Kathy D and Ski for Light

Love to Run (Ben Kweller)



Kathy, Jim, and Little-E are in Bend, OR for the program is called "Ski for Light".

The humans participated (sorry Elizabeth) in an awesome x-country ski program for the visually impaired and physically disabled.

Below is a link to a great story that was in the local Bend, OR paper.

Please read it as it was just an awesome program/trip. On the bad side I have to report that poor Kathy fell and hurt her knee and is currently hobbling.

First report from the doctors in Oregon was she "sprained" her MCL (Medial collateral ligament). But Kathy has an appointment on Friday with a local doctor who will look at it again and confirm it's not worse.

Send Kathy some good, healing thoughts!

On a positive note - great news is Kathy took 3rd place in her race division.

Congratulations Kathy - yea, yea, yea!!!!!

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/SPORTS05/802180371/1013&nav_category=

Here is the article, but please check the link. Very cool photos.

Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine day-to-day life this way, without of sight. Then take yourself outside onto the nordic trails at Mt. Bachelor ski area. The announcer calls your name, and then the name of your guide — the person who will lead you through every move — and you are off on a 5- or 10-kilometer ski course. You are skiing by the eyes of your guide.

With the 33rd annual Ski for Light program, blind skiers did just that. They hit the ski trials Saturday at Bachelor for the week’s finale of races. During this past week, nearly 300 Ski for Light participants — skiers and guides — gathered from around the U.S. and seven different countries to ski, train, learn, laugh, overcome obstacles, and — above all — work as a team.

“The team effort is what makes it so special. It takes a pretty good skier and an excellent guide, and that’s what I had,” said the visually impaired Scott McCall of Atlanta, who finished third in the 10K Saturday with ski partner Byron Oberst of Bend. Ying Chan of Essex, England with guide Allen Takahashi was the top male finisher in the 10K, followed by second place John Sandell of Kristiansand, Norway, with his two guides Per Grimstad and Irene Larssen.

“It really is a team,” said McCall. “Too often, I think, we give too much credit to the blind skier and don’t recognize the precision that’s involved in guiding.”

“It’s just like dancing, you learn your partner and you know when to go fast and when not to,” said Oberst.

McCall has been cross-country skiing for about 25 years and during that time has been aided by more than 30 guides. He said he feels that this year, he and Oberst were a perfect match.

Since its inception in 1975, Ski for Light has attracted skiers of all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced competitors. And while many participants are longtime ski racers — some of them former Paralympians — the event is less about winning and all about camaraderie.

“(The bonding) is my favorite part of the whole experience,” said Nancy Stevens, a blind skier from Glenwood Springs, Colo., who teaches the guides how to lead the blind and mobility-impaired skiers. “And coming up with the whole communication system that’s going to work really well,” she said. “And just the friends that you make here. It’s just a really fabulous group.”

At age 47, Stevens was the second female finisher in the 10K Saturday, behind Robin Van Lant of Louisville, Colo. Stevens is a triathlete and cross-country ski racer. Ski partner Brook Yates, originally of Breckenridge, Colo., is involved in a travel-study program to become an orientation and mobility instructor and a teacher for the visually impaired. She will spend the next few years traveling the country to follow her career passion.

“Part of our (Ski for Light) mission statement is that it’s recreational-based and not competition-based. So this race that you see here is all very much about fun and it’s fun-spirited. It’s not cutthroat.”

“Unless you’re Scott McCall,” Stevens added, joking about McCall’s competitive nature.

While the majority of skiers were visually impaired, there were a handful of mobility-impaired skiers, one of whom lives in Redmond.

Carl Backstrom was paralyzed from the waist down about 20 years ago in a motorcycle accident, but continues to partake in all sorts of recreational activities. He is on the board of directors for Oregon Adaptive Sports, an organization that takes frequent ski trips to the two Central Oregon downhill ski resorts, Hoodoo and Bachelor.

Backstrom completed the 10K race Saturday on a ski sled, using just his upper body to complete the 6.2 miles.

“A lot of it is more technique than strength,” Backstrom explains. “Especially for me with these sit-skis. When you are pushing uphill, instead of using your arms and rocking ... I focus on alternating muscles groups as much as I can.”

Just about every skier at the Ski for Light festivities at Mount Bachelor had an inspiring story to tell. Some participants have been involved in the program for 20 to 30 years — either as a guide or visually/mobility-impaired skier — traveling all over the world to various Ski for Light venues. Some were learning to ski for the first time.

What all the skiers had in common though was their ability to push beyond obvious physical obstacles.

“It was one of those life changing weeks for me,” said Oberst. “Just to see these people who can’t see, accomplish so much of independence and the ability to ski a very difficult course that they cannot see — following our lead. I’m just in awe of their ability.”

Katie Brauns can be reached at 541-383-0393 or kbrauns@bendbulletin.com.