Adaptive Cross-Country Skiing for People with Disabilities

Thanks to innovative technology, specially-trained ski instructors, and lots of enthusiastic volunteers, cross-country—also known as Nordic—skiing is accessible to just about everyone having the desire to break away from the cozy warmth of their homes and venture out into winter’s wonderland.

While Nordic skiing originally started in Scandinavia over 4,000 years ago as a mode of transportation through snow and ice, it’s now one of the more popular recreational and competitive adaptive sports opportunities, bringing together people of all ability levels.

Related to Adaptive Alpine Skiing
A relative of adaptive alpine (downhill) skiing, Nordic skiing offers many of the same benefits—and a few advantages—over its sister sport. Both exercise the body and mind, increasing strength, flexibility, and endurance and offering the opportunity to participate side-by-side with able-bodied friends and family members. And despite the normal fears and anxieties that affect everyone venturing into new terrain, both sports bring feelings of accomplishment and exhilaration with increased mastery. 

“Nordic skiing is a much less complex sport than Alpine,” says Randy Schellenberg, equipment coordinator for the Sovereign Lake Nordic Club Adaptive program in British Columbia, Canada. “It’s more affordable (both in terms of lift/use tickets and equipment), involves no chair lifts, and requires gentler terrain.” Depending upon one’s ability, once the sport is mastered, cross-country adaptive skiers can ski informally on snow-covered dirt roads, golf courses, and hiking trails, providing they have their own adaptive equipment and/or guide.

How It's Done--Wide Range of Disabilities Accomodated
With advances in adaptive technology people with a wide range of disabilities—multiple sclerosis, amputation, cerebral palsy, stroke, brain injury, ataxia, blind, paraplegia and quadriplegia, to name a few—can enjoy the trails. Adaptive ski programs provide adaptive equipment to accommodate nearly every level of skier and disability; each program varies, so it’s best to call ahead to make sure they can accommodate you with both equipment and an instructor on the day you want to ski.

Adaptive equipment ranges from standard Nordic skis and poles for stand-up skiers, including amputees who ski with their prosthesis; bi-skis (a seat suspended above two skis) and sit-skis (a toboggan-like sled often with skis placed on the underside) for wheelchair users and others with limited ambulatory ability; and outriggers (ski poles with mini skis on the end that can be flipped up and serve to push and stop the skier).

Visually impaired Nordic skiers, who wear a bright orange bib and ski with a guide, have another advantage over Alpine skiers since the track setting helps them stay on trail, requiring only minimal cues from a guide, especially for dips and hills.

Sovereign Lake offers unique, specially-trained volunteers that give an additional element of pleasure and independence to the Nordic ski experience.

“Some skiers don’t have the upper extremity strength to propel themselves in a sit or bi-ski, so we provide sled dogs,” Schellenberg said. “Besides fostering a high level of independence, skiers find it much more dignifying to be drawn by a dog than pulled by a human.” An additional benefit is that simply working with animals is therapeutic as the skiers become instinctively tuned into the animal’s language.

Where To Go
Many adaptive ski programs, such as Waterville Valley’s Ability Plus Adaptive Program in New Hampshire, offer on-site instruction for cross-country skiing at the ski area’s Nordic Center—in this case, a 70-km tracked and groomed trail network.

A lesson includes a trail pass, equipment rental, and a trained ski instructor. SitSki.com, which offers an adaptive ski and sport map with listings throughout the United States, and Disabled Sports USA are good places to search for local areas offering Nordic skiing. Adaptive sports organizations often offer Nordic skiing as one of several sports offerings for individuals with disabilities.

For instance, Adaptive Adventures, based in Evergreen, Colorado, and Chicago, Illinois, provides Nordic skiing at a variety of off-site winter sports locations. Taught by certified instructors, their programs include everything from beginning ski clinics to mid-level development camps and adventure trips.

If and when you’re ready to take your Nordic ski experience to the competitive level, a growing number of Centers offer advanced race training. For instance, in 2007 The National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City, Utah, received a grant from the U.S. Paralympics to create a Nordic Development Program for athletes with physical disabilities.

Under the guidance of Paralympian Head Coach Steve Cook, who incurred a below-the-knee amputation during a farming accident in 1998, skiers can train to become potential Paralympic contenders themselves. Disabled Sports USA offers information on competition and provides information on other racing programs.

Resources

Adaptive Adventures
A national leader in adaptive sports/recreation, including off-site Nordic skiing.
http://www.adaptiveadventures.org/

Disabled Sports USA
Contacts, events, programs, competition results, and related links from this organization that offers sports rehabilitation for individuals with a permanent disability.
http://www.dsusa.org/

Sovereign Lake Nordic Club Adaptive Skiers
Unique adaptive Nordic ski program in British Columbia, Canada, which offers the option of using sled dogs. 
http://www.sovereignlake.com/adaptive/

Sit Ski
Adaptive ski and sport map with listings throughout the United States
http://www.sitski.com/pg3.htm

National Ability Center
In addition to offering Nordic skiing as a leisure sport, this Center provides the opportunity to train with Paralympic Nordic skier Steve Cook.
http://www.discovernac.org/

United States Disabled Nordic Ski Team
Information on world-class racing
http://www.usskiteam.com/public/special.php?dId=3

Photos courtesy of Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and the National Ability Center

See Related Articles
See Adaptive Skiing More Available for People with Disabilities to learn more about adaptive skiing with a disability and how you can get started in this exciting and rewarding sport.

See Relearning How to Ski After an SCI: Muffy Davis to learn more about one woman's struggle (and success) to find her place on the mountain after a serious accident left her paralyzed.