It was opening day at Park City Mountain. After a few runs at PCM, I headed to Canyons side to meet up with some friends who were riding over there. We spent the afternoon lapping Kokopelli and decided to take the gondola back down to Umbrella Bar. My friends got on, but I was too slow getting my skis loaded, so I had no choice but to take the next one.
There was an older guy sitting inside when I hopped in and he immediately started chatting me up, asking how long I’ve lived here, what I do for a living, that kind of thing. I mentioned I was a freelance writer and do a column for the Park Record called “Betty Diaries.”
“Helloooo, Betty!” he replied, low and slow.
Kinda creepy, I thought, but I laughed because he seemed to get a big kick out of it.
“Oh, my name isn’t Betty. Betty is slang for a female skier or snowboarder, so I thought it would be a cool name for my column about living in a ski town,” I said.
“Well, then, you should know where the slang really came from,” he mansplained. “It was an old TV commercial for toothpaste or something. Two guys are on a chairlift and a good-looking woman skis by under them and one of them goes, Hellooooo, Betty! You can google it,” he said.
“Hmm, I had no idea,” I muttered, looking out the window.
Back in 2001, I became part of a women’s cycling group in Rochester, N.Y., called The Bettys. The founder of the group, Kelly Likly’s husband, owned the local bike shop we rode out of. He no doubt wanted to attract more women to the sport — and his shop. Kelly came up with the name. She told us that she and a friend had used “Betty 1” and “Betty 2” as radio handles when they skied in the backcountry out west. It was definitely fitting for our group, most of whom were avid skiers as well as cyclists.
At that time, the women-focused cycling brand Terry Bicycles was headquartered in Rochester. A couple of our members worked in marketing for the brand. Terry seized on the Betty idea and did a special catalog issue featuring our group and encouraging other women to form their own “girls only” Betty rides. Nothing against the guys, who we called “Barneys,” but it was awesome to feel the power of a peloton of women in matching Terry jerseys taking the lane during a group ride.
Being a part of The Bettys was always about much more than cycling and skiing — although we did plenty of both. The thing is, when you spend time outside with a bunch of cool chicks, you end up with a lot more than endorphins. You get a crew you can laugh and cry with, to set the world — or some random pine tree — on fire. (Don’t worry, we put it out!) You get a posse to lift you up while always pushing you forward.
In our two decades of friendship, we’ve inspired each other to stop smoking, start mountain biking, compete in our first triathlon, ski our first pow run, bike across Iowa. Heck, one of us even did Leadville.
We always said to be a Betty, all you had to do was show up. We showed up for each other through marriages and breakups, injuries and recoveries, births and deaths, losses and so many wins. We drank wine out of our bottle cage and ate Betty Crocker buttercream straight out of the can.
Moving to Park City, I was sad to leave my OG Bettys. After a while, I found a similar sisterhood in the Team Sugar mountain biking squad. Friends have told me there’s even a local Team Betty. But though I’m 3,000 miles away, I’ll always be part of The Bettys in Rochester. Family is forever.
Back home after my Canyons gondy ride, I googled “hello, Betty.” The first hit was from the Urban Dictionary. There, “hello betty” is defined as “the flab that hangs from the tricep of overweight post-menopausal women.” WTF.
Thankfully, there was more. Turns out the gondy dude may have been partially right. I found a few links about a Dentyne gum commercial where a guy sees a pretty girl, pops in a piece of Dentyne and goes, “Hello, Betty!”
According to the New Zealand bettyzine.com, being a Betty is “being part of a sisterhood of female surfers in the lineup, whether you know the other lady sliders or not.”
But the actual origins of “Betty” as slang for a female skier, skater, surfer or rider are somewhat murky. Some say it came from the 30s pinup girl Betty Grable, or the ’50s pinup Bettie Page. Some say it came from the Archie comics’ Betty or Betty Rubble from the cartoon series “The Flintstones.” Pretty much everyone agrees that it stands for a woman who is strong, independent — a total badass.
For me, the term Betty will always stand for something you won’t find on Google. It’s the feeling of comaraderie and female friendship that transcends time zones and comfort zones. And knowing that, even if you’re alone, you are never alone. Hello, Betty.