up. She was like, ‘I’m going to Slam Metropolis Jam to do that vert contest. You ladies are coming. It’s important to enter. We’re doing this factor.’ When Jodi summons, you say sure!” (Ament).
Slam Metropolis Jam in Vancouver had first supplied a ladies’ road contest in 1998 after which prolonged the invite to feminine vert skaters in 1999, which was received by Jen O’Brien, and concerned primarily native skaters trying to skate vert for the primary time. Kim entered the next 12 months, in 2000 when Jodi McDonald got here 2nd behind Sweet Hiler-Kramer who received the occasion. “I wasn’t positive what to anticipate, nevertheless it was a blast. We confirmed up, three ladies from Washington and Oregon, and we entered the competition and competed towards one of the best girls on the earth. It was an open door. Jodi gave me recommendations on bottom airs, which I realized throughout observe session. I could not have wowed the judged, however I walked conscious from that have with a lot momentum” (Ament).
By 2003, Kim was being featured within the female-focused skateboard journal Verify it Out (Situation #14) in an article by Emile Janicot. It was famous that, “Kim is a part of a brand new breed of feminine skaters. Quick, aggressive, and unafraid. She has a robust model, and is prepared to take successful. She lately positioned third on the Strawberry Bowl Bash contest in Northern California, and positioned third on the Primary Bowl contest in Southern California. She toured the west Coast extensively, skating and sleeping in her automotive, only for the fun of driving a brand new spot… Kim continues to progress in skating, and relaxation assured she can be ripping for a few years to return.”
On the sixth Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Bowl Jam (2004) in Scotts Valley, the organizers supplied a class for girls to compete for the primary time and Kim positioned third behind Heidi Fitzgerald and David Everly, which included a nice trophy.
Pictures: RealSkate.com circa 2004/2005
In 2005, Kim had her greatest 12 months by way of the World Cup Rankings, positioned in 1st place for girls’s Bowl forward of Zuck, Starkweather, Mandy Esch, Melissa Dafnos, and Heidi Fitzgerald. In 2003, she was 8th general, in 2004, she was 3rd general, and in 2006 she was nonetheless within the High Ten with a 7th general. Kim was additionally included in a game-changing documentary by Susanne Tabata referred to as Skate Woman, and there’s a YouTube video from 2007 that includes Kim:
Kim returned to Missoula the place she turned concerned with the native Skatepark Affiliation fundraising for brand new parks. Kim recalled that her nickname “Krusher” was solidified through the grand opening of the Missoula park when Tony Hawk’s Thriller Skatepark Tour offered a demo. “Mimi Knoop and Cara-Beth Burnside had been out for that occasion, so we skated within the demo. Mimi went as much as Jason Ellis, who was asserting, and stated, ‘That’s the Krusher. She’s the native ripper.’ He blew it up on the mic and, to at the present time, individuals say, ‘You’re that Krusher woman.’ I truly acquired that nickname in Cali after I had an epic collision the place I took one other man down” (Ament).
Kim’s first skateboarding sponsor was a store referred to as “Board of Missoula Model,” (B.O.M.B.) who launched Kim’s professional mannequin designed by Olivia Britz in 2008, adopted by Adrenalin skateboards, and now she has a professional mannequin with Montana Pool Service.
Above: pictures circa 2009 / 2010 a lot of which appeared in Earth Patrol
Above: pictures circa 2011-2015, a number of of which appeared in Earth Patrol
Kim’s educating profession additionally took off in Missoula, since she had been concerned with Outside Schooling earlier than coming into “an elementary college that was impartial and related to the outside… I took my college students to the skatepark, on bike rides, and many hikes.” Kim celebrated how Missoula established a corporation in 2010 referred to as Ladies on Shred, internet hosting workshops in each skateboarding and snowboarding round Western Montana for ladies and non-binary youth. Kim stated the group “was began by a stunning lady named Danielle Barrow who handed it on to its present director, Samantha Veysey Gibbons of Board of Missoula,” and her buddy Cressey Rice can also be concerned.
Right here’s a video of Kim competing within the Grasp’s division on the Vans Combi Bowl contest in 2013 by Lisa Whitaker for her Ladies Skate Community web site:
In 2020, Kim was engaged on her graduate diploma in Arts Schooling, educating full-time at Sussex Faculty, persevering with her work with Ladies on Shred and lengthening the invitation to Indigenous youth in her area. In 2022, she even competed at Publicity, putting third within the “Bowl Golden – 30 and Up” class. Comply with Kim on Instagram right here @krusherkp.
Above: Kim at Publicity 2022
Pictures: Andy Kemmis, Dan Hughes, Kate Davis Olga Aguilar, Patty Segovia
References:
- Ament, Jeff and Jim Murphy. “Kim Petersen Interview,” Juice Journal 77 (November 10, 2020).
- Janicot, Emile. “Kim Petersen,” Verify it Out 14 (2002/2003), 7.
- La Rochelle, Sasha. “Kim Petersen,” RealSkate.com. 2002.