CORTLAND – One need only take in the smiling faces and the sounds of laughter across the crowded dining room at the Greek Peak Mountain Resort to know that Winter Challenge Week founders Robyn King and “One-Legged” John Solowiej have done it again.
Now in its eighth year, the non-profit, volunteer-run Winter Challenge Week was created to help paraplegic, amputee and blind adults – as well as wounded veterans – learn the joys of skiing and snowboarding. And yet the program, which has shown consistent growth since its inception, is so much more than that, according to Solowiej.
“It’s a little different and it’s a bonding experience,” said Solowiej, who added that nearly 50 people have participated in the program since it began. “We have so many instructors and volunteers who share a lot of the same emotions and feelings as our participants ... it just makes it that much more awesome. It’s unbelievable.”
Held the last week of January at the resort’s Adaptive Snowsports Center, the program is funded through donations received from a number of individuals and businesses, many of which are located in Chenango County. Cost for each participant is approximately $1,000, and the donations are used to purchase and maintain the necessary equipment for adaptive skiing, which includes mono-skiing, in essence a molded seat mounted on a single ski; tri- and four-tracking, one or two skis with two hand-held outriggers and bi-unique skiing, similar to mono-skiing but with two skis instead of one.
According to King, Norwich and Chenango County have always been a huge source of support for the program.
“I can’t say enough about the community support we get from Norwich,” added King. “If you could underline that ten times, that would be great. For a small town, from day one, Norwich has always been there.”
Donors this year included the Flanagan Foundation, the Almeter family, NBT Bank, Electron Coil, Pet Street Station, the Rowe family, the Kocherspergers, Norwich Rotary Club, Oliver’s Campers, Service Pharmacy, the Norwich American Legion and – new this year – the R.C. Smith Foundation.
A complete list of other businesses, organizations and individuals who donated to the Winter Challenge Week can be found on its website, winterchallenge.org.
For 62-year-old Pete Frink, the experience has been unlike any he’s ever known. In March of 2011, Frink’s leg was amputated and, he said, learning to ski as part of the Winter Challenge Week has been both inspirational and motivational.
“I’m a greenhorn, that’s for sure,” laughed Frink. “But I’ll tell you something, most of the people I’ve met here for the first time treat me like they’ve known me for 20 years ... it’s really, really been fun.”
Frink added that the program marks the first time he’s had an opportunity to talk with other amputees and it’s been “easy to relate with them.” That kind of experience is just one more postitive byproduct of Winter Challenge Week, said instructor Doreen Rowe, who’s been working with the program since its inception.
“Every year they’re so amazing ... the transformations we go through here are just incredible,” added Rowe, a Level 1 adaptive ski instructor. “Even beyond the skiing part, to go from not knowing others who are disabled to realizing you’re not disabled at all, it’s just a condition and you have the ability to do anything you want to do. It’s basically a revelation.”
Rowe said she uses the opportunity to instruct as a way to “re-charge her batteries,” and takes vacation time away from work to participate every year. The energy – not to mention the smiles – she said, makes any problems she might have seem insignificant.
“You realize that you don’t really have any problems ... it puts everything in perspective,” she added.
First time participant Jordan Oliver, of Norwich, spent the week tri-skiing down the slopes of Greek Peak. In May of 2011, Oliver lost a leg after a near-fatal motorcycle accident.
“This is the coolest thing I’ve done since my accident,” said Oliver. “I don’t want to go home ... it’s just awesome.”
Oliver said it’s the volunteers who make the experience so special and, thanks to them, he’s found his new favorite sport.
According to King, when Oliver’s brother saw him on television, smiling for the camera, it was the “first real Jordan smile” he had seen since the accident that took his leg. The volunteers who make Winter Challenge Week possible, she added, are always encouraging, always positive, and always there to pick [participants] up when they fall.
“We have a magnificent core group of instructors,” said King.
Katie McLaughlin, a 20-year-old graduate of Mt. Upton who works as a lifeguard at the Norwich YMCA, said the program is a chance to set – and achieve – goals for herself. Last week, the amputee fulfilled one of those goals, skiing one of Greek Peak’s black diamond slopes. In the future, McLaughlin is hoping to outdo even that, losing the outriggers and tackling the mountain’s racing slope, Olympia.
“It’s fun and it’s a great program,” said McLaughlin. “The instructors are nice; they’re here to help and they’re dedicated to the program.”
That dedication starts at the top, said Solowiej, who said King’s efforts are instrumental to the program’s success.
“Robyn puts in hundreds of hours, making phone calls and sending e-mails ... she’s the backbone of this program,” he added. “This program means so much to me, the way it makes me feel inside, I feel like I can never give back enough.”
According to King, she only needs four things to keep that success going: participants, volunteers, sponsors and a positive attitude.
“That’s all I ask them to bring and we’ll do the rest,” she added.
For more information on Winter Challenge Week or Greek Peak’s Adaptive Sports Center visit winterchallenge.org or greekpeak.net respectively.