Remember when you just started skiing and you could have sworn the trail with the blue square looked like Everest? Remember you gulped once or twice, said if they can do it than I can do it, and you got to the bottom. Now think about skiing that trail blind folded, or on one ski, or strapped in a bi-ski tethered to somebody you just met. Maybe you want to reconsider what is challenging.

When you go beyond what the world thinks the limits of your physical ability are, then you are mastering challenges. When people with disabilities want to go skiing, of course it’s a challenge, but they have been facing and overcoming personal challenges as long as they have lived with their disability. All they need is ski equipment adapted to provide as much control as they can have on the snow, qualified instructors and a few gifted volunteers to help fit them up. Well, the gear is high tech and evolving all the time, instructors are PSIA certified and many resorts across the country and around the world host organizations that have trained volunteers ready to man all sorts of adaptive skiing programs.

One of these organizations is Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports (VASS). VASS runs winter sports programs at Pico Mountain and Sugarbush Mountain Resort in Vermont. The organization has instructors and volunteers trained to offer instruction in sit down skiing, three and four point skiing, and has guides for blind skiing. I recently met with Erin Fernandez, Executive Director of VASS and Erin explained the whole adaptive winter sports program and then offered me a close look at the adaptive skiing program. By close I mean close to the snow, in a bi-ski tethered to someone I just met!

Read a little more about programs for skiers with disabilities and check out the photo gallery of me learning to sit ski. Then take a minute and make a contribution to one of the adaptive organizations that may be near you.

_{Image © Mike Doyle}