BUILDING ACCESS O
WITH A NEW BASE LODGE, VERMONT ADAPTIVE SKI AND SPORT IS CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE FOR ADAPTIVE ATHLETES. BY LISA LYNN
n a snowy day, the parking lots are packed and the base lodge at Sugarbush’s Mt. Ellen is buzzing. A father and daughter walk out to the snow where an orange fence is set up, marking a steep drop. The father reaches out with his glove tentatively to touch the fence. “What is this?” he asks. He is blind. His daughter tells him, then they meet their guide and head up the lift. Nearby, the doors at the lower level of the lodge swing open and skiers who have been indoors picking out their sitskis funnel out. Inside, in an adjacent room, a group of parents with their children, many of whom have cognitive disabilities, are getting ready for the Sunday race series and connecting with their guides. They all seem to know each other and are laughing and joking with their guides. “We are here for everyone and for anyone who has any kind of disability,” says Kim Jackson, Vermont Adaptive’s director of communications. “People often think of us as just for athletes with physical disabilities, but the majority have cognitive challenges,” she says. “Here,” in this instance is Vermont Adaptive’s newest facility, the 4,000-square-foot, $2.7 million Murphy’s Annex at Sugarbush’s Mt. Ellen lodge. It opened in December 2021, replacing what had been a crowded, 400-square-foot space in the lodge that dated to the 1990s. Now, a big ground-floor room houses more than a dozen sit-skis, which can be easily moved in and out to the slopes and is accessible from the parking area directly adjacent to the lodge. “It’s great to be able to fit these indoors now,” says Jackson, noting that at times it could take an hour to properly fit a skier to sit-ski, something which previously happened outdoors. There are locker rooms, a room upstairs with big windows and a walkout deck that faces the slopes. There’s a room with an aquarium, toys, bean bag chairs, a kitchen and a quiet area. There’s even a room for support dogs. The wing is open to the rest of the Mt. Ellen base lodge. “It’s great that we’re not segregated off from the rest
20 VTSPORTS.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022
Murphy’s Annex is the new structure on skiers’ left at Mt. Ellen’s base lodge. Photo courtesy Vermont Adaptive.
of the lodge. After skiing, people can wander in and get a beer at the bar with everyone else,” she says. “This building has made a world of difference,” says Josh Carpenter, a volunteer who drives from Craftsbury each weekend to take his daughter Lelia skiing with Vermont Adaptive’s Sunday race program. Murphy’s Annex is named for Mike Murphy, son of Sugarbush founder Jack Murphy. Mike grew up skiing at Sugarbush—literally starting at 9 months old on his parents’ backs. He became a strong skier, but in 1977 he was in a serious motorcycle accident. “When I recovered consciousness, I realized I was in a hospital and I looked down and saw I had one good leg and the first thing I thought to myself was, ‘Well, that’s good, I’ll still be able to ski,’” Murphy recalls. In 1977, there were not many programs for people with disabilities. He taught himself to ski on one leg and ended up making the U.S. national team for adaptive skiers. In the 1982 World Championships in Switzerland, he won the silver medal in slalom, which is on display now at Murphy’s Annex. Murphy had been living in Colorado
at the time, but came back to Vermont and discovered Vermont Adaptive, the program that Laura Farrell had started at Ascutney in 1987. Later, Murphy helped connect Sugarbush to the program, a program that then-owner Win Smith and new owners, Alterra, have embraced and supported. The building is the second in Vermont Adaptive’s plan for three permanent facilities. The organization’s primary base and headquarters at the Andrea Mead Lawrence Lodge at Pico was completed in 2013. The third permanent facility is slated for Burlington’s waterfront where, currently, the Community Sailing Center partners with Vermont Adaptive to offer sailing and other watersports. There are many organizations around the state that provide adaptive sports equipment and programming — Adaptive Sports at Mount Snow and the Bart Adaptive Sports Center at Bromley are two notable ones. And many ski areas now offer lessons using adaptive equipment. Organizations such as the Northeast Disabled Athletic Association and Green Mountain Adaptive help connect people with the adaptive lessons and programming they need.
But Vermont Adaptive has served as the backbone of adaptive sports infrastructure, providing equipment and facilities, as well as lessons and programs. In addition to its basecamps at Pico, Sugarbush, Bolton Valley Resort and Burlington’s Community Sailing Center, the organization has been working around the state to make outdoor recreation more accessible. One example is the mountain biking program that the organization launched in 2017. Since then, it has worked with trail organizations around the state, from Kingdom Trails to Slate Valley, Millstone to Stowe. “Biking deep into the woods or pedaling on a gravel or unpaved bike path are not accessible for everyone,” said Jeff Alexander, director of strategic partnerships and business development at Vermont Adaptive, in a release. Vermont Adaptive has a fleet of adaptive mountain bikes that it will bring to trail heads. “Our bikes roll differently and have a different center of gravity,” he explained. “Tire size is unique. For trail builders, considering off-cambered turns and the width of bridges and trails is important.” For many, an adaptive mountain bike is one way they escape the pavement. “We want everybody to be able to soak in the freedom and outdoor exploration that mountain biking offers,” he said. In addition to the winter sports and cycling, Vermont Adaptive offers kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddle boarding, sailing, hiking, rock climbing, tennis, and horseback riding. And alongside, the organization has a focus on environmental education. “Having an accessible building is key to accessible skiing,” said Murphy about the new Annex at Sugarbush. But much the same can be said for the other sports that Vermont Adaptive, and other organizations, offer access to. On June 18, 2022, Vermont Adaptive’s annual Charity Challenge returns as an in-person event. Based out of Killington, it will again feature its signature road bike rides, hikes and even a paddle. This year, along with a mountain bike option, it will also host a gravel ride.
