7 minute read
Climb the Mountain, See the World
PHOTO COURTESY OF BASE
BASE’s Adaptive Recreation Makes the Outdoors for Everyone
BY DAVE SOUTHORN
When Becki Walters was 16, she was diagnosed with cancer. A sprinter in track and field, learning her left leg needed to be amputated was devastating. But she wouldn’t be stopped.
Walters grew up in Illinois, but a year after losing her leg, she had an opportunity to learn to ski through the first adaptive program in the United States in Winter Park, Colorado.
Getting to go fast again was a feeling she truly missed. She became a certified instructor in 1986 and quickly joined Boise Snowsport Adaptive Education (BASE) in 1998 when she moved to Idaho. “It’s kind of the ultimate nonprofit,” she said.
BASE has been a part of the ski and snowboard community in Boise at Bogus Basin since 1978, pairing volunteer instructors with students that have physical or developmental disabilities.
During the 2024 winter season (January through March), 105 volunteer instructors helped provide nearly 600 sessions to 182 students.
“Everyone is there because they want to be…we get paid in smiles, the way I see it,” said Walters, BASE’s snowsport director. “That ‘ah-ha’ moment, where the students maybe realize they can do something they didn’t think was possible, it’s amazing. I know it changed my life,” she said.
There, she also met her husband.
“I wanted to share that feeling I had with other people,” Walters said. “It’s how life should be, it’s inclusive, we are up on that mountain having fun with everyone else.”
For the past winter season, an $80 annual registration fee gave BASE students a Bogus Basin season pass and rental equipment. A two-hour private session is $55, which is well below the cost of a typical private lesson.
Funds that come in are utilized for scholarships for students in need, payment for instructors who wish to obtain additional training, and to purchase the various equipment to meet the needs of the array of disabilities students may have.
Walters takes pride in the training the volunteers go through on the mountain, from learning how to tether to a skier or choosing the best terrain for an individual. It even carries off the mountain—speakers have been brought in to explain neurodiversity or “person-first” language.
“You’re always learning on the job,” Walters said. “I truly believe we have some of the best instructors in the country.” Though he still needed a wheelchair, successes in rehabilitation made him want to get back to skiing.
One of BASE’s top instructors also happens to be a former student.
Wayne Huang always has been an adventure seeker. He was a frequent skydiver until a hard landing in 2013 changed his life. A fractured vertebrae in his lower spine led to a spinal cord injury.
About two years later, he signed up to be a BASE student. Two seasons as a student had him hooked.
“I feel a connection when I see another person like me,” Huang said. “I kind of thought that I would like to help more people be able to do what I did, go and be out there with their families, not just in the lodge. I wanted to help more people be involved, show them that it is possible.”
So, Huang decided to make the move onto the other side as a volunteer instructor. He’s even been able to recruit his 17-year-old son to be one, too.
In April, Huang became a Professional Ski Instructors of America Adaptive Level 3 certified instructor, meaning he is capable of skiing all levels of runs in most conditions.
“Seeing someone newly injured, if they see someone who can do it, it gives them some motivation,” Huang said. “When they succeed, it’s kind of overwhelming for me.”
And for newer BASE students, it’s that camaraderie and mutual enjoyment that has them eager to get up Bogus Basin Road during the winter.
Sue Brooks had initially been a student in the mid-1980s when BASE was known as Recreation Unlimited. But life and a focus on law school took precedence and she hung up the skis. Brooks is visually impaired and even though her vision has declined in the four decades since, she got the itch to get back onto the snow. Through Northwest Association for Blind Athletes, she heard about an opportunity through BASE to get transportation to Bogus Basin.
Sue Brooks originally joined BASE in the '80s, when it was Recreation Unlimited. Through Northwest Association of Blind Athletes, she rediscovered her passion in 2023.
“I hadn’t skied in what, 35 years or so, but went up (in 2023) and just had a blast,” Brooks said. “This past season, I went up six times and plan on doing it more next season."
“It is just about the most fun thing I do. I am so crazy about it. A lot of their instructors are really good skiers and have a lot of experience working with people with disabilities,” she said.
Her first season with BASE, Brooks said it was easy to communicate with instructors on the mountain, but if they picked up speed, it was busy or windy, some instructions had to be shouted.Th is time, BASE was able to make it easier—they outfitted Brooks and her instructor with a speaker and headset.
“It made it so clear,” Brooks said. “Whether you can see or not, that feeling you get going down the mountain is the same. You can’t beat it.”
“I wouldn’t be comfortable doing it if they weren’t so well trained—and kind. They’re just kind people. It’s just a different world up there, not just the skiing—it’s those people,” she said.
Walters and BASE are hoping to expand sport access to adaptive athletes in the non-winter months. She is the race director of the Treasure Valley Triathlon, which held its inaugural event last June and will be held again June 22, 2024 in Boise. Adaptive athletes can enter for free—about 30% of the first event’s participants had a disability.
New Opportunities for Athletes
IDAHO OUTDOOR FIELDHOUSE
In November 2023, construction was completed on a 55,000-square-foot facility in southeast Boise to benefit former military members through local nonprofit Mission43, along with the Challenged Athletes Foundation-Idaho.
The Idaho Outdoor Fieldhouse will include a training facility, housing, and medical wellness services. Facilities will include climbing walls inside and outside, an indoor pool, a cycling room, a track, and more.
Walters said BASE has and will continue to work with both groups—in addition to hosting CAF-Idaho’s Alpine Camp, BASE also hosts a special event day for veterans.
