GRAVITY DAMES BY SHANTI SOSIENSKI In the air, on land and sea, we found four action-sports babes whose skill is matched only by their beauty. Think you can keep up with them? SNOW BIRD [ CHARLOTTE MOATS | PROFESSIONAL FREESKIER ] As you can see, there’s nothing chilly about Vermont native Charlotte Moats, even though she spends more time on skis in a month than most of us will in a lifetime. And she’s no single-diamond bunny, either. Having won events like the 24 Hours of Aspen, where she skied 74 top-to-bottom runs in a day, and the New Zealand Heli-Challenge, which entailed being dropped onto a rocky mountain peak and racing 15 other women to the base, Moats has established herself as one of the best big-mountain skiers in the world. The secret to her success? Balance. “When you’re hiking up icy, windy ridges in plastic ski boots with 1,000-foot cliffs off either side, you really don’t want to slip,” she explains. To keep her body fit so she can duck a rope, drop a cliff and outrun ski patrol, Moats trains three hours a day, 5–6 days a week, for three months in the late summer and autumn, mostly with exercise balls and medicine balls. “I spend a lot of time in a state of almost falling over, twisting around and catching things,” she says. It’s working — the only people falling over these days are the drop-jawed guys trying to keep up with her on the slopes. CHARLOTTE MOATS AGE 23 RESIDENCE Jackson Hole, Wyoming OCCUPATION Professional freeskier SPECS 5'6", 135 pounds TIDAL BABE [ HOLLY BECK | PROFESSIONAL SURFER ] The path to becoming a female pro surfer isn’t an easy one. At 15, Holly Beck used to grab her board and sneak out of the house early in the morning so she wouldn’t get scolded for being a tomboy. “My mum was old-fashioned and thought I should take dance lessons over playing football, and I could forget about surfing,” Beck says. That didn’t stop her — by 18, she was making a name for herself on the World Qualifying Series surfing tour, attracting sponsors like Body Glove and Freestyle, and travelling around the globe for surf stories in magazines. While Beck has surfed some of the biggest waves in the world — and has even tried tow-in surfing, in which surfers are literally dragged into giant waves — she says the toughest challenge isn’t charging a new break, but staying in shape for it. “I have a really short attention span when it comes to working out, and because I can’t necessarily get to a gym, I try to come up with things that are fun that I can do anywhere,” she explains. When home, Beck uses an Indo Board every day to perform core exercises like squats. You can also find her running on the sand in Palos Verdes, a workout she says keeps her body tanned and toned year-round. From the looks of it, she’s telling the truth. HOLLY BECK AGE 22 RESIDENCE Palos Verdes, California OCCUPATION Professional surfer SPECS 5'8", 130 pounds SKY SIREN [ JULIE GILBERT | PROFESSIONAL KITEBOARDER ] “When I started kiteboarding I was a little bit frumpy, but I lost like 20 pounds because it’s such a challenging sport,” says the super-ripped and eternally tanned Julie Gilbert. Gilbert, who won the kiteboarding world championship in 2001, holds the record for the longest hangtime: 6.48 seconds at the Red Bull King of Air. “It may not sound like a lot, but when you count it out, it’s a pretty long time in the air!” For those unfamiliar with the sport, imagine wakeboarding meets parasailing on rivers and in the ocean. Add a lot of wind and water space and you have a totally aggro sport in which girls like Gilbert perform acrobatic moves 10–20 feet in the air at speeds of 20 mph. It’s dangerous, which Gilbert learned the hard way when she tore her ACL a few years ago. “I really work out my legs a lot now because without an ACL, you need to be able to brace yourself better if you fall wrong,” she says. Gilbert uses a stationary bike and a serious free-weight routine to strengthen muscles that aren’t used in kitesurfing and to build her core strength. “I listen to my body a lot,” she notes. “If I feel like I need a break, I just take it.” That doesn’t mean you need to take a break from looking at her just yet. JULIE GILBERT AGE 32 RESIDENCE Maui, Hawaii OCCUPATION Professional kiteboarder SPECS 5'7", 125 pounds DOWNHILL DIVA [ APRIL LAWYER | PROFESSIONAL MOUNTAIN BIKER ] April Lawyer is a speed demon. If a sport involves going downhill and catching air, she’s in. After five years as a pro snowboarder, she discovered mountain biking in the late ’90s during a summer job at a bike shop in Big Bear, California. She was hooked. “It was weird going from being on the top of the heap in snowboarding to really sucking in downhill mountain biking, but I was determined to prove that I could do it,” Lawyer says. And she has, tearing up the mountain bike circuit and obtaining sponsorships from Puma, Maxxis Tires and others. Lawyer is quick to point out that it takes more than just daily rides to keep her body tuned for races. From October to May, she works out twice a day, six days a week. “The most important thing is that I do something different every week,” she states. She hits weights three times a week, takes long road rides twice a week and spends two days riding at a BMX track. On top of that, she’ll squeeze in some motocross or surfing. Then, as the competition season gets closer, she adds in a lot of mountain biking. “With downhill mountain biking, you don’t have to be the fastest rider — the key is being able to take risks,” Lawyer says. As far as we can tell, any risk involving this gal is well worth it. APRIL LAWYER AGE 27 RESIDENCE Temecula, California OCCUPATION Professional mountain biker SPECS 5'5", 125 pounds M&F

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