Equipped with short skis, his pole-less hands flapping at every turn, my teenage son looks like the tallest beginner skier ever. But a closer look reveals his ability to carve parallel turns without poles down an intermediate run.
Bennett, 17, has autism, which impacts his motor-planning skills and reaction time, and can heighten his anxiety about steep slopes and downhill speed. Longer skis whose tips could cross, and poles to hold and plant, would just complicate what’s already a challenging sport because of the co-ordination, balance and focus required to get down a run without crashing.
That he skis at all is thanks to years of adaptive ski lessons.
In kindergarten, it became clear Bennett didn’t have the attention or dexterity for the regular group ski lessons that his older sister participated in. Bennett needed direct support — an instructor who could fasten his helmet and help him click into skis and who possessed the patience to keep him on task.
Our determination to ski as a family led us to Canadian Adaptive Snowsports (CADS) Calgary, a volunteer-based charity that provides kids and adults with disabilities the opportunity to learn alpine snowsports. One evening a week that winter, we drove to Canada Olympic Park (COP) where six-year-old Bennett hit the bunny hill with a volunteer instructor and her assistant. They had been trained in techniques to support neurodiverse students and, through encouragement and loads of repetition, they taught him how to ride the magic carpet, snowplow and stop. He was on his way.
From there, we graduated to the mountains and enrolled him in lessons with Fernie Adaptive Snowsports. Over a few seasons, a team of two instructors got him riding the poma lift and linking turns down the bunny hill independently. On forays higher up the mountain, they allayed Bennett’s apprehension of longer, steeper runs by holding either end of a long pole and letting him grasp the middle and ski between them. Though progress sometimes felt like two turns forward, one fall back, there was no denying his gradual improvement.
In the decade since learning that wobbly beginner wedge at COP, Bennett has skied all over the Rockies and into B.C., from gentle tree trails at Norquay to wide intermediate runs at SilverStar in the Okanagan Valley. To boost his progress, we sign him up for an adaptive lesson every year. He hasn’t become a powder-seeking daredevil like some teenage boys, but that was never the goal. We sometimes think he loves the gondola rides, lunchtime fries and après-ski hot tub soaks more than the actual schussing, and that’s okay. The fact that we can ski a few leisurely runs together as a family means the world.
Canadian Adaptive Snowsports Calgary relies on volunteers and is always looking for instructors, aides and other helpers (on-hill or indoor). To get involved, visit cadscalgary.ca/volunteer