SKIING

and outriggers — can cost thousands of dollars. Many adaptive snow sports programs are non-pro t, so they rely on fundraising, donations and inkind gifts to stay running.

“But look at Breck’s adaptive program,” Werhane says. “For $165 a day you get a lift ticket, an instructor and the ability to ski on a $6,000 piece of equipment the Breck adaptive center bought. Breck probably isn’t going to get their money back on that purchase in one to two years. ank goodness they and many other resorts comp tickets because otherwise a lot of these programs wouldn’t exist.” ousands of Colorado’s adaptive ski instructors are volunteers, so paying them isn’t a problem; many resorts will donate day or season passes to them. Nickell says Ignite’s roughly 250 instructors all volunteer. In the 2019-20 season, 244 gave 1,085 lessons to 285 students, amounting to 14,253 hours of volunteer time at a value of $399,365.

“We do what we do really well,” Nickell says.

But Erik Weihenmayer, the blind adventurer who has climbed Mount Everest, kayaked the Grand Canyon and skied the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt with guides, says not all volunteer instructors are equal either in guiding ability or sensitivity to their students.

“I like some programs, but the problem with others is that you show up and you don’t know who your guide is,” he says. “I can’t speak to other disabilities, but as a blind person, it’s about creating relationship, trust and communication. You can’t snap your ngers and do that in ve minutes. You have to have consistency. You’re listening to the person guiding you. You’re learning to read each other’s minds so when your guide says turn left you know exactly what they mean by that. If you don’t have consistency, if there’s a new guide every time you go skiing, then it’s a problem and a lot of organizations fall short in that way.”

He also takes issue with the prices he says some adaptive programs charge: “I went to Vail one time and they were gonna charge me $500 — over $200 for me and $200 for my guide. I go, ‘Wait, my guide is my eyes, folks. He should be free. He’s simply here to guide me down the mountain. I can’t see and you’re gonna charge me double?’” e Colorado Sun co-owns Colorado Community Media as a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy. It is a reader-supported news organization dedicated to covering the people, places and policies that matter in Colorado. Read more, sign up for free newsletters and subscribe at coloradosun.com.