Assisted skiing in Val d'Isere February 2016

Joshua (aged 8) suffers from Cerebral Palsy and is unable to walk independently. Despite this he has been skiing with the family twice a year since he was a few years old. He started skiing initially between the legs of Dad and/or an Instructor. As he became too heavy to continue skiing between our legs, he moved to a large sit ski and enjoyed ‘touring’ the slopes, sometimes at a very thrilling pace.

This year at eight years old we wanted him to get a broader experience of skiing. We booked private handiski (skiing for people with a disability or in need of assistance) lessons with Philippe Pouchkine, a specialist instructor in ‘handiski’ at ESF Val d’Isere. Philippe was great with Joshua and he had a range of modern equipment that meant Joshua could go ‘touring’ the slopes in a more responsive sit-ski (Tessier Tandemski) which Philippe piloted but also was able to start learning how to control a Tessier mono-ski so become more independent on the slopes.

Joshua had a great time on the nursery slopes learning to control the sit-ski, as well as plenty of thrill’s in the piloted (guided) Tandemski. He skied down the famous men’s downhill black run “Face” and on one of the days enjoyed skiing in over half a meter of fresh powder!

We stayed with Esprit Ski and they provided us with great support for Joshua. We all enjoyed ourselves so much, that we’re already booked to go back in 2017!