"Miracles on a Mountainside” are set to occur this week in Snowmass Village, Colorado, as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Disabled American Veterans co-host the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.
The event, which runs from March 31 to April 5, provides disabled veterans with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, orthopedic amputations and visual impairments the opportunity to explore recovery through participation in downhill and cross-country skiing, sled hockey and other adaptive sports.
Army veteran Jason Strickland, communications director of the clinic and the VA Rocky Mountain Network, said the clinic began in 1987 and has been growing ever since.
“This year will be our thirty-ninth year doing this,” he said. “We’ve served over 10,000 veterans over this timeframe.”
Adaptive equipment has been developed as a result of the clinic allowing those with limb loss to enjoy winter sports, Strickland said..
“People who have amputations can use an adaptive snowboard so one leg is real and the other one is a prosthesis and they can ride a snowboard like anyone else,” he said.
TetraSkis, which allow those with extremely limited mobility to control a ski with their breath, will be available at the clinic this year, Strickland added.
Approximately 400 disabled veterans will participate and work to overcome real and perceived limitations during this year’s event, said Strickland.
Among the participants is U.S. Air Force Reserve Maj. Monica Ross, who attended her first Winter Sports Clinic in 2024.
“Being relatively new to this situation, when you get out there and see everything they have, it was a lot of fun,” she said.
Ross, the former Mrs. Kansas 2018, flew more than 100 combat missions during her 18 years of service. In 2019, she received a diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis that changed her life. Neurosarcoidosis is a form of sarcoidosis, a chronic inflammatory disease that specifically affects the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, causing inflammation and potentially leading to various neurological symptoms.
During last year’s clinic, Ross skied while being tethered with one instructor on one side and another on her other side. Before the trio took off, Ross said one of the instructors asked her if she wanted to do it.
Her answer: “As long as you can stop me, I’ll do whatever.”
Although life post-diagnosis comes with its challenges, Riggs remains determined not to let her chronic inflammatory disorder define her.
“Physically, it’s awesome to be able to get out there and have the equipment, the instructors to do all those things, but not only to be able to do it, but being able to do it with people who are in the same situation as you,” she said. “You are not one out of 500 in a chair, you are one of 500 in a chair.”
To learn more about the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.