TARA DAKIDES

LEGENDARY INFO:

D.O.B.: 8/20/75
Home Mountain: Mammoth, CA
Stance: Regular

Before she-shredders had Misschief and Runway Films to call their own, a select group of ladies was picked to show their skills alongside the guys in snowboarding’s premier productions, and Tara Dakides was one of the chosen. First appearing in the High Voltage release 1999 and then moving on to Mack Dawg’s Amp and Stand and Deliver, Dakides routinely upstaged her male counterparts and solidified her place among the greats.

Tara’s onetime O-Matic partner Andreas Wiig, a Norseman who knows his snowboarding, raves that “Her video parts showed that she was way beyond any other girl at her time. She pushed girls’ snowboarding further than anyone else.” Wiig isn’t alone in his views—an entire industry of testosterone-addled skeptics was silenced when this video vixen’s parts premiered. Jeremy Jones may never have stomped a switch backside rodeo or appeared on an X Games start sheet, but he still kept an eye on Tara’s takeover: “The fact that she is one of the only girls to infiltrate MDP’s lineup says it all—this girl can hang.”

In addition to her core resume, the three-time SNOWBOARDER Magazine Women’s Rider of the Year also made a name for herself on national TV by earning eight ESPN X Games medals. There was also Tara’s mishap on the Late Night with David Letterman set, which not only made her wildly famous within the mainstream, but infamous as well!

From jumping to jibbing, Dakides did it all, inspiring a new crop of girls determined to follow in her footsteps. Perhaps more importantly, though, Tara helped to define the image of female snowboarding, making it less about being a piece of ass and more about being a badass. This is why nobody gave her grief when she showed a little T&A for FHM and placed ninetieth on their 2004 100 Sexiest Women list. In other words, she could back that thang up.

Coming up in Tara’s wake, SNOWBOARDER’s 2005 Women’s Rider of the Year Priscilla Levac fed off her fire. “She just exploded, stomping huge backside rodeos and winning every contest she entered. I have never seen any girl with such big balls.” Which leaves us thinking that maybe we put Tara in the wrong list… Where is that FHM again?