Anyone Can Ski West Virginia

West Virginians are hard at work to make ski slopes accessible to all.

This story was originally published in the February 2020 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. To subscribe, visit wonderfulwv.com.

written by Dave Lavender
photos courtesy of Snowshoe Mountain Resort

Chris Ujvagi went skiing with a 98-year-old man at Canaan Valley Resort & Conference Center. Healed up from a broken femur, the nearly century-old gentleman wanted to see if he could still hit the slopes. After 20 minutes and with a satisfied smile, the man called it a day. “He just wanted to see if he could do it again, and he says to me, â€˜Yeah that’s about what I thought I could do.’ You spend time with someone like that and you’re like, â€˜What do I have to complain about?’ All of these little things in our lives aren’t real obstacles compared to what our clients are going through.” Ujvagi says.

For Ujvagi, that was just another day at the office. The 2019–2020 ski season is his 24th year as director of the Adaptive Ski Program at Canaan Valley Resort & Conference Center. The Canaan program is one of two West Virginia programs run by the nonprofit Challenged Athletes of West Virginia (CAWV), a chapter of Disabled Sports USA. Silver Creek Ski Area at Snowshoe Mountain Resort is the headquarters for CAWV.

Challenged Athletes of West Virginia (CAWV) is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA based at Silver Creek at Snowshoe Mountain and at Canaan Valley.

Challenged Athletes of West Virginia has provided adaptive sports to guests who have physical and cognitive disabilities since the chapter opened in 1996. The organization offers equipment and instruction for adaptive alpine skiing and snowboarding, adaptive bicycling, and other outdoor activities. “We work with people from 3 to 103 and people with all kinds of physical, mental, and emotional exceptionalities,” Ujvagi says. “I look at it as an exceptionality rather than a disability. We are all individuals, and anybody can get out there and ski. There’s a bunch of able-bodied people who say they can’t ski, then there’s people missing limbs who are told they can’t ski. But if they have the heart and the mind to make it happen, we will make it happen.”

Getting Everyone on the Slopes

Supported by grants and private donations, CAWV uses both paid and volunteer ski staff—-often therapists, nurses, and teachers—-who work with people living everything from autism, hearing or visual impairment, or post-traumatic stress disorder to cerebral palsy and varying degrees of paralysis. Manufacturers such as Enabling Technologies, Mountain Man, and Freedom Factory make a wide range of adaptive ski gear, from outriggers—think polio crutches with ski bottoms for stabilization—to mono- and bi-skis: one or two skis under a seat to help folks enjoy the exhilarating freedom of skiing.

“We have a lot of different adaptive equipment, whether you are a sit-down skier or a stand-up skier,” says Carol Woody, the adaptive ski director at Silver Creek. “Maybe you just need some adaptive equipment or some extra assistance to help you if you have a balance issue. We have the patience and understanding to help with that type of thing. That is what we are here for.”

Since opening in West Virginia in 1996, the Challenged Athletes of West Virginia have provided adaptive sports to guests with physical and cognitive disabilities.

Canaan and Snowshoe resorts host a variety of groups annually. In Canaan Valley, the Lions Clubs of West Virginia sponsor ski trips for the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Special Love, out of Bethesda, Maryland, sponsors a Canaan Valley trip for childhood cancer patients and their families. Silver Creek hosts wounded veterans’ groups and attracts more than 60 veterans and their families each year to ski in winter and to cycle, ride horseback, and canoe in summer.

At both locations, it is best to call and reserve a spot, since volunteers and staffing are limited. While all guests get one-on-one instruction, others may require more assistance. “We want to be prepared for what equipment we might need before the group or the family arrives,” Woody says.

While volunteers are most often regular skiers with experience as teachers or therapists, Silver Creek has, under Woody’s leadership, implemented a junior volunteer program to assist older volunteers. “A lot of the lessons deal with heavy equipment and people who need extra help, and so we need all types of volunteers. Last year a really successful thing was our junior volunteers program, bringing in kids ranging from age 12 to 18. It is nice for kids to have their peers with them on the mountain. I think it is very rewarding for the volunteers and something they can feel so good about, getting to share their passion for the sport.”

Overcoming Their Own Adversities

Both adaptive ski programs, at Silver Creek and in Canaan Valley, have overcome challenges over the past couple seasons. At Silver Creek, program founder Dave Begg got sick in April 2018 then passed away just a few months later. Begg, who had lost a leg, had been there since the beginning.

Begg had carried the Olympic torch on its way to the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002, and Woody described him as an inspiration to all. In 2005, a Begg-led capital campaign built the Silver Creek Adaptive Ski Program’s log cabin headquarters, where students and families have their own space. Woody, a volunteer since the late 1990s, then a part-time employee and close friends with Begg, stepped in when board members suggested she fill the director’s role after Begg’s passing.

“The program is amazing. To be able to get to share our passion of riding out on the snow in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia with all people no matter what their ability might be is amazing,” Woody says. “I wish Dave was still here to point us in the right direction, but we must pick up and carry on, and that is what we have done.”

Becoming A Part of the Community

The adaptive ski programs draw all types of families who enjoy their unique offerings. One of the Silver Creek program’s board members, David Billings, came to Snowshoe from Pittsburgh in 2009 with his wife, Kristin, and their youngest daughter, who has autism. They have stayed, invested, and made a home on the mountain. They built the Corduroy Inn, which houses the popular restaurant Appalachia Kitchen and Tuque’s Bar and Grill. “They started coming primarily because of the adaptive ski program, and they eventually bought a house here, then a couple condos, then ended up buying the inn and reviving restaurants—and now they are building a four-story hotel and event center,” Woody says. “David has impacted not only this program, but the whole community.”

Challenged Athletes of West Virginia provide adaptive sports to guests with physical and cognitive disabilities at Silver Creek at Snowshoe Mountain and at Canaan Valley.

For Ujvagi, his program’s Timberline home began disappearing when the resort ran into financial troubles in 2018. Ujvagi and his team began hosting more events at neighboring Canaan Resort. In 2019, they moved their entire operation and all of their equipment to Canaan, where they are based out of the Canaan Valley Resort ski school. “Timberline always treated us well,” he says. “Even though it was chaos at the end, it was still a great relationship. They were very supportive of us doing what we needed to take care of clients.”

Ujvagi had worked with the Canaan Valley Resort for more than six years, so it was a natural move. Canaan’s ski school director, Warren Wik, was one of Ujvagi’s lead adaptive instructors for a while. “Canaan has been really receptive and has helped us figure out how it can work,” Uvagi says. “Mike Chaney, the mountain manager, and Warren, who had worked with us, knew the program and how we built it, and so everybody was excited to have us there. It was an easy transition for our clients to come over to Canaan.”

Although they have limited, shared space at Canaan, the space works well—a nearby elevator to the second floor and accessible bathrooms are a benefit. Eventually the group hopes to have a bigger space, but for now, they feel blessed their program serving 200 to 300 skiers a year didn’t fade away in the valley.

“Hopefully when Timberline reopens, we can be back there, too, and have a presence at both ski resorts,” Ujvagi says of his program’s previous home, which just before Thanksgiving was purchased by Indiana-based Perfect North Slopes, Inc. He sees this change as just a bump in the road. “Living here in Canaan Valley, we are surrounded by a lot of good people who always know you have to be flexible. Our clients have always been supportive of us and, in the big picture, we are all doing our little piece to try and make this a better place and to get people out on the snow and having the time of their lives.”