Calm winds and bluebird conditions recently gave Ashley Schahfer the chance to ski from Mount Bachelor’s summit for the first time. Schahfer’s challenge was a bit more complicated, however: She would glide down the mountain while strapped into a sit ski.

The adaptive ski setup features a bucket seat that is supported by shocks and a foot platform. It’s attached to a conventional alpine ski. Poles with mini pivoting skis, called outriggers, give sit skiers added support — and surprising mobility.

Schahfer, 32, who has been paraplegic since a 2001 car accident, is in her third season of sit skiing. Several instructors and volunteers from Oregon Adaptive Sports, a Bend-based nonprofit, instruct Schahfer two to three times a week at Mt. Bachelor ski area. The OAS personnel, who are able-bodied and wear stand-up skis, accompany students on their runs.

Schahfer explained how instructor Jeremy Fox planted the seed of the summit as a benchmark accomplishment.

“My goal is to get all over the mountain,” she said.

On top of the mountain, several OAS instructors gave Schahfer, wearing a helmet and goggles, and fellow sit skier Dan Murray, whoops of encouragement. Schahfer shifted her weight and pointed her sit ski down the mountain. She carved steady S turns on the steep slope, eventually gliding more than 3,000 feet before she would reach the mountain’s base.

Schahfer will also be among nearly a dozen sit skiers who take part in OAS’ inaugural ski-athon fundraiser on March 24. Skiers, snowboarders and sit skiers race to rack up the most cumulative vertical feet throughout the day. A separate fundraising challenge will award a SnoPlanks snowboard or ski set to the winner.

“Ski For All is a full-day celebration of inclusive outdoor recreation,” said Pat Addabbo, the OAS executive director.

The nonprofit teaches at Mt. Bachelor and Hoodoo ski resorts, whose management provides them office space. Each year, the organization, which also offers a summer program that features equipment like adaptive kayaks and handcycles, helps more than 400 individuals with disabilities throughout Oregon have nearly 1,500 outdoor experiences. The Ski For All event is halfway in reaching its $20,000 goal through individual fundraising, sponsorships and event registrations.

Steep learning curve

OAS instructor Kellie Standish knows firsthand how difficult sit skiing can be. During her first attempts, Standish, who’s able-bodied, did a lot of falling.

“It doesn’t feel great. It’s a really tough learning curve,” Standish said.

Like all of the group’s instructors, Standish is an expert stand-up skier who can cruise all of Mt. Bachelor’s terrain. She can also take a sit ski just about everywhere, too.

“Sit skiing is really different than any other sport. Once you get the feel of the force through the turn, it’s pretty awesome,” Standish said. “I don’t know if I even get that feeling stand-up skiing. It definitely takes your instruction up a level. You earn credibility with your students, especially when the process gets hard.”

Top of the mountain

Schahfer, a Portland native, first tried sit skiing through an OAS collaboration with Portland State University, where she was earning a graduate degree in architecture. She moved to Bend in 2017 for the many outdoor activities and the dry winter cold. She takes OAS lessons two to three times a week to help her master the sport.

To warm up for her first summit descent, Schahfer queued up for the Sunrise Express ski lift with two OAS instructors on stand-up skis. When the chair comes around the lift operator slows it so the instructors can help Schahfer hoist herself onto the chair while remaining in the sit ski — its ski dangling alongside her companions’. They took the lift to Marshmallow, a beginner run. Schahfer practiced flowing S-shaped turns by shifting her weight onto one of her outriggers, cruising at about 20 mph.

Later when Schahfer and her crew took a lift to the summit, her awe for the panorama was checked by apprehension. Even Beverley Hills, the mellowest intermediate run from the summit, features moguls and a pitch that hits 40 degrees. It also wasn’t groomed. Instructors helped Schahfer get to an ideal launching point.

“You’ve totally got this!” Standish yelled from downhill. “She gets nervous on new terrain just like all of us, but she had all the skills to get down the hill safely.”

Schahfer pointed her sit ski downhill and made sharp turns on the chunky slope. When she over-hugged a turn, she caught a ski edge and slammed into the snow. Despite the impact, Schahfer beamed while OAS instructors and volunteers cheered. She shook out the jitters. While instructors helped Schahfer right herself, sit skiers Greg Myriallas and Warren Cleary, who dangled overhead from a Summit Express chair, yipped encouragingly like coyotes. Both expert sit skiers have benefited from OAS instruction and equipment rentals. Cleary pays it forward by volunteering as an instructor. He and his friend soon slashed turns down the mountain to where Schahfer was regrouping after another spill. Cleary offered advice and demonstrated how to better angle an outrigger downhill while turning. Schahfer listened intently. She later said she appreciated the pointers and general camaraderie.

“It’s nice we were all up there. (Cleary and Myriallas) like to cruise by lessons and give advice,” Schahfer said. She counts about a dozen regular sit skiers at Mt. Bachelor. The adaptive athletes also enjoy camping, mountain biking, paddleboarding and kayaking together.

“It’s a really great community,” Schahfer said.

An incredible feeling

On this day, as Schahfer made her way down the mountain, Cleary was having one of the best skis of his life.

“This is the first year since my injury that I truly feel like a skier again,” said Cleary. “There have been a lot of people who have helped along the way, but the biggest push for me was OAS. They’re remarkable.”

Cleary, 34, sustained a spinal cord injury in 2011 during a jump as a member of the U.S. Parachute Team, he said. A few years after his injury, he participated in a program called the Alpine Adapted Ski Scholarship in Breckenridge, Colorado, where he took sit-ski lessons.

“Previously, I was a ski instructor, so I understood the mechanics; it was just a matter of doing it in a seated position. The first day, they had me going on blues, and the next day I was going on blacks. My instructor was dumbfounded. He was like, ‘Are you guys messing with me? Is this kid a skier and you’re pranking me?’”

Cleary moved to Bend in 2016 from Atlanta. He quickly linked up with OAS, whose “family atmosphere” made him feel at home. OAS helped both Schahfer and Cleary secure grants to help them buy their own sit skis, which cost about $5,000.

Sit skiing isn’t Cleary’s only adaptive passion. He tackled adaptive versions of swimming, basketball, softball, lacrosse and rock climbing. He also got into adaptive sky diving and paragliding and earned his private pilot’s license.

But there is something special about sit skiing.

“Skiing is like it used to be. Once you figure out the mechanics, the freedom and the speed and the mobility is limitless,” Cleary said. “It’s the most amazing experience I’ve had post-injury. Once I strap on that ski and I get off the lift, I don’t feel disabled. I feel empowered. And I feel unstoppable. I’m so fast and agile; it’s an incredible feeling.’

When Cleary was still in a learning phase last year, he and Myriallas skied together. Cleary took notes on Myriallas’ finesse on the groomers when he wasn’t taking Myriallas off-piste into challenging conditions.

“The light bulb just went off, and now he’s doing stuff on the mountain I never thought I’d see him do,” Cleary said. “He’s dipping into the trees and jumping off of things in the terrain park. We’ve been able to push each other outside of our individual comfort zones. It’s such a rewarding experience when it’s with someone who is going through the exact same thing as you. It’s not like in the hospital when all these nurse educators are telling you how your life is going to be, and they’re standing. When you’ve got another skier telling you, ‘I can do it. You can do it. Come on, let’s go.’ It’s so amazing.”

As for the Ski For All event, Cleary is going go compete both in the fundraising aspect as well as in the vertical climb challenge.

“I don’t have (an elevation) goal in mind, but I just know I’m going to win,” Cleary said with a laugh. “No one is going to go as long and hard as me. I’m going to eat on the chair, I’m not going to stop. I’ll just go, go, go.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com