Texas or Bust! The Abilities Expo Takes Off in San Antonio...

Once again, many innovative designs and great ideas make the stage at the San Antonio Abilities Expo, a new city on the Abilities Expo circuit. For a pilot expo, San Antonio's drew a moderate crowd of 2000 over three days, but in time will build momentum to match some of the premier stops on Abilities' list such as New York, which sees about 12,000 visitors over the three days, according to event organizer Veronica Gonello.

Each expo is different by year and by state, according to the participating businesses and non-profits at the expo. This particular expo in San Antonio had a wonderful sports arena inside the expo, and the San Antonio Parks and Rec Adaptive Program had a show-and-tell for nearly all of the fifteen adaptive sports programs they offer in town. Craig got to participate in basketball, (which he said seemed a lot like exercise!) and we watched volleyball, fencing, and soccer to name a few! This hit close to home for us, as our second guidebook on all adapted sports and recreations comes out this April and, and this expo allowed us to see some of these (such as fencing) that we've written about but not yet tried. An angry wheelie with a sword... keep me out of THAT ring!

Some of our pictures and videos are posted on our webpages, click the links below to see those additional highlights of the sports and exhibits we saw in Tx. And stay tuned for more Abilities Expos to come!

April 25-27, Edison NJ (12,000 visitors, the biggest of them all!)

June 15-17, Anaheim, CA

Sept 7-9, Minneapolis, MN

The Abilities network puts on about four expos per year, and so far the only one that's been a reliable location is the NY area. To help host an Abilities Expo near you, contact Carmen Jones 703-920-0225; email: cjones@disability-marketing.com.

See our video and photos of this trip! (click here)

Adaptive All Mountain Ski Camp Beams Success!

January 12-16, 2007, Steamboat Springs, CO

Another successful winter ski camp has passed thanks in part to our huge sponsors, wonderful volunteers, inspiring participants, and as usual, great weather! The Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp is part of the Adaptive Adventures All Mountain Series, bringing world-class instruction to adaptive skiers of intermediate and advanced abilities. This is Steamboat's second year supporting this series, and thanks to the wonderfully supportive town we call home, it's well on its way to becoming the top in the series.

Made unique by the amazing backcountry day with co-sponsors Steamboat PowderCats in deep untracked powder, Steamboat's version of the All Mountain camp is already drawing a loyal returning group of participants. We will undoubtedly have to begin a waiting list for the future of this camp because of its growing popularity. Dozens of food, lodging, and activity donations have made this camp a top-knotch event, while keeping the cost of the camp very low for the participants.

The 2007 camp welcomed over 35 skiers with disabilities and a total of over 75 participants, volunteers, coaches, instructors, and organizers. Because of Adaptive Adventure's affiliation with Disabled Sports USA and the Wounded Warrior Project, the camp has a special focus on recently wounded veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and others serving over seas. Of the 35 skiers with disabilities, over half of those are veteran. One main goal for this All Mountain camp is to give our wounded soldiers a new outlook on life, adventure, travel and sports despite ability or disability.

See our February newsletter for more highlights, photos, and testimonials from this year's Vectra Bank Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp!

A special thanks must go out to all our sponsors for the amazing success of the 2007 camp:

Steamboat Ski Area, Steamboat PowderCats, Adaptive Adventures, Vectra Bank, Shively Construction, Snow Country Construction, AXS Vail Valley, Sheraton Steamboat Resort, Steamboat Resorts, Mountain Resorts, Bear Berry Cottages, Resort Quest Steamboat, Steamboat Grand Resort, JK Wall Designers, Greg Smith Catering, Colorado Bagel CO, Creekside Cafe, Freshies, Egg & I, Mahogany Ridge Brewery, the Rio Grande, Steamboat Smokehouse, Double ZZ, Blimpee Subs, Slopeside Grill, Subway, Colorado Embroidery, Hemp Essentials, Smartwool, Life is Good, Christy Sports, Sports Stalker, and Alpine Taxi.

Without our valued sponsors this event and its success would be impossible to acheive, THANK YOU!

Dear Friend is Inducted...

Not that this club is the all-around best to be inducted to, but the SCI (spinal cord injury) club is a tight one. Wherever we go we recognize people we know, people who know people we know, or people who have heard of us or organizations we know. It's tightknit like a small community of friends who have been through the same life-altering experience, and when needed, it pulls together like a family.

On December 21, a cherished member of the PowderCats family suffered a T-1/C-7 spinal cord injury while snowboarding in the backcountry on fairly easy terrain. Dave Genchi, PowderCat's photographer and videographer and relatively-new Steamboat local, made a surf-turn off a rock and fell. The backpack full of equipment didn't help, but his helmet sure did. He split the darn thing in half, and without it, either wouldn't be with us today, or would have a serious brain injury on top of his spinal one.

Steamboat is rallying to Dave's side with many visits to the hospital, and by opening a foundation for donation at Wells Fargo Bank locally. We hope all our readers who have been through this will support Dave in his progress towards recovery. Because of the intense storms that hit Denver at the time of Dave's accident, he was brought to St Mary's hospital in Grand Junction. We have great news thought that Dave will be transferred to top-knotch Craig Hospital in Denver when his body is ready.

Dave, we hope you know that we are here for you, with all our hearts, prayers, and network, and will be encouraging you whole-heartedly to Go Anywhere, Do Anything when you're ready. Welcome to the club, however comforting that isn't, your network is ready when you are...

Gearing up for the storms

This was a great year NOT to travel in and out of Denver, and although we're glad we stayed put ourselves, several of our friends suffered delays, cancellations, and reroutes during travel, and many more who didn't travel suffered power outages, destruction, and other obstacles during the time that was supposed to be a holiday.

So we've decided to throw in a few tips for travelers over the next few remaining months of winter, in case you should see storms this bad again.

First, always put 1-3 days worth of supplies in a carry-on bag. This includes everyday necessities such as medical supplies and clothes, but remember you can wash clothes and buy some items, so we always stick with the items we could neither find easily while either trapped in an aiport or at our destination without our other luggage.

Next, always carry all your medical phone numbers in case you do need to order anything, including your insurance numbers, doctor's numbers, medical supply company, and a list of your usual orders from there in case someone else has to order. We know this might sound obvious, but you can never be too prepared.

We also recommend having the airlines label your itinerary with all your special needs and requirements; disabled individuals with documented special needs are usually taken care of first in case of rescheduling, and if the airlines don't have record of this, it's harder for them to help you. Although your pride may usually keep you from spelling out any special needs, your pride will not get your needs handled quickly and efficiently.

We always have backup batteries or chargers for your power wheelchair, cell phone, computer or PDA in our carry ons, so if we are separated from your luggage, we don't lose the ability to use your chair or locate your important numbers in case of emergency. We also use the same cell phones and PDAs so we only have to bring one cord for both.

Last, stay in contact. If people are expecting you, notify them of your delays and your possibilities so someone on the other end is aware of your location, your needs, and your status. Having someone on the "outside" is always a key element in finding solutions. For instance, when we fly through connecting cities, if we have contacts in these cities we'll make contact during tentative weather so they know if we get stuck, we have them as an option.

Playing it safe and being prepared for anything weather- or travel-related will certainly ease your mind and lower stress levels (and assist your overall health!) while you play-it-cool amidst the storm!

GO ANYWHERE DO ANYTHING!

SKI SEASON HAS BEGUN!

What's better than hot pumpkin pie jammed into your oozing belly on top of all that turkey and stuffing? 15" of powder 2 days after all the leftovers are gone, that's what!

Yeah, our first 4 days of the 06-07 Steamboat Ski Season were seriously anticlimactic: too much sun and not enough groomers. But today we all woke up with much bigger smiles on our faces. And for me, a killer reason to write!

Dump-a-gé! Supposedly it's not supposed to stop until some time late on Wednesday. Not as in-shape for it as we gym-addicts were last year, the depths took their toll on us early today and we had to come down around 10:30 for some major-muscle-group relief. But we'll be back up bright and early tomorrow...

Until then, keep on dumping!