Women’s Month Spotlight: Kara Strehle, Snowboard Instructor

Name: Kara Strehle

Job Title: Lead Trainer & Snowboard Instructor

Department: Mountain Sports School

How did you get into snow sports and how old were you?

I grew up in Minnesota ski racing. I started skiing when I was six. My Mom basically told my Dad, “I’m going to have a nervous breakdown if we don’t have a reason to love Minnesota winters.” So, my parents, my older brother, and I all got outfitted in skis and they put me into ski school. I actually have and wear the pin from the first ski school that I was in, The Blizzards (photo below).

How did you get into racing?

Whatever my brother did, I was going to do. He was a really good ski racer, so I started ski racing a year after him. I started high school racing in the ninth grade and Select Ski Racing that same year. I was on the Buck Hill Ski Race Team, which is the birthplace of Lindsey Vonn and Kristina Koznik. Racing for Coach Erich Sailer is definitely well-known. It’s crazy — a little, nothing mountain in the middle of Minnesota, and Sailer’s in the coaching hall of fame.

Did you live in other places before coming this way (to Tahoe)?

I went to school in North Carolina to play soccer. I played left midfield. While in North Carolina, I took Snow Skiing at Cataloochee Mountain. I think it was 800 vertical feet. It was terrifying. It was icy. Minnesota is icy, but it’s only 300 vertical feet so that extra 500 feet was way too much for those North Carolinian folks who maybe get to ski one day a year.

One day during that class, we were given the option to snowboard. I chose to give snowboarding a try. I had tried it two times before, so that lesson was my third day ever snowboarding. And then, after that, I pretty much took a five-year hiatus from snow sports.

When did you move to Tahoe?

I graduated with an Art degree and a broken heart. I had literally no job path. There’s no career path for a ceramicist, let alone a ceramic sculptor. (laughing) There just isn’t. My brother had moved to San Francisco and I came out to see him. We danced in some of the clubs of San Fransisco and then came up to ride at Palisades. I got to look up at the Palisades where the films that took up my entire youth, Blizzard of Aahhhs and License to Thrill, were filmed. We knew the movies forward and back. I might have been off the airplane after that visit maybe for an hour before calling my brother and asking him if I could move to San Francisco with him.

I lived in San Francisco for two years and was driving up to Palisades as much as I could when I realized there was no real job market for me in San Francisco. One day, I landed a 360 at Homewood on a park jump and I decided I wanted to move to Palisades. That was 20 years ago. My brother was pretty mad when I decided to move to Tahoe. He was like, “I thought you were done with this and now you live where I want to live.”

So, you landed a 360 and the rest was history?

Yep. I lived in Alpine for the first three years but worked at Palisades. I thought I was driving too much so I moved down valley and still thought I was driving too much, so now I live where I can pedal my bike to work. That’s officially close enough. I’ve been in my apartment for fourteen years. In the summertime, when I’m going to Truckee to skateboard, I just take the local TART bus. I have a car, but I like to help out the footprint. All of the cars I see with only one person in them make me crazy. All winter, I ride my bike to work. Last winter, a massive winter, I only walked to work twice.

Tell us a little bit more about what you do here. You’re a snowboard instructor and you teach adults. Has that been your position since you started?

Well, I got my job as a Ski Instructor at Palisades Tahoe Mountain Sports School because I had more experience on skis. But on my first day off, I walked in with my snowboard under my arm, and my supervisor, Soren Wolf, saw me walk by and asked, “You snowboard too?” With only a season under my belt, I was a little shy about it and he was like, “We’ll get you out in clinics and see how you do.”

From that minute on, I was kind of 50-50 and would walk in at the beginning of my shift and ask if they wanted me on skis or a snowboard. Then I pursued all of my Certifications on the snowboard side. I got my Level III in my third year working here and then I started training our staff here. I’ve been training our Instructors for almost seventeen years and now I’m the Lead Trainer for the snowboard staff. I’m also on the education staff and I examine for AASI, American Association of Snowboard Instructors. I’m a lifer now. I’m in.

What are some of your favorite and least favorite things about teaching now?

Other people ask me why I don’t coach for Team Palisades Tahoe because of how much I like riding park. My answer’s kind of a stock answer: You’ll get the same kids all winter. As an Instructor, I get to meet someone different almost every day. This season, I worked with a guy who was on the Olympic Bobsled Team, a guy who plays Bridge professionally, and a veterinarian who does eye surgeries for dogs and cats. I like the insane gambit of people and types of people I meet.

I care so much about our training program and the staff here. This is a world-class resort and we’re one of the leaders in the United States, if not in the entire world. Our product matters to me. The quality of our Instructors is of paramount importance. If someone takes a lesson here, I want them to remember it as one of their best lessons. Accountability is important to me.

Many of Kara’s clients have invited her to ride all over the world. Here, she’s going heliskiing in Argentina.

What are some of the harder parts of your job?

When I’ve made a mistake and I am underdressed and hungry on a rainy day and my client brought a bar, a camelback, and a down jacket. Also, when they don’t get the Gold Coast park built until February. I like it when they build the Gold Coast Park for Christmas and give me a Christmas present. I’ll always support letting the Parks crew have free reign to do their thing!

Talk to us about what your workload looks like.

Right now, I’m training 1-2 days a week at Palisades. I also run trainings and clinics at different resorts. Sometimes, my schedule is all over the place, but I think that’s what it’s about once you reach a certain level. I’ve traveled and coached all over the world because of snowboarding. It’s been so fun to see how far snowboarding has taken me in the world and in adventures. There’s a reason I’m still doing this after 20 years…

What do you like about riding park?

It’s always an adventure. I’m 46 and I’m still trying to do new things. It presents really fun challenges and I don’t think there’s another place in the world where you can feel how a board slide makes you feel. It’s one of the best feelings in the whole world. You’re always chasing that crispy nose press to nollie out. It just feels so good that you want to do it again.

I noticed you’ve got the rainbow pin. Do you identify as queer?

Yep! I like to have a little representation. On my uniform, I’ve also got my rainbow belt and my rainbow nametag. Sometimes with my clients, I’ll maybe adjust to see if their eyes catch my rainbow belt. Kind of opens up some conversations. Especially with the teenagers. I’ve seen a kid go from quiet to telling me about their crushes at school and stuff. It’s cool to move them out of being guarded, so I like to have a couple of subtle invitations.

What challenges have you run into in your role in terms of feeling a sense of belonging?

Microaggressions, especially on the LGBTQIA2S+ side of things. It’s like that analogy, “Microaggressions are like being stung by mosquitos. Somebody might be stung twice a day, but somebody else gets stung a hundred times.” I think that’s the easiest way to explain it to somebody. You’re constantly having to hear conversations about stuff that you want to stand up for, but sometimes you’re tired of standing up.

I experience more macroaggressions from being a woman. I’ve had male clients in Advanced Lessons who expect that I’m not going to be able to keep up with them. So, we spend a lot of time with me proving my worth as a female. If I’ve already felt some “off” energies coming off of different clients, I’ll decide whether or not I have the strength to put up the fight that day to prove myself. The fact that that even comes across my plate is not cool.

There’s some skepticism when we’re out there training, coming from being in a male-dominated industry. I’m a little bit of a bulldog. I sometimes am quickly triggered by things, just because I’ve spent a career defending my worth. It’s tough but it’s also awesome. Being able to run these exams and freestyle clinics, both female-specific and not, things where I can represent women – being a badass who can teach people a lot – and be a woman. Freestyle is an avenue that you don’t find a lot of women in. It’s just fun to be even further into a niche group.

Kara’s take on Palisades Tahoe:

For a while there, we had a female head of Terrain Parks, we still have El, the woman heading Mountain Sports Ski School, and now Dee, our most recent President & COO. I look around and think, “This is cool. Women are given opportunities and are allowed to move up.”

I think that’s why I’m pretty proud of being the Lead Trainer. Just knowing that I’ve been given that kind of trust feels really good. Knowing that I’ve earned a spot and am given the support to be there.

I’m now going into a national team tryout for PSIA, Professional Ski Instructors of America, and I’ve had nothing but support and positivity coming from everybody at ski school- Robin, Julie, Dan, Sorren.

Where else can you find Kara?

In April, Kara will be going to Big Sky to compete for one of seven spots on PSIA. Collectively, 150 candidates are coming to compete from around the country.

You can also find Kara skating (on concrete) at local skate parks like the one in Truckee, especially on Tuesdays, which is Ladies Skate Night. You’ll see her saving her tank of gas by riding the TART or her bike around town as well.

Kara teaches ceramics classes at the Roundhouse maker space in Truckee, too.

This photo is one of Kara’s ceramic sculptures representing a rainstorm at night.