swalker
Very helpful member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,580
- Reason
- DX MND
- Diagnosis
- 07/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- CO
- City
- Vail
As I had posted in another thread, Wednesday was my first day of skiing this season. It was wonderful.
I took the X4 four wheel drive wheelchair to the bus stop, loaded it onto the bus, and rode the bus downtown where I unloaded. Loading and unloading were exciting, as the X4 has a turning radius of 52 inches. Try that inside a crowded bus! Nobody was hurt by my antics
, though..
My wife joined me there (she took a later bus) and we walked/wheeled from the Vail transportation center to the Golden Peak base area, where the adaptive ski program is located.
We checked in with the adaptive ski program and everything was all set for us. Jim and Amanda (same instructors we used last season) took us to the shed where the adaptive equipment is located and fitted me into a new biski! It was great. It is the same model as I used last season, but is new, in better shape, and has a much more comfortable seat with a bit more trunk support.
It took about an hour to get me fitted. I then transferred to my X4 and rode it up a ramp to the snow where I transferred back into the waiting biski.
We left my wife there, as she is banned from skiing for another month due to her broken wrist. Jim, Amanda, and I boarded the RivaBahn lift and we were off.
We had a blast. How can I describe how wonderful it was. They are great folks and very capable adaptive ski instructors. We skied Ramshorn (blue), Avanti (black) Pickaroon (black), Berries (black), Lodgepole (blue) columbine (blue), and Picaroon and Columbine again. We made our way down the mountain on the top part of International (black) and then Beartree (blue).
We skied fast. Very Fast. Certainly faster than most casual recreational skiers. Next time I will have to remember to turn on my phone's tracking program and see just what our maximum speed is.
It was relatively warm (about freezing) with a bit of overcast. The lighting was flat which made it harder to see bumps in the snow, though.
The views were amazing, as always. I never tire of mountain scenery and am particularly fond of the views from the Vail ski area. I have so many great memories on that mountain.
One exhilarating moment was on Lodgepole. A road crosses that run and on the downhill side of the road is a drop. On real skies I have caught pretty big air coming off that road many times. I lined up the biski anticipating that we would not get any air. But, we got quite a bit. It was a magical moment. The new biski landed the jump perfectly, with the shock absorber really taking up the hit for me. I was ready to do it a dozen more times. Jim suggested we should not do that again, because he has seen a biski explode when landing a jump like that.
I guess no exploding biskis for me.
Jim and Amanda took a few pictures for me, but I don't have them yet. I will add them to this thread when they arrive.
It was a great morning of skiing and I really look forward to the next outing. We went for a half day, which turned out to be about 2 hours of time actually on the mountain. It really wore me out. I spent all day yesterday recovering.
I can tell that I am weaker than when I last skied at the end of last season. I knew I was and was not disappointed by my observation. However, it was a reality check that this stuff really does progress.
I am really looking forward to the next outing. Perhaps next time we will go faster and do more runs
Steve
I took the X4 four wheel drive wheelchair to the bus stop, loaded it onto the bus, and rode the bus downtown where I unloaded. Loading and unloading were exciting, as the X4 has a turning radius of 52 inches. Try that inside a crowded bus! Nobody was hurt by my antics
, though..My wife joined me there (she took a later bus) and we walked/wheeled from the Vail transportation center to the Golden Peak base area, where the adaptive ski program is located.
We checked in with the adaptive ski program and everything was all set for us. Jim and Amanda (same instructors we used last season) took us to the shed where the adaptive equipment is located and fitted me into a new biski! It was great. It is the same model as I used last season, but is new, in better shape, and has a much more comfortable seat with a bit more trunk support.
It took about an hour to get me fitted. I then transferred to my X4 and rode it up a ramp to the snow where I transferred back into the waiting biski.
We left my wife there, as she is banned from skiing for another month due to her broken wrist. Jim, Amanda, and I boarded the RivaBahn lift and we were off.
We had a blast. How can I describe how wonderful it was. They are great folks and very capable adaptive ski instructors. We skied Ramshorn (blue), Avanti (black) Pickaroon (black), Berries (black), Lodgepole (blue) columbine (blue), and Picaroon and Columbine again. We made our way down the mountain on the top part of International (black) and then Beartree (blue).
We skied fast. Very Fast
. Certainly faster than most casual recreational skiers. Next time I will have to remember to turn on my phone's tracking program and see just what our maximum speed is.It was relatively warm (about freezing) with a bit of overcast. The lighting was flat which made it harder to see bumps in the snow, though.
The views were amazing, as always. I never tire of mountain scenery and am particularly fond of the views from the Vail ski area. I have so many great memories on that mountain.
One exhilarating moment was on Lodgepole. A road crosses that run and on the downhill side of the road is a drop. On real skies I have caught pretty big air coming off that road many times. I lined up the biski anticipating that we would not get any air. But, we got quite a bit. It was a magical moment. The new biski landed the jump perfectly, with the shock absorber really taking up the hit for me. I was ready to do it a dozen more times. Jim suggested we should not do that again, because he has seen a biski explode when landing a jump like that.
I guess no exploding biskis for me
.Jim and Amanda took a few pictures for me, but I don't have them yet. I will add them to this thread when they arrive.
It was a great morning of skiing and I really look forward to the next outing. We went for a half day, which turned out to be about 2 hours of time actually on the mountain. It really wore me out. I spent all day yesterday recovering.
I can tell that I am weaker than when I last skied at the end of last season. I knew I was and was not disappointed by my observation. However, it was a reality check that this stuff really does progress.
I am really looking forward to the next outing. Perhaps next time we will go faster and do more runs
Steve
