More than 300 veterans tackled the slopes this week at the 25th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass Village, Colorado, held March 27-April 1. The clinic provides injured veterans the opportunity to learn life-changing skills through rehabilitative winter sporting events.
Joe Biden visits with veterans during the opening ceremony. Photograph courtesy of The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Vice President Joe Biden, in a surprise appearance, stopped by the opening ceremony on Sunday to thank the veterans for their service. He also stayed to visit with veterans on Sunday and Monday.
“The National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic challenges veterans to move beyond their personal comfort zones and answer [the question], ‘What’s possible?'” Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eric K. Shinseki said in a VA press release. “These disabled veterans inspire all of us both this week and the other 51 weeks of the year.”
The clinic is an annual rehabilitation program open to all U.S. military veterans with spinal cord injuries or disease, visual impairments, certain neurological conditions, orthopedic amputations, or other disabilities, who receive care at VA healthcare facilities.
Jointly sponsored by the VA and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) since 1991, the clinic is hosted each year by the VA Medical Center, Grand Junction, Colorado, and VA’s Rocky Mountain Network. An estimated 200 certified ski instructors for the disabled, and several current and former members of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team serve as instructors.
“The DAV is proud to partner with the VA to build on a quarter of a century of successfully bettering the lives of disabled veterans through this clinic,” said DAV National Commander Wallace E. Tyson. “For the thousands of men and women who have accepted the challenges of this mountainside, a new window has opened on the possibilities of life after sickness and devastating injury.”
During the six-day program, veterans learn adaptive Alpine and Nordic skiing techniques and are introduced to other adaptive activities and sports such as rock climbing, scuba diving, trap-shooting, and sled hockey. The clinic is an extension of the rehabilitative care veterans receive at VA medical centers across the country.
Additionally, veteran athletes may become eligible to compete in the nation’s premiere athletic events at the clinic. Since 2005, the VA has partnered with the U.S. Paralympics to introduce Winter Sports Clinic participants to Paralympic sports and to elite-level training opportunities.
First place finisher in the 2011 World Cup Championships Super G event Chris Devlin-Young, the Paralympian and past Winter Sports Clinic participant, shared his experience and techniques with veteran athletes, along with other Paralympians whose athletic aspirations first began at the Winter Sports Clinic.
For video highlights of the event and “stories from the mountain,” visit www.wintersportsclinic.va.gov
