Training Airlines on Handling Wheelchairs

I spent the first three days of this week in Houston, Texas training Continental Airlines' ground crew how to handle assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and scooters, and came away with a new appreciation for what that team does.

This training was organized by Eric Lipp of the Open Doors Organization (www.opendoorsnfp.org), with the help of Michael Bliwas and The Mobility Shop (https://themobilityshop.com/), and we all agreed that this was a successful first stop on what we hope will be a large, comprehensive tour to train airline ground crews around the globe.

The purpose of these trainings is not only to teach crews how to properly lift and stow assistive devices, but how to take care of them, disassemble them, and return them to customers in one piece. Airlines currently spend way too much of their budget replacing and repairing broken assistive equipment and with today’s economy, we hope we are teaching employees how to save their company money and avoid fines "from the ground up!"

As always we were very impressed with Continental's employees; they came with a sincere eagerness to learn, tamper with, and fully explore the subject. We look forward to working with other airlines and are excited for Continental to once again lead the way in the topic of handling customers with disabilities.

Unfortunately due to technical difficulties with our video camera we don't have an example of this training, but we hope to get some useful tools up soon!

Go Anywhere, Do Anything! -Craig

DAYS 3-4: More Sun and a Little Powder

Day 3 is always the hardest to fit some writing in, between skiing one last day on the mountain, finishing touches for our final banquet and cat-planning for the Powdercats Trip, Wednesday always zooms by, and then Thursday we spent in the backcountry with Steamboat Powdercats.

But we had another rare January Bluebird day on Wednesday and then a gorgeous day up on Buffalo Pass. Thursday we had 3 cats full of happy campers and volunteers; unfortunately we can't fit everyone from the camp on the trip, so we also had about 10-15 campers on the hill that day for one final lesson with Adaptive Adventures.





Thanks to everyone who helps to sponsor this amazing event- and those who've helped promote it. The Steamboat Pilot has been an amazing supporter this year, printing several articles on the camp both in the paper and online, including a cover/feature article today. A huge thanks to Joel at the Pilot for all of those, he's among the best sports reporters they've had in the last decade, and we're very thankful he's given us some amazing press.

Adaptive Camp Opens Doors for Wounded Warriors
5th Annual All Mountain Ski Camp
Open Town to Disabilities

Facebook Photo Album

Huge Thanks to all our sponsors!

Steamboat Powdercats, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, Boeing, Sharpshooter Photography, Wounded Warrior Project, NRC Broadcasting, Resort Quest, Resort Group, Steamboat Grand, Sheraton Steamboat Resort, Boyd & Barbara Bass, Christopher and Mary Ellen Jehn, Smartwool, Hampton Inn & Suites, Ptarmigan Inn, Holiday Inn of Steamboat, Jan Levy, Sportstalker, Colorado Event Rentals, Native Excavating, Custom Color, TIC, Wells Fargo, B & K Distributing, Shively Construction, Millennium Bank, Mountain Valley Bank, ML Enterprises, Steve Green Company, Home on the Range, Dax Mattox State Farm, Alpine Taxi, Little Moon Essentials, US Foodservice, Back Country Provisions, Central Park Liquor, City Market, Steamboat Snowmobile Tours, VFW, Freshies, The Egg & I, Creekside Caf, Brooklyn’s Pizzeria, Blue Sage Pizza, Mazzola’s Majestic Italian, Dominos, Beau Jo’s, Cugino’s, The Sanctuary Camp

And a special thanks to all our volunteers and crock pot chefs!

DAY 2: Bluebirds and Bombers

The girls have dubbed the boys The Bombers for their turnless technique and maching speed. This camp is aggressive this year, maybe it's the conditions, maybe it's a sign of the times; but either way, everyone is going after it like its DerbyDay in the 'Boat, and the ladies are declaring an official Morning with the Maidens tomorrow...


The troop got another 9am start on the hill and although we took a long lunch doing our group photo and dealing with grill issues, it was 4:00 by the time I walked to my car. Lap after lap we did on the sunny side, from wide open groomers to tight funnels, from giggling rollers to the jib park, we hit it all. Blue skies abound made backdrops from heaven on this glorious spring-like day.

Best quote of the day, "I ain't gonna lie to you, I'm whooped!"

DAY 1: Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp

In its fifth year, we're excited to bring back this wonderful camp; and for such beautiful weather. About 75 participants, coaches, on and off-snow volunteers and all the local supporting staff have made this Zero Waste event kick off with a winner. Skiing for over six hours in several groups, the first day of the Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp enjoyed soft groomers under bright blue skies. If the temps didn't freeze your skin on impact, we'd have thought it was March out there.



We're on the mountain tomorrow and Wednesday, starting with breakfast at the Bear River from 8 to 9; volunteers welcome, ski buddies needed. Video to come!




A dear thanks to all our camp sponsors and lead coordinators:
Adaptive Adventures, Access Anything, STARS, Steamboat Ski Area, Steamboat Powdercats

5th Annual All Mountain Ski Camp

Access Anything, along with Adaptive Adventures, Steamboat Ski Area, STARS, Steamboat Powdercats, and a long list of local supporting businesses welcomes the 5th annual All Mountain Ski and Ride Camp to Steamboat starting January 10th through the 14th.

This event draws adaptive (disabled) skiers and riders from as far as the UK, with two returning monoskiers from Ireland and Scotland, as well as from all over the US. Over 75 participants, volunteers, and coaches take to the slopes Monday January 11th for three days of advanced adaptive group skiing on Steamboat Ski Area to improve their powder skills in Steamboat's famous Champagne Powder.

The camp is part of Adaptive Adventure's seasonal ski camp series, including camps all over Colorado and two in new locations of Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee, WY later in the season.

The Steamboat camp is unique however for its sought-after back country powder day with Steamboat Powdercats; with only 9 seats on this trip for monoskiers (sitskiers), the camp books up to 11 months in advance as soon as the next years' dates are announced.

The camp also welcomes several wounded soldiers from both US and UK troops injured in combat and looking to get back out on the slopes. Soldiers and their families are sponsored fully to the camp; Sponsor a Soldier donations are still welcome.

View the video from last years' camp.

The coordinating group welcomes newcomers STARS to the mix, a new nonprofit in Steamboat that has taken over the adaptive sports programming on mountain as of last year, and helped cosponsor its first ski camp in March of 2009 with the partnership with Access Anything and Adaptive Adventures. As of February 2010, STARS will be taking over the on-mountain camp series, bringing a wealth of coaching experience and the nonprofit funding assistance that the area has needed for some time. Look for more camps, more sports and more fun in the near future in Steamboat! More on STARS