Table of Contents From the Founder & President News from Our Programs: AbilityPLUS at Waterville Valley AbilityPLUS at Mount Snow AbilityPLUS at Attitash AbilityPLUS at King PIne News from Our Affiliates: Gunstock Adaptive Ski Program Stowe Mountain Adaptive Nashoba Valley Adaptive Snowsports Wachusett Mountain Adaptive Crotched Mountain Adaptive Ride & Ski News from Around AbilityPLUS: Milestones From the Development Office

From Kathy Chandler

President & Founder

He had snowboarded before his injury and never imagined he would do it again. The experience was so moving for both he and his wife, they had come back for another weekend and were staying at my house. They had a very hard time expressing their gratitude for bringing back a piece of their “life”. It was very emotional for us both.

Somehow I could not explain to him how moving the experience was for me, for us all. Being a part of an adaptive program, sharing a love of sports with people who may have life altering injuries is the most gratifying experience. We are with families who may have a child, spouse or friend with a disability, watching the interaction, the struggles, just to get to the mountain. People often tell me that it is a special gift and not for everyone, but I look around at the hundreds of wonderful volunteers with AbilityPLUS who “get it”, they have that “gift” and they give of themselves. I know they get it back one hundredfold! They hear the stories, they feel the pain and the hardships and they get so excited to watch their students ski down a mountain. That same person cannot walk across a room, but now they are flying, laughing, falling, getting up and doing it again and again.   

This experience is a moving one for us all. For the students and their families it changes their lives, brings joy and excitement into a life filled with many struggles, helps them feel more independent and free. We feel their pain, their hardship often more than they do, for them it is life. Our volunteers all have a gift that that they keep giving over and over again and how do we ever say thank you enough to let them know the depth of our gratitude. After a long hard season, AbilityPLUS THANKS YOU ALL for the gift you give to us.

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News From Our Programs

AbilityPLUS at Waterville Valley

Jim Wall

Program Director

I couldn’t have asked for a better season to start my career as the AbilityPLUS Program Director at Waterville Valley. The program and area are certainly nothing new for me - I’ve been around and involved for quite awhile. I have to say though, being on the “other side of the desk” is quite the experience. It’s ALOT of work!! And it’s even more rewarding and fun than I could have imagined.

The event was such a huge success for one solider he and his wife came back the next weekend to get back out on the slopes.

Another highlight of the season came during the NH Special Olympic Winter Games held here at Waterville Valley. Two of our three Special Olympians received gold medals in all three of their events (Shaun Dunlap and Evan Stout) with Clifford Dubach making a strong showing in his events. Evan was a first year participant.

Summer programs are just around the corner and we’ve got lots of great programs coming your way. We’d like to welcome Henry Desjardens as our Day Camp coordinator in collaboration with Waterville Recreation Dept..  Check out our website www.abilityplus.org and click on our calendar for more details about summer events.

On a special note - a few of the areas restaurants (including The Wild Coyote and The Common Man Restaurants and Spa) are hosting a Wine tasting Fundraiser June 5th at Church Landing in Meredith, NH. from 5PM - 8:30PM. The proceeds will be split equally between AbilityPLUS and The Honduras Hope Vocational School. Check out the Calendar for more details.

Thanks again for a great first season.  We had some amazing moments and I’m excited for next season already! (After I get in PLENTY of golf!)

Have a great summer!

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AbilityPLUS at Mount Snow

Sue Tatem

Program Director

Be careful what you wish for! Snow – well you all know what happened….the Fan Guns were more than we expected and Mother Nature came through in a BIG way and Mount Snow was the first mountain open in the East –November 10th. People kept walking in the door wanting to volunteer with the program and before I knew it I had 26 new volunteers – 10 of them new Junior Volunteers with LOADS of ski racing and technical experience. Our “Guest Trainers” from Nashoba Valley, Waterville Valley and Bretton Woods gave some of the best clinics we’ve ever been able to offer and the Mount Snow instructors that participated are still talking about what a difference it made in their own skiing and teaching. Before I knew it every vacation period and weekend was full along with our waiting lists, we had a HUGE jump in new students (new to our program as well as never before skiers or riders) and we were teaching more lessons than ever before.

There were so many highpoints this season it would take forever to list them all. We had so many breakthroughs with returning students it was amazing. At least six of our students (some of them new to our program) moved up to start working with other students as ski buddies and mentors. There was a subtle shift in the dynamics around the office with so many new and young faces it felt like everyone got a new spark, everyone stepped in at our busiest times and kept the program running smoothly. Working with the mountain staff was easier and more streamlined and much more cohesive. I believe that most of the staff saw an improvement in their own skiing and riding abilities- being out on the snow more than ever. All in all it was a fabulous season.

I’m so excited for next season.  We’re already working on our fundraising event (big changes there), we’ll keep improving our training clinics and schedule, am working on an idea for our space (again)…there’s a lot of excitement in the air here at the mountain and with AbilityPLUS and as details get worked out I’ll pass them along to all of you.

Check out the calendar on our website for a peak at our upcoming summer programs. Again, I can’t thank everyone enough for the miracles that happened this season.  Have a great summer and I’m sure I’ll see you around!

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AbilityPLUS at Attitash

Erik Corbett

Program Director

The 2007/2008 season was certainly one to remember.  We had many new faces, brought the Diana Golden Series back to Attitash and of course all that snow.  The most memorable student in my mind was a little girl named Alexis.

According to her family – Alexis was born without a lower leg and had skied a bit in Minnesota, I assumed she would be a 3 track skier. What I didn’t know at the time was that she did have a left foot - it was where her knee should have been.  The Doctors had turned it around so that it acted like a knee and gave her more control of her prosthetic. Alexis arrived and we set her up for 3 track skiing and headed to the Magic Carpet.  After a couple runs her arms were tired from holding the outrigger and her leg was exhausted from doing all the work alone. That’s when she mentioned that she had XC skied using her prosthetic and she really wanted to try to use it while alpine skiing. We got her all situated with her prosthetic, boot and ski and headed back to the Magic Carpet. After a few runs we decided it was time for one run on the Learning Center.

some of our other Green runs that had a long, semi-flat run back to the lifts.  For some reason Alexis fell on that run and, both Tyler and I had the same awful thought, “I hope that was her prosthetic leg that bent like that”.  Luckily it was and we continued on to the base area even though Alexis wanted to keep skiing. When we got back to the room she said to me that she thought something was wrong with her prosthetic and sure enough her foot was twisted and a couple rivets had popped out of the socket of her leg.  Her father and I took the leg to the garage and the mechanic put a few new rivets in and it was good as new.  I scared Ski Patrol half to death when I told them my student had broken her leg but the guys in the garage had fixed it. 

All in all Alexis and her family had a wonderful trip to the White Mountains and Attitash. Just another success story from a terrific winter.

Some other highlights from this past winter – we saw continued progress Karly Erickson's skiing and willingness to leave Mom & Dad. A HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers that were available during the school vacation weeks: Ed Leary, Rich Staples, Joe and Sharon Heinricher, Sharon and Curt Hazelbine, Sarah George, Alexis Ballentyne, Aaron Else, Lindsey Lowe, Sean O'Neil, Liz Egan and Stacie Korroch. We worked with a number of skiers from North Country Independent Living and plan to expand that part of the program next season. Our Diana Golden Series Level 1 race in February was a huge success, hosting 21 athletes.  We’re all looking forward to having the series back next season.

What’s on tap for the summer? Lots of great activities are coming back to the North Country – Cycling, Waterskiing, kayaking, our inclusive Day Camp and much more. Stay tuned for our summer schedule and I’ll see you all next winter!!

Erik Corbett shows how it's done!

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AbilityPLUS at King Pine

Jen Fraser

Program Director

We started our season with a fabulous effort from the King Pine Team at the Hartford Ski Spectacular.   Heidi Costello, Aynne and Andre de Beer, Herb and Cathy Vinnicombe, Jen Fraser and Doug Algate joined together with approximately 500 volunteers in Breckenridge to ski with the Wounded Warriors.  Our hearts were touched by the young men and women who bravely fought the war and are now are fighting to regain their lives after experiencing life changing traumatic injuries.  How rewarding to be a part of the successful rehabilitation of a soldier and to capture a smile on the slopes as independence is achieved. 

A 100 year record breaking snowfall for New Hampshire made for a great Nordic and Alpine season.  Unfortunately we had many cancellations due to snow.  Ironic!  AbilityPLUS at King Pine participated in the Pioneer Race Series on Mondays.  It was awesome to see Jay and Erik tear it up in their mono skis!  Jay took first place for the Outlaw Division and became Jen and Meghan’s personal coach! Seconds were dropped from their initial times…sometimes you can’t go anywhere but up!  Heidi made us proud running gates on her “teles” while Doug, Jim, Scott, Hank, Dick and Dave made a great showing ripping it up on their alpines.  Cliff and Jesse shredded the course on their boards. 

Kerry purchased her own Yeti and enjoyed some independence off loading and making turns down the hill.  Chuck skied independently despite bungi failure!  All of our children progressed off the magic carpet to the chair!  Kenny brought home medals from the Special Olympics.  We have a family of 5 who can now enjoy skiing together without our program!  Our “Make a Wish” student enjoyed skiing with her mom, dad, and sisters.

We had our first annual Firefighter’s Race with bunker gear and a chili cook-off.  What a great time on a beautiful 45 degree day!  Hanging on to the fire hose and running gates is a blast!  I recommend making sure your health insurance is effective!

The AbilityPLUS at King Pine provided over 200 lessons and finished the season with a cookout and trophies.  We are looking forward to another fun filled season in 2009.

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News From Our Affiliates

Gunstock Adaptive Ski Program

Nancy Ripley

Program Director

Another great year at The Gunstock Adaptive Ski program! Although we are still working on our new building located at Handicap Parking, Gunstock was able to put us in a wonderful spot for the season.  We were located on the main deck and had great accessibility and visual presence.  We taught over 350 lessons and had a wonderful time with our guests.

After two runs we decided to hold hands instead of using the pole.  Using a light "comfort touch" Jud was skiing like a pro.  When we were at the flats he looked up at me and said "Let go, I can do it myself".  What a wonderful feeling to see a student, who has been taught and encouraged by amazing volunteers, take a leap of faith.  I thought that this is my story of the year, only to find out that this was not the end of the story.  When we were at the top of the trail again, Jud took his sisters hand and skied down the trail laughing with great amounts of excitement, pride and independence.

Thank you volunteers for all you give to our students on each and every lesson, without you our program would not be the success that it is.

Thank you to AbilityPLUS for your support and a special thanks to Sue Tatem for the wonderful training offered to us on the off season.

A HUGE thanks to Gunstock Mountain Resort for their incredible support and all they do to help make our program the success that it is.

The volunteers; what can I say, without them and their professionalism, caring and support we would be not be the program that we are today!

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Stowe Mountain Adaptive Program

Cynthia Needham

Program Director

We enjoyed an amazing winter this year, with over 31 feet of snow – that’s 374 inches to be precise. Our adaptive program benefited from the fine conditions, and we were able to offer 469 hours of private adaptive coaching, giving our last lesson on April 8. This year we saw growth in the number of students who came to us with physical disabilities and were thrilled to be able to put some of our new equipment, including our junior bi-ski, into service.

Coached by Mau Thompson and AK Walker, six young men and women spent three days banging gates, developing self-reliance, and generally having a great time. The race camp took place at Spruce Peak, our beginner and intermediate area, and created a sensational opportunity for awareness building among our regular instructors and guests.

AIG also helped our local AbilityPLUS chapter by hosting a raffle one evening during the Ski Challenge. We were able to raise $5230 during the evening, which AIG graciously agreed to match. This brought our fundraising total to $10,460!

Other special events included hosting the PSIA Adaptive Exams. This brought many familiar faces to Stowe and some new ones as well. It was a tremendous educational opportunity and introduced the PSIA Examiner team to our Spruce Base facilities and terrain. Kudos to all who took their exams! (see the “Milestones” section for more info.)

Working with AbilityPLUS, we designed and implemented a scholarship program for local disabled athletes. The scholarships provide up to $1000 over the course of a season for adaptive lessons, equipment, and lift tickets. AbilityPLUS awarded the first three scholarships in March this year, and we hope to grow this program over time. We also introduced a new program this year – “The Adaptive Front Four”. This program offers low cost tickets and coaching from volunteer staff that are trained by our adaptive coaches. The first school to participate was the New School in Montpelier. They report that the program was a huge success, gaining positive changes in attitude among the six students who participated and providing important incentives for them to work harder during school hours. 

All in all- it was an amazing winter full of so many wonderful success stories. Thanks to all the coaches that worked with our students.  Have wonderful, warm and fun summer and we’ll see you all on the slopes next season!

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Nashoba Valley Adaptive Snowsports

Al Bevington

Program Director

Our Nashoba Valley Adaptive Program continues to grow.  We added several new volunteers this season to our fantastic crew of well experienced instructors and again experienced another increase in the number of lessons taught this season.

Several of our volunteers are on a certification track focusing on the Blind/Developmentally Delayed discipline as visually impaired teaching skills seems to be our primary strength.  We have a number of visually impaired students who continue to return to us and we added another regular this season.  A former beginning skier who lost her sight to diabetes finally came out this year.  She has been contemplating trying to ski for several years and this season, we were able to convince her to give us a try.  On her first day, she was somewhat reluctant and hesitant however we made some excellent progress getting her acclimated back to skiing.  After a couple more lessons, she said “This is unbelievable.  I never thought I could do this.  I am skiing better now than when I could see!”

Dad said to me “The two of you have allowed Madison to accomplish something the doctor's told her that she would never be able to do.”  Moral of the story….Never listen to those doctors.

We continue to work with our AbilityPLUS partners.  We also referred a three year old beginning skier to Gunstock.  He required a bi-ski and Gunstock was able to meet the need and the family was thrilled.  When I spoke to Mom, she said “Words cannot express how wonderful it was to watch all 3 of my kids on the mountain.  Theo had a terrific first day!  Thank you so much for helping to make this happen!  The people at Gunstock were absolutely fabulous.  I know that we will be returning often.”  Thanks to all involved.

As we all know, the biggest joy is hearing from the students and parents about their experiences and having the opportunity to make those experiences happen is great.

Thanks to all of our terrific volunteers! Have a great summer and we’ll see you next season! Stay tuned for summer programs and other training opportunities.

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Wachusett Mountain Adaptive Program

Ric Patrick

Program Director / Asst. Ski School Director

David Domke

Scheduling Coordinator

Greetings from the Wachusett Mountain (WahWah Wachusett as the TV ad states) Adaptive Program:

The Algonquin Indians gave it this name, which stands for “The Great Hill”. Wachusett Mountain is the highest mountain in Eastern Massachusetts and East of the Connecticut River. Spread the word, “The Great Mountain” does it all: mono/bi ski, DD, Blind/VI, Deaf/HI and 3T/4T.

So, we at “The Great Mountain” under the leadership of Ric Patrick, Program Director, and Dave Domke, Scheduling Coordinator, had a great season. The plentiful snowfall gave us a great base for the groomers to work with even with the frequent rains. Dave Domke (Adapt*Dave) joined the team full time as Scheduling Coordinator after having volunteered and trained at Bretton Wood and several Ski School Instructors were recruited from ITC (Instructor Training Course) to join the Adaptive Team. In total we had 12 Ski School Instructors that formed the Adaptive Team. Other Ski School instructors were recruited to assist especially with snowboarding when needed. We provided 294 students with Adaptive Lessons…322 total instructor lessons.

Murph, a veteran in a palliative care program at the VA in Brockton, MA had a wish “of feeling the wind in his face while on a mountain one last time”. He was a navigator for airplanes on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. He was brought by Ralph Marche (Sunapee) and a team from the VA. Wachusett Mtn. provided the lift ticket and Fred Kohout helped out.

Barbara Natoli Kohout provided DD clinics especially for the new recruits. Fred Kohout, our mono/bi expert provided hands-on clinics. Cindy Hammond (Loon) provided a 3T/4T clinic. Melissa Glasners’ (a new recruit), brother Michael, provided signing services. Ken White, a mono skier, volunteered his first hand knowledge of learning to mono-ski to our mono-ski students along with Fred as lead. The veteran staff provided their experiences with the new recruits. A quality adaptive program was provided to our students at a family oriented ski area, we were very busy and everyone had great fun!

Again, as with other adaptive programs, we all received gratification in changing the lives of our students and equally as important, the lives of their parents and families. We continue to our mid-week program when it is less crowded and are always looking for additional volunteers.

So with rising gas prices, if any of you living close to us are interested in working close to home, please contact us.

Have a Great Summer!!!

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Crotched Mountain Adaptive Ride and Ski

Molly Hajjar

Acting Program Director

To assure that CMARS continues to grow, we are looking for a program director and new or experienced volunteer for next season.  Crotched Mountain is located in Southern New Hampshire between Peterborough, Keene, Nashua and Concord.  If you or someone you know is interested in joining our CMARS team, please contact adaptive@crotchedmountain.com for more information.

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From the Development Office

Greg Cutler

Co-Founder & Director of Development

Q: Had you ever seen or been around adaptive skiing or sports?

A. I've been a skier all my life, in fact, I recently started representing a heli-skiing company.  Over the years, I'd seen some amputee skiers, but overall, adatptive skiing is much more prevelant today.

Q: I know you support a lot of different organizations. How do you decide which ones?

A. It's easy to give to charities that try to find cures to major illnesses, but in the case of AbilityPLUS it's because of the joy and freedom that your programs bring to the participants.

Q: What would you say to encourage others to support AbilityPLUS?

A. A major percentage of donations goes directly to the participants of the program and that's very important to me, and I know that's important for most donors.

Q: Finally, are there any memorable instances that come to mind regarding your own participation?

A. Well, let's see.  I consider myself to be an expert able-body skier and I had the pleasure and honor of carving it up with Paralympic Gold Medalist, Chris Waddell once. He blew me away in his mono-ski!  I was eating his dust and trying to keep up!  It was a great time!

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