Wheelchair Ride Yesterday

[swalker]

Yesterday I had the chance to take the new-to-me Permobil F5 wheelchair on Vail mountain and go for an extended ride.

The ride was wonderful. I boarded Gondola One (one of two that run during the summer). I started later than expected because I had a really hard day on Friday so slept in quite late. The weather was wonderful.

I saw several folks I know on the ride and ran into quite a few new folks. The scenery was simply spectacular!

Here are a couple of pictures to show you what I was able to experience.

Steve

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Fantastic! Did you swap out the wheels? I’m surprised a non-4wd chair could handle that, but then you’re amazing!

 

[swalker]

Karen,

This F5 came with Permobil mud and snow tires. They are pretty agressive and I have quite a bit of experience using them on my C500 wheelchairs.

About a week ago we found out something surprising. The locking plate on the bottom of the wheelchair is not an EZ Lock one. It is a Q
Straint one. In fact, it is the Q'Straint version that is intended only to engage the EZ Lock base when moving forward into it. I don't do that, I go backwards.

The plate that came with my wheelchair has not only the bolt sticking down that engages with the locking base, it also has two big knobs toward the rear that apparently nestle to either side of the Q'Straint base in the van and keep the wheelchair from pivoting.

We removed those knobs, which gave the wheelchair much more ground clearance. It made a huge difference! The wheelchair is now easy to position so that it engages the locking base.

We also have the shortest bolt that will work installed in the locking plate so the bolt does not stick down any further than necessary.

The wheelchair is capable of going over some pretty rough terrain, but must be driven a bit like a low-slung sports car on a four wheel drive road. That is, it is necessary to orient the chair so that obstructions pass between the wheel and the Q'Straint bolt. Doing so has become second nature to me.

This works great for moderate terrain, but certainly has its limits. The wheelchair was a joy to ride on the trails, because it has a better suspension than the C500. I am liking the F5 a lot.

Steve

 

[KimT]

Beautiful pictures, Steve. I think I'd be happy just to ride on the gondola!

You really should be a PWC dealer. You know more than anyone about these contraptions.

Happy trails!

 

[mpnatx]

Gorgeous! Brings back memories. I used to ski all of them!