Adaptive skiing

[landrover]

It?s mid-June, perfect time to talk about adaptive skiing. I was an avid skier pre-injury, and couldn?t yet convince myself to try adaptive skiing, 1) because I hate the cold, and 2) at my level, I?d be completely dependent on someone else for control. Yet, it is still on my bucket list. So I have a couple of questions.

1). Are typical ski pants worn? Just wondering how easy they?d be to get on/off.
2). I wear a leg bag with condom cath...wondering if there?d be drainage issues.
3). I?m 6?4?. Would my knees be up in my throat
4). Any issues with weight shifts/pressure sores?
5). Falling. I have weak bones, which I rather not break by a hard fall.

[baldfatdad]

If you had weak bones and still walked do you think you'd break them? Call some of the adaptive ski areas and they can fill you in of clothes, etc. Breckenridge is one of the oldest, the one in Park city has some good reviews from people I know. I'd stay out of the northeast and midwest ski areas. Form what I remember they are like ice skating rinks.

[NW-Will]

What level are you?
I'm T4 have done it with different programmes and they've been excellent. Watched folks from all levels get out on the slopes. The folks that run these programmes are amazing.

I wore my old snowboard pants, and my old snowboard boots worked perfectly. Snow pants take a little practice to get on IMHO, just as mine were so slick.
Wore a foley and leg bag, again worked perfectly. Pee'd before I hit the slope and when I came off.
Surprisingly things were not as cold, I was super paranoid about getting crazy cold, turned out to be just fine. Wrap up in layers.
I never got good enough to be independent, wasn't really my aim. I needed assistance getting upright after going down, and assistance getting on the lift, but I could go tether free down the slopes. I was never that great on the slopes before my injury. That said, I've seen a dozen folks be totally independent, freaking amazing in my book.
Never had any pressure sores, the bucket seats seemed to work really well, and the folks helping always had extra foam and duct tape to improvise extra padding where necessary.

Weak bones... talk to your doctor? and the folks running the program. I had a bone scan. have you had any history of bone breakage since your injury?

I had to be dragged back onto the slopes. After doing it.. I encourage everyone to get up there, even if you never skied or snowboarded. Never heard of anyone having a bad time, everyone has a great time.

Good luck.

[WheelDon]

Anybody can do this, but if you were an avid skier before injury, you should definitely try it now. In my opinion this is one of the few sports where we can get the same thrill and sense of accomplishment that we had preinjury.