Vail

Overview

Who Benefits

If you, a friend or family member have any of the following then Vail might work brilliantly for your ski or summer holiday. This is by no means an exhaustive list (it would be impossible to include every condition) but many have similar or common factors. As often someone may have a condition that we have not yet come across please do ask us if you are interested in the resort and we can try to help.

• amputee

We do advise that if you have any health issues that might be affected by extreme temperatures; altitude or have had surgery or an on-going physical / neurological condition that might be or could be affected by being moved at speed, over rough or uneven terrain or being on or in a ski lift please do contact us for more advice before going ahead and booking your holiday. Another resort might work better for you.

What People Say about Vail and Ski 2 Freedom Foundation

The following are delighted to share their experiences with you on how Vail was able to assist and empower them to have a life enhancing winter and ski holiday. If you would like to speak directly with one of our beneficiaries please contact us so we can put you in touch – sometimes sharing a similar condition can be most reassuring especially for first timers!

Ski Holiday, Amputee and Freedom with a Ski Bike

An enquiry came to Ski 2 Freedom in November 2017 regarding a young chap called Paul who is a mid-thigh left leg amputee. He was a semi-professional rugby player prior to losing his leg 4 years ago following a stage 3 diagnosis of a rare form of cancer – Fibrosarcoma. After intensive chemotherapy and amputation he has now been all clear for 3 years and is as active as he can be.

“This year we would simply love to get the opportunity for him to have a ski -bike and for us to ski together again, and we just wondered whether there might be some kind of advice or help on him being able to fulfil this dream with your kind advice and support? “

Paul had tried a sit-ski in Veysonnaz (Switzerland) but found the lack of freedom frustrating. Having been invited to go to Vail (USA), he discovered the absolute freedom of being on the slopes riding a ski-bike. Although common enough on the ski slopes of the US, ski bikes are not so easy to find in Europe, especially Switzerland.

*"It was great to use the ski-bike as I had used the sit ski before but felt much more freedom on the bike as I wasn’t strapped in.

Whilst riding the ski-bike in Vail, I had snow-boarders and skiiers coming up to me all day saying that they wanted to try it and how cool it was!

It was exhilarating and I felt like I was having as much fun or even more than the able bodied people skiing and snow-boarding.

So in essence I felt fully part of the experience and crucially didn’t feel disabled in the slightest!

It was a great release and was extremely liberating and therapeutic.

Practically , getting on and off the lifts was also pretty simple , much easier than on the sit-ski and they didn’t have to stop the lift or even slow it down on most occasions” Paul" *

Ski 2 Freedom used its ‘Library of Information’ to send details of where the ski bikes can be used in France and Austria and we look forward to hearing if once again, Paul fulfills his dream of being independent on the ski slopes. We also put him in touch with Dominic Jonas of Active Therapy about skiing 3 track.

Access to Our Full Comprehensive Portfolio

Mountains 4 All would like to make it clear that we regard everyone as an individual and that no two people will have the same needs and requirements. Therefore please note that what you see on this page regarding assisted or adaptive skiing and accommodation, may not be suitable for you, or someone you know. However, if you think this destination would be a good ski resort for you, then please contact us to discuss your personal requirements and we will endeavour to see if the resort will meet these.

We hope that you have found the information on this page helpful and a chance to make a decision on where to go for your winter holiday. However, we know that often much more discussion is required and therefore we invite you to contact us as we hold extensive information on all our ski resorts – please contact us.

Our information has and is obtained by means of extensive personal research at a cost, often to the Foundation, we only give this out to those that request it and is not for general public use. For our beneficiaries this information is free but for a company or organisation we make a nominal charge via donation.