‘Back on the slopes’
Published 4:00 am Monday, January 28, 2008
- Carl Backstrom, 39, left, of Redmond, chases Myles Bagley, 20, of Bend, down the slope as the two ski Sunday at Mt. Bachelor on chairs attached to a ski designed for people with disabilities.
Sipping a cup of hot cocoa, Myles Bagley chatted with his snowboarding buddies Sunday at Sunrise Lodge before making one last run down the slopes on Mt. Bachelor.
But instead of strapping his feet onto a board, Bagley sat in a chair attached to one ski. Then, with the brief help of an instructor, Bagley pushed himself onto the Sunrise Express chairlift to brave the mountain yet again.
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“I knew I’d be back up,” Bagley said.
The 20-year-old, who is paralyzed at the waist, is one of several people that Oregon Adaptive Sports helps each weekend. The nonprofit is part of Disabled Sports USA, an organization that provides recreational activities to more than 60,000 people across the country, according to its Web site.
In Central Oregon, representatives of Oregon Adaptive Sports typically teach five people each weekend how to ski, said President Kendall Cook. Oregon Adaptive Sports, based in Bend, used to mainly train at Hoodoo Mountain Resort but started teaching at Mt. Bachelor this season.
The group provides ski instruction to anybody with a disability, Cook said. Most people are in wheelchairs, but some children have developmental disabilities. The lessons cost skiers $55 for a half day or $70 for the entire day.
“I just enjoy getting other people up here,” Cook said. “A lot of people think, ‘Wow, I’m disabled. I’ll never be able to ski.’”
Bagley was not one of them.
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The Bend resident started learning to snowboard around age 15 and used to go almost every day, he said. About two years ago, he broke his back while going for a jump near the Skyliner Express chairlift. He did not want to give up the sport.
After his body started to heal, Bagley learned about Oregon Adaptive Sports and decided to check it out. Sunday was Bagley’s first time back on the mountain since his injury.
He only fell five times as of about 3 p.m., which amazed Cook and Bagley’s friends.
“I was surprised,” said friend Jeremy Pratt, 26, of Bend. “He was carving it up, dude.”
Cook said Bagley learned fast.
He helped Bagley the first time. But after that, Bagley maneuvered down the mountain mostly by himself with thick poles. Cook helped him get on the chairlift, which operators did not even have to stop.
“Once he gets up on the mountain, he’s just like everybody else,” Cook added.
David Lindemann, a 36-year-old snowboarder from Bend, met Bagley for the first time Sunday and was impressed by the work of Oregon Adaptive Sports.
“It gives you an opportunity to get back into it,” Lindemann said. “To get back up on the mountain.”
Bagley agreed.
“It definitely helps out a lot of people,” he said. “It helps people get back on the slopes.”
Interested in carving it up?
Oregon Adaptive Sports’ ski lessons for the disabled occur each weekend and cost skiers $55 for a half day or $70 for a full day.
For details about the nonprofit group, call 419-0314 or visit the Web site at www .oregonadaptivesports.org.