SPORTS 'N SPOKES

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When the Snow Flies...

For people with mobility impairments, winter weather can be one of the most challenging environments to navigate. But it also provides many fun and invigorating sports and rec opportunities.

This special section includes two articles...

Ski School
by Matt Strugar-Fritsch

Most people with disabilities go to great lengths to avoid winter conditions, and when it snows they usually stay inside or migrate to a more moderate environment. Although getting to the mountain can be a great challenge, skiing on it can be one of life's great opportunities.

Today, with the use of specialized adaptive equipment, nearly anyone with any disability can access the slopes. However, this wasn't always the case. When the U.S.'s first adaptive ski school was created 41 years ago on the slopes of Donner Summit in northern California, a group of World War II veterans invented a way for single-leg amputees to ski . Over the next 11 years, adaptive ski technology and instructional programs advanced due to the influx of returning veterans with disabilities from the Vietnam War.

In 1978, the U.S.'s first downhill sit-ski, the Arroya, was invented by paraplegic Peter Axelson while he was a product-design and mechanical engineering student at Stanford University.

Robert Witherell (Fair Oaks, Calif.), a T6 paraplegic and Arroya owner, distinctly remembers the good, bad, and scary times he had with this ski.

"The Arroya was the first and only option for paraplegics and quadriplegics to get on top of the mountain and get the thrill of going downhill fast," he says. "It didn't matter what its strengths or limitations were, because it was the only thing available besides sliding down the hill on a garbage-can lid. It was the first creation in the evolutionary process of sit-down adaptive skiing, and it changed a lot of people's lives."

The next step in the evolution of adaptive snow skiing was the invention of the mono-ski, another Axelson creation. The mono-ski incorporates a linkage system and single shock absorber similar to the suspension on many motorcycles. This gives people who can't ski standing up, but who have excellent balance and coordination, the ability to independently ski everything from beginner to expert terrain. Participants use outriggers, which are a short type of Canadian crutch with ski tips on the end for balance, timing, and basic control movements.


Specialized equipment transitioned to the bi-ski and the dual ski (which bridges the gap between the mono-ski and the bi-ski). The author also looks at adaptive cross-country skiing.



Conquering the Slopes
by Phil DeMeo

Every afternoon, strength and conditioning exercises are followed by a multitude of balance drills. Exercises that pinpoint the back and upper-body muscles come first, followed by push-ups, sit-ups, and medicine-ball repetitions. Next, carefully planned movements on the physio ball strengthen the core and improve stability. Finally, sets of simulated ski movements and training techniques conclude the workout.

Sylvie Fadrhonc, like any other athlete, trains with a purpose, and her mind is set on achieving her goals and fulfilling her aspirations. Yet, her fearlessness and determination set her apart. After surviving a near-fatal car crash that left her paralyzed below the waist and enduring a grueling rehabilitation, the easygoing and friendly Fadrhonc is prepared for any challenge. That is why, on a beautiful, crisp afternoon in Telluride, Colo., after a day of work at her full-time job, she pushes through another workout. With a promising ski career ahead of her and a series of trying obstacles behind her, Fadrhonc is focused on making it to the starting gate in Vancouver, the site of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.


Read more about Sylvie who, just four months after the auto accident and with intensive rehabilitation at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., found herself back on the slopes.

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