Adaptive Skiing: Poles

Video Transcript

"Now that we're all set to use the sit ski, there's a few things we still have to go over. And also to learn the proper technique to do this. Again, similar to Nordic skiing, we want to set the participant up with the correct size poles. Before we talked about how we want the poles below the armpit. In the sit ski, we want them just slightly higher than that. The little bit taller they are, the more leverage you will get to propel yourself forward. A lot of sit skiing is using upper body strength, and so Cara's going to put the poles in the ground and just push herself forward. So somebody with a physical disability that might be in a wheelchair a lot, they have a lot of upper body strength and are more capable of propelling themselves forward using the system. Some things to keep in mind is you want to try to stay on a flat surface, because it's really hard to go uphill. And again you want to consider how deep the powder of the snow is. You want a more well-packed, groomed trail. It'll make it easier going, more enjoyable, and you can go for a longer time and a longer distance."