This weekend I discovered a new hobby/sport/pastime: adaptive skiing. That’s right, Little Dinz is now a skier. As I wrote a few months ago, I skied once before in my able-bodied past, and it was a terrible experience, so I was apprehensive to try again- but man, am I glad I did. I think I can ski better than I can walk (though that’s not saying much).

There are two main options for skiers who can’t walk: mono-ski and bi-ski. There’s a good overview of those and other adaptive skiing methods here. Since I am balance-challenged, we went with the bi-ski, which is essentially a seat mounted on two skis. Besides the number of skis, the big difference is that with the bi-ski, someone skis behind you holding tethers that help control the ski. As a scared new skier, I appreciated this, but I am hoping that with practice I’ll get good enough to mono-ski, so I can do it on my own. Plus, it looks a lot cooler.

The direction of the ski is controlled by manoeuvering the outriggers (short forearm crutches with little skis on the ends) and leaning forward and in the direction you want to go. Here’s me and my instructor Jeff (who I also know from my adaptive swimming group):

More pictures can be found on my Flickr. This whole kickass experience was at Camelback in the Poconos, about two hours from Philadelphia. I loved skiing so much that I’m going again next weekend, though that’ll probably be it until next winter.

I highly recommend adaptive skiing to anyone with a disability. Even if you try it and find out it’s not your thing (which I doubt), you’ll have an interesting experience to talk about. You can’t fall out since you’re strapped in tight, and falling over (which I did at first) doesn’t hurt one bit, since you’re so close to the ground. Just dress warm and have fun!