Skier amputees bring new element to AWeSOMe! program
written by Dan Gallagher

Long Valley Advocate
©2009 Poison Creek Publishing, Inc.
Volume 24, Number 15
February 25, 2009

BRUNDAGE MOUNTAIN—Everyone adapts to life and the participants at the first annual Amputee Ski Extravaganza here have adapted well as individuals and athletes.

The event was held by the Adaptive Wilderness Sports of McCall, or AWeSOMe!, and attracted skiers and snowboarders from Arkansas to California.

AWeSOMe! has worked for years bringing recreation to local residents, mostly youngsters with autism, cerebral palsy and other conditions. But the weekend event attracted teen and adult amputees involving upper extremities, those who have lost hands, partial or complete arms.

Mary Seibert of Eagle helped put together the extravaganza.

Amputees of upper extremities only make up about 5-10 percent of amputees, with the rest involving feet and legs. Seibert’s son, Tom, had lost a hand in a wakeboarding accident. The family contacted Advanced Arm Dynamics about providing a prosthesis for Tom. Mary corresponded with others who had used Advanced Arm’s services to put together the gathering with AWeSOMe!

Eric Wagner of Minnesota and Tom are lacrosse players and expert snowboarders, with Wagner helping him fashion a lacrosse racket. Wagner, who also has a prosthesis, started to make plans with the Seiberts about coming to Brundage.

“They’re a pretty close group,” Mary said.

Robert Martin of Torrance, Calif., praised the event. Martin had served in Vietnam in communications, but only recently lost an arm. The snowboarder, who had a collection of ski patches including Snowbasin in Utah, was then headed to experience Sun Valley. Martin praised the Veteran Administration for its financial support to obtain a prosthesis.

Brundage has been a strong supporter of AWeSOMe! over the years and helped out by comping ski passes and equipment.

While there are not as many upper extremity cases, that is changing. The Iraqi war and the use of “improvised explosive devices” (IEDs) that can be touched off by cell phones, have caused 60 percent of the combat deaths there and many of the losses of limbs, Mary said.

Advanced Arm is a privately held company which supplies prostheses from simple ones for occasions such as skiing to electronically outfitted pieces that respond to slight muscle contractions in the remaining part of a person’s limb. That causes the fingers on the prosthesis to contract or expand.

Bernie Diamond, a regional rep of Advanced Arm, attended the skiing event with his prosthesis made of carbon fiber. What appeared to be a sensor of some kind to detect muscle signals actually was an iPod, with small speakers attached. The skiers and snowboarders could listen to Frank Sinatra on the slopes.

The nonprofit AWeSOMe! was founded in the winter of 2001-2002 to provide ski lessons and other outdoor activities for participants.

The idea is that anyone can learn skiing or snowboarding by adapting. So, some students may take part in the “stand-up” mode or maybe with equipment such as a monoski, a device which involves a bucket seat atop one ski.

Chris Wernert, who heads up AWeSOMe!, praised the weekend gathering and encouraged more such groups to take part. Wernert earlier participated with the adaptive program at Breckenridge in Colorado, which has been a front-runner in that field.

Wernert said there are many support groups across the country, such as one for those recovering from head injuries or other conditions. Skiing with AWeSOMe! offered a fun weekend that was beneficial both to the visitors and the local volunteers, and everyone involved vowed to participate next winter.