The temperature dips to a cool minus five degrees and the snow has begun to fall. Big, fat, fluffy flakes that mean one thing to the diehard skier: powder! This scenario brings on a Pavlovian-type response to most snow enthusiasts; the urge to get out on the mountain and shred. This has been my way of life for over 20 years; so, when faced with my diminishing muscle strength due to ALS, I was saddened to find out my trusty legs would not take me down the mountain anymore.

After being truly inspired by the new film, Freedom Chair, about sit-skier Josh Dueck, I began to check out my options and found a growing number of ski areas offering adaptive skiing. I happened to be in Whistler over Christmas holidays so I gave sit-skiing a try. The Live It – Love It Foundation set up and funded my lesson day, which was amazing.

Well… Josh makes it look pretty easy. I quickly learned that the only way to control your speed on a sit-ski is to carve or glide a turn. No snow-plowing, no easing into things. Luckily I had my two charming and very helpful instructors, Jason and Thomas, to hold me up and slow me down. I managed a few good turns on each run and it was fun to get back out there with a cool wind on my face. As it was during the busy Christmas season, the bunny hill was crowded and I probably freaked many of the beginners out as I zoomed around them doing big GS turns. It will probably take 2-3 more lesson days before anyone will set me loose on the sit-ski but I now have something new to work towards.

A big thank you goes out to Live It – Love It and the Whistler Adaptive Skiing program, thanks for getting me back out there!