Challenge Aspen to host event series for people with mobility issues
Inaugural series increases adaptive opportunities for individuals with mobility issues during non-winter months
Nate Gillette/Courtesy photo
Those with mobility issues will take to the trails this week in a hiking and mountain-biking adaptive event series hosted by Challenge Aspen.
With its inaugural “Fall Trek and Ride,” Challenge Aspen, an organization dedicated to facilitating adaptive experiences for individuals with physical or cognitive disabilities, shifts its focus to adaptive non-winter sports. This means helping people get on trail at Aspen Snowmass and the Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley campus.
Adaptive trekking participants can meet Challenge Aspen at Snowmass Village, 9 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday to trek the Ditch Trail. To bike, they can meet Friday at CMC Spring Valley Trails at 9 a.m. or noon for either the mountain bike lessons or a community ride. To sign up, contact Nate Gillette, Challenge Aspen CAMO program director at ngillette@challengeaspen.org.
“For this event our goal is to get people with mobility issues out on trail and especially at this awesome time of the year when the aspens are popping and everyone has just come up here to be in the tunnels of gold,” Gillette said. “We want to create access so that people in wheelchairs or other mobility issues are able to experience that too.”
Challenge Aspen Recreation Program Manager Callie Dickson said these kinds of events are critical because, despite the region’s beauty, the valley is not accessible to everyone.
“So just being able to be an option and a resource to the community to enjoy this valley to the fullest — some people just need a little bit more support getting out there,” Dickson said.
After receiving a grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation last fall, which focuses on getting equipment for people with spinal cord injuries, Challenge Aspen purchased two all-terrain wheelchairs and one mountain hand cycle to allow people with mobility issues to do adaptive hiking and mountain biking.
Since its founding in 1995, Challenge Aspen has been known mostly for facilitating adaptive experiences on snow. This is the first year the organization has the proper equipment to take people on trails during non-winter months.
“The goal is to be just as well-known for awesome summer activities to get people access to the outdoors as we are getting people out skiing at the resort,” Gillette said.
The equipment allows the user to propel themselves forward using hand cranks, which, combined with all-terrain tires, enables the individual to access what would previously be inaccessible territory.
“They’re wildly capable and super cool,” Gillette said, referring to the new equipment.
“You come together as a team and you can conquer some pretty awesome stuff that somebody in a wheelchair likely wouldn’t be able to do and they definitely wouldn’t be able to do with their street wheelchair,” he added.
Not having the correct equipment would be like trying to climb a 14er in flip flops, Gillette said.
Gillette also said they hope to capture footage and photos to market the event next summer so people with mobility issues coming to the valley will know they have this option to experience the mountains in the fall colors.
“It’s a really cool chance to experience one of the coolest things in our valley,” Gillette said.
The series joins countless events Challenge Aspen has organized over the past three decades in their mission to help people get outside. Apart from the ski and bike experiences they offer to people with mobility limitations, they organize experiences for people serving in the military and veterans with service-connected disabilities or conditions. They often partner with other organizations to facilitate adaptive experiences, such as skiing with the Tennessee School for the Blind.
“We live in such a beautiful place and unfortunately it’s not accessible to all people, and unfortunately it’s not accessible to all people without an organization like Challenge Aspen,” Dickson said.
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.
A Western Slope election could determine whether Colorado Democrats reach a tier of power they haven’t had in 90 years
A win for Republican Marc Catlin, a state representative from Montrose, would maintain a roadblock for Democrats, who control the state legislature. But a win for Democrat Cole Buerger, a Glenwood Springs business owner, could hand the party supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.
