Kim Petersen’s name is among the legendary women who skated vert, bowl and pool competitively in the early 2000s, helping to validate women in this arena and establish a community. Kim grew up in a small town called Dewitt, Iowa, west of the Mississippi River, and had an athletic background in competitive gymnastics. In an interview for Juice magazine, Kim said that he first time she tried skateboarding was as a little kid. “My mom had a little wooden banana board, and I can remember pushing around on it when I was a kid” (Ament).
When the family moved to York, Pennsylvania in the late 1980s, “I discovered that some kids in my new neighborhood had a backyard mini ramp. They would skate and we’d hang out in their little clubhouse and listen to music… I tried launching off a jump ramp in the driveway, the guys laughed, and I kind blew it. I didn’t believe I could get on a skateboard and rip. That confidence was a few years down the road” (Ament).
Above: photo by Andy Kemmis from Juice mag interview
Kim began snowboarding after high school, moving to Washington, DC and then in 1995 she headed to Montana to embrace mountain life and college. “The truth is, snowboarding gave me the confidence to get on a skateboard and really try. My best friend wanted to learn too, so it was on. Finally, I discovered the idea of girl power. It made learning less scary. Less intimidating” (Ament). To make her way around her college campus, Kim naturally chose to skateboard. She also had access to a 6-foot mini ramp in a skate shop and started to learn the basics of transition, although Kim opted not to give the shop a shout out because “the shop owner told me I was lame for trying to learn how to skate and that I’d never get anywhere as a girl.” Fortunately, this comment only motivated her to prove him wrong.
Above: Photos from Juice magazine interview by Olga Aguilar and Andy Kemmis
Kim was able to skate concrete parks by traveling to Seattle and then Burnside and Orcas Island during a Westcoast roadtrip, as well as Colorado and even an overseas exchange in New Zealand. Her first contest was in the summer of 1999 in Missoula, Montana against the guys, the year Kim graduated from college and then moved to Washington. In Juice magazine, Kim recalled meeting Jessica Starkweather shortly after and acknowledged her influence. “She stoked me out because she put the pedal to the metal. Full speed attack mode was the standard and I found the confidence to step on the gas.”
With her background in gymnastics, Kim had been a coach during college and then translated her skillset by landing “a coaching job at Woodward Camp in Pennsylvania during the summers of 1997-2000. I worked with gymnasts all day and then skated at night” (Ament). It was at Woodward that Kim first witnessed a female skater on vert, which was Jen O’Brien performing a demo with Bob Burnquist. “I skated the wooden bowl with Rebecca, Bob’s sister, and some really nice girls. That session was incredibly inspiring. I always remember campers like Alexis Sablone and Lyn-Z Adams, who were little kids at the time, already ripping beyond most kids their age.”
Photo: Kim and Cara-beth!
In an interview by Sasha La Rochelle for RealSkate.com, Kim explained that it was thanks to professional skaters, Cara-beth Burnside, Jen O’Brien and Jodi McDonald, that she decided to step up her skateboarding game after seeing their photos in magazines, thinking to herself, “I can do that too.” There was also an article in Punk Planet (May/June 1998, Issue 25) called “Not just boys’ fun anymore: the growing girls’ revolution in skateboarding” by Dan Sinker, that really impacted Kim. She was blown away that women were blasting air on a skateboard, and it helped Kim believe that it was possible for her to progress as well.
Kim had been a sponsored snowboarder for Burton but was less interested in the competitive circuit. Skateboarding turned out to be a bit different, since contests could be a great social outlet. Kim shared how “one day Jodi McDonald came to the Butter Bowl. Jessica Starkweather, Nicole Zuck, and I were skating and having a little session, when Jodi rolled up. She was like, ‘I’m going to Slam City Jam to do this vert contest. You girls are coming. You have to enter. We’re doing this thing.’ When Jodi summons, you say yes!” (Ament).
Slam City Jam in Vancouver had first offered a girls’ street contest in 1998 and then extended the invite to female vert skaters in 1999, which was won by Jen O’Brien, and involved mainly local skaters attempting to skate vert for the first time. Kim entered the following year, in 2000 when Jodi McDonald came 2nd behind Candy Hiler-Kramer who won the event. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was a blast. We showed up, three girls from Washington and Oregon, and we entered the contest and competed against the best women in the world. It was an open door. Jodi gave me tips on backside airs, which I learned during practice session. I may not have wowed the judges, but I walked away from that experience with so much momentum” (Ament).
By 2003, Kim was being featured in the female-focused skateboard magazine Check it Out (Issue #14) in an article by Emile Janicot. It was noted that, “Kim is part of a new breed of female skaters. Fast, aggressive, and unafraid. She has a powerful style, and is willing to take a hit. She recently placed third at the Strawberry Bowl Bash contest in Northern California, and placed third at the Basic Bowl contest in Southern California. She toured the west Coast extensively, skating and sleeping in her car, just for the thrill of riding a new spot… Kim continues to progress in skating, and rest assured she will be ripping for many years to come.”
At the 6th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Bowl Jam (2004) in Scotts Valley, the organizers offered a category for women to compete for the first time and Kim placed 3rd behind Heidi Fitzgerald and David Everly, which included a fine trophy.
Photos: RealSkate.com circa 2004/2005
In 2005, Kim had her best year in terms of the World Cup Rankings, positioned in 1st place for women’s Bowl ahead of Zuck, Starkweather, Mandy Esch, Melissa Dafnos, and Heidi Fitzgerald. In 2003, she was 8th overall, in 2004, she was 3rd overall, and in 2006 she was still in the Top Ten with a 7th overall. Kim was also included in a game-changing documentary by Susanne Tabata called Skate Girl, and there’s a YouTube video from 2007 featuring Kim:
Kim returned to Missoula where she became involved with the local Skatepark Association fundraising for new parks. Kim recalled that her nickname “Krusher” was solidified during the grand opening of the Missoula park when Tony Hawk’s Mystery Skatepark Tour provided a demo. “Mimi Knoop and Cara-Beth Burnside were out for that event, so we skated in the demo. Mimi went up to Jason Ellis, who was announcing, and said, ‘That’s the Krusher. She’s the local ripper.’ He blew it up on the mic and, to this day, people say, ‘You’re that Krusher girl.’ I actually acquired that nickname in Cali when I had an epic collision where I took another guy down” (Ament).
Kim’s first skateboarding sponsor was a shop called “Board of Missoula Brand,” (B.O.M.B.) who released Kim’s pro model designed by Olivia Britz in 2008, followed by Adrenalin skateboards, and now she has a pro model with Montana Pool Service.
Above: photos circa 2009 / 2010 many of which appeared in Earth Patrol
Above: photos circa 2011-2015, several of which appeared in Earth Patrol
Kim’s teaching career also took off in Missoula, since she had been involved with Outdoor Education before entering “an elementary school that was independent and connected to the outdoors… I took my students to the skatepark, on bike rides, and lots of hikes.” Kim celebrated how Missoula established an organization in 2010 called Girls on Shred, hosting workshops in both skateboarding and snowboarding around Western Montana for girls and non-binary youth. Kim said the organization “was started by a lovely woman named Danielle Barrow who passed it on to its current director, Samantha Veysey Gibbons of Board of Missoula,” and her friend Cressey Rice is also involved.
Here’s a video of Kim competing in the Master’s division at the Vans Combi Bowl contest in 2013 by Lisa Whitaker for her Girls Skate Network website:
In 2020, Kim was working on her graduate degree in Arts Education, teaching full-time at Sussex School, continuing her work with Girls on Shred and extending the invitation to Indigenous youth in her region. In 2022, she even competed at Exposure, placing third in the “Bowl Golden – 30 and Up” category. Follow Kim on Instagram here @krusherkp.
Above: Kim at Exposure 2022
Photos: Andy Kemmis, Dan Hughes, Kate Davis Olga Aguilar, Patty Segovia
References:
- Ament, Jeff and Jim Murphy. “Kim Petersen Interview,” Juice Magazine 77 (November 10, 2020).
- Janicot, Emile. “Kim Petersen,” Check it Out 14 (2002/2003), 7.
- La Rochelle, Sasha. “Kim Petersen,” RealSkate.com. 2002.
Womxn Skateboard History 