Snow, Sun and Something Entirely Different

Good day all,

This weekend was something entirely different. In exchange for the routine Chinese and beer of home, and rock-walls and mountain tracks of Wanaka, I signed up to volunteer for ‘Adaptive’, which essentially has been two full-on days of learning how to assist people with physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities to get the most out of skiing and snowboarding.

And it has been a weekend full of fun, laughs and new experiences, all tied together with an overwhelming feeling that I was well and truly out of my depth.

I heard about the programme all of a day and a half beforehand, while on a coffee date in town, and thought it sounded incredible. And the company really is. They run the Adaptive programme internationally, and thousands of kids and adults with varying disabilities have enjoyed its benefits.  The weekend involved two days of learning how the company works, familiarisation with the technical equipment, education on specific physical & mental impairments and the practical how and what to do’s on the slopes. But with a storm that lasted 30 hours, we were confined to a Saturday indoors and with the ski-fields closed – and my clothes entirely soaked from a pre-dawn cycle into town – we had a day where I was overloaded with information, left in awe of the instructors and had a lump the size of an apple in my throat from hearing such phrases as ‘when leading a blind person down a slope…’, ‘Yep, so that’s why we tether you on, so if for any reason you get knocked unconscious, you’ll still act as a human anchor’ and a number of similar heart-pumping sort of things.

With the storm finally passed, we met in town the following day, clad in ski-gear for a day of snow, sun and something entirely different. After a 45 minute drive up to the Cardrona ski field, we reached the slopes with the sun popping its head over the horizon for its morning photo. And the views, quite simply, were spectacular.

We started the day with a few runs to get our snow-legs warmed up and to get to know the pistes. And given I hadn’t been boarding for some 18 months, I was ecstatically pleased to find I took to it like a duck to water and found myself carving down the slopes with the rest of our merry group. After several slopes, we got stuck into the practical work and the how to’s of assisting a person into a mono-ski (essentially a wheelchair on skis), loading it onto a chairlift and guiding clients down the mountain.

By lunchtime we had more or less covered all of what we needed and after a cheeky one or two more runs – and a rather embarrassing fall – I was entirely certain of two things. Firstly, that I would love to be involved in this line of work, of that I was certain and secondly, of which I was even more certain, I was going to need a whole lot more snow experience before I was to be responsible for the wellbeing of a separate individual.

The day ended with a fifth and final session, ‘Visual Impairment Guiding’. We were paired with one of us blindfolded and headed up the mountain for half an hour each of blind skiing… If you want an afternoon full of adrenaline and falls, swaying between terror and cheek-hurting laughter, I insist you try your hand at skiing blind next time you head up the mountain. Surprisingly the snowboarding wasn’t as challenging as you might expect, but for an experience that will raise your balls to your throat, try getting on a chairlift – even if it’s the baby one – with only the voice and trust of another to guide you.

So that was my weekend and it really has been an overwhelming one. Naively, I didn’t foresee the extent of how challenging and demanding volunteering would be and suffice to say, I left the slopes late on Sunday afternoon, my mind and body worked to fatigue and assured beyond all doubt that this was something I would need to come back with quite a few seasons more of experience. We descended the mountain, with the sun setting behind the snow-capped peaks and all too tired to cycle home, I pushed my bike the six kilometres back to my house, had a warming shower and fell into a deep and content sleep. And although the weekend hadn’t worked out just how I’d imagined and I doubt my involvement with the programme this season, I’m glad to have tired something that utterly petrified me, overwhelmed me and pushed me limits entirely.

'til the next terrifying experience, I'll love and leave you,

xx