Winter Park, USA
The Winter Park course is an amazing opportunity for participants to ski in one of the best areas with excellent one on one instruction so you can progress at your own speed. The course is open to 1st time paraplegic and incomplete or low-level tetraplegics skiers. This course consists of 10 spinal cord injured skiers and 6 buddies, with the course running for 12 days, including 8 full days of skiing.
“I haven’t had so much fun in ages.
The freedom I felt from leaving my chair at the bottom of the slopes
was amazing. Just as fun if not more than skiing before my accident.” Tim,
L1, aged 23
For Further details contact Ally on
020 8875 1805 or email
Winter Park Life
by Martin McNeil
I was injured as a result of a motorcycle road traffic accident in February 2004, one week after I had returned from my 14th ski holiday in France. Skiing was our family holiday and my wife Lorraine, the 3 kids and I looked forward to it every year but I thought that that part of our family life had ended when I became a T2 paraplegic. I had heard of sit skiing but assumed that it was a sport reserved for low level paras and those who had at least a modicum of balance and trunk control and not something I could ever do. I could just picture myself on a ski trip, confined to the gentlest of nursery slopes for the duration, not making any progress and becoming so frustrated that I made everyone else’s trip a misery. Anyway, I couldn’t go skiing. Ski resorts aren’t geared up for wheelchair users. How would I get around? There’s snow everywhere!
It was on a Back-Up Multi Activity Course in Keswick that I met Jane Sowerby, a then rising star in the British Disabled Ski Team. Jane is an inspirational character who painted an entirely different picture of sit skiing. She told me all about Back-Up Ski Courses, where you can go, where you stay, what support you get and what realistically is achievable. She stirred me into applying for the Winter Park course with a view to going independently with family and friends if the trip proved successful. My application was accepted and Feb 11th 2008 found me at Heathrow Airport, Denver bound, with a big bag of ski gear and a bigger bag of worries. Ten hours later I was in the US of A having left a lot of my concerns on the plane. Flying long haul proved less of a dilemma that I had imagined.
Day one in Winter Park found me and my other 9 compadres being fitted to various adapted skis ranging from upright supports through mono skis to bi skis. To be truthful there was a fair amount of sitting about on day one but even that was quite welcome as it gave an opportunity to recover from the flight and at least partially acclimatise to the high altitude. On day 2 the real action began! After being paired with one of the experienced volunteer instructors I made my first attempt at sit skiing. I have to admit that my previous ski experience counted for very little. I was hopeless. No matter how hard I tried I simply couldn’t do it and that remained the story of the first three days. Me perfecting my low speed topple and becoming more and more frustrated. Everyone kept telling me “oh you’ll find it will just click” but I must say I didn’t believe them. On the morning of day four however, click it did, and from then on I never looked back. I made steady progress over the rest of the trip and was able to venture further up the slopes. It was so good to be “back up“ a mountain again, in the sunshine with few others about, and only the gentle scrunch of the snow beneath your ski for sound (oh, and the shouts of “Awesome Man “ from the instructor following a particularly smooth turn!) The feelings of the wind in your face and the smug satisfaction of passing able-bodied skiers and boarders are truly without compare.
I returned from Winter Park full of enthusiasm for my new sport and satisfied that an independent trip with family and friends is certainly achievable. In fact my next trip (to Canada) has already been booked! All my concerns regarding accommodation, about accessibility of the resort, even about intimate matters proved unfounded. Back-Up’s choice of venue, the professionalism and knowledge of the group leaders and Winter Park’s superb instructors made for a very enjoyable course.
Would I recommend a Back-Up ski course to anyone else? Of course, not only because you can learn to ski, there is so much more to it than that. A Back-Up ski course, like any other Back-Up course, is about making new friends, learning new skills and having fun but fundamental to this it’s about challenging yourself and pushing past your perceived limits. After all, they are only perceived!
Courses:
Combloux, France
Åre Sweden
Winter Park