Mountains to Marshes challenges everyone to come out and play

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Mountains to Marshes challenges everyone to come out and play



Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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MOUNTAINS TO MARSHES, PART 1




MOUNTAINS TO MARSHES, PART 1
WHEN: Today through Monday

WHERE: Bretton Woods Nordic Center, Bretton Woods, N.H.

WHAT ELSE: For information, call 878-3616 or go to http://www.nepass- age.org/Mountains2marshes/3notchm2m.html



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Jeff Pagels, a Paralympian from Ashwaubenon, Wis., was the first person in a wheelchair to get to the top of Mount Whitney and the first one to summit 9,000-foot Mount Galdopiggen in Norway.

But his achievements were not so much a quest as a calling.

"I'd rather think that I'm opening up opportunities to get outside," Pagels said. "Outdoors is a very strong medicine. It's free. It makes people healthier mentally, physically and socially."

Pagels was the keynote speaker who launched Northeast Passage's three-season outdoor adventure series for people with disabilities on Saturday in Bretton Woods, N.H.

Northeast Passage, a nonprofit organization based in Durham, N.H., leads outdoor adventures for people with disabilities throughout Maine. It explores, invents and encourages "innovative barrier-free recreation."

Its Mountains to Marshes Challenge is a three-part accessible outdoor adventure series for people with disabilities and their families and friends. The first part of the challenge is this weekend's Nordic skiing adventure in Bretton Woods, N.H.

The second adventure will take place June 23 and 24 off the coast of Old Orchard Beach, where participants will kayak. The third part will be a cycle trip across the White Mountain's notches in September.

Participants are required to raise $1,000 for Northeast Passage through pledges or donations.

Jill Gravink, who founded the organization in 1990, grew up in western New York helping cousins who were disabled climb trees and go fishing.

When she became a therapeutic trainer, helping people with disabilities find ways into the outdoors was second nature.

"I started Northeast Passage because there was a gap in service with what people were getting in rehab and what they needed to be truly independent," Gravink said. "I felt if we could create a program, we could fill a lot of those holes."


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