Thank you for your support

After another successful trip The Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team have kindly offered to support our trip in the future. A trip to transform the lives of blind and visually impaired Athletes out on the slopes providing the opportunity for them to take part in a week long trip to Italy to gain confidence and freedom on the snow under experienced guides. In order to enabled this trip and future trips an initial fundraising target of £30K year on year. If you are a UK taxpayer please consider using gift aid to bolster your donation.

As a Ski Club we have been taking Visually Impaired Veterans Skiing for over 45 years to different resorts. For the last 20 years we have been using the area Val di Fassa in the Italian Dolomites. The area is vast and can cater for the beginner to expert skier both fully sighted and visually impaired. All our Visually Impaired Veterans are registered Blind and their type of blindness is varied from what a sighted person would see as blurred to zero visibility. As a ski club we can cater for all types of snow sport and have recently had one of our visually impaired members achieve his Snowboard Instructor Qualification

This trip is a key part of their rehabilitation the vision impaired veterans help organise and run this trip at their own personal cost. This builds up their independence where they budget, set up travel arrangements and build confidence which improves their standard of living.

A break down in cost can be seen as

Cost for one guide for £1250 to accompany a vision impaired skier.

Cost for Vision Impaired Skier £1000 (funded by the VI)

Ongoing equipment cost (renewed every 5-7 years) Ski Jacket and Bluetooth headset per skier £300

Here is a quote from two of our skiers:

Mark Abel Ex RCT/RLC with his guide Neil

During an induction week in August 2001 I was introduced to the sports of the recreation team and given a whole list of activities that the charity supports. I spotted the ski club on the list. I didn’t know skiing blind was possible at that time, and so I made enquiries informing them of my past history of skiing, both whilst serving in the Army and my continued skiing once I had left the services. I was informed that experience wasn’t relevant as this club catered for all abilities from never skied to advanced level. `I’m in` I said and signed up for the next trip which was January 2012.

Since joining the ski club and under the watchful eye of our ski guides it has brought me to an incredibly high standard of skiing. With volunteer lead guide Neil Graham, he took me forward to join the Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team in 2015 with a view to enter competitive alpine ski races. Little did I know that in January 2017 I classified as a Para Olympic skier and attended my first Para Alpine races. A fate that I believed would not have been possible without the Ski Club.

I personally get a lot out of this trip, not only being with likeminded members, but also meeting up with the guides that give up their valuable time from their lives whom without their support this activity would not be possible.

For me the skiing gives me the feel-good factor, where by being on the slopes in the fresh air helps relieve stress and tension that builds up over the Christmas break and lets me escape the pressures in the demanding environment in which I work.

I get an adrenaline rush like no other when you get off at the top of the lift and dropping off the edge of each and every run as they are different all the time and the conditions are forever changing. Alongside the adrenaline there is also the excitement and the fear that go hand in hand. This is the feelgood factor as my body releases adrenaline and endorphins are exacerbated during skiing. Doctors always go on about vitamin D. Well this is the perfect activity outdoors all day with nature and fresh air in abundance. It gives me increased vitamin D whereas, otherwise, I would be indoors hibernating. With all that going on it also leads to a good night’s sleep in preparation for the next day.

Jan Price Ex RN, Fleet Air Arm With her guide Sam

This week is non-negotiable and as soon as the dates are released my calendar is updated and leave booked. I work full time as a civil servant and look after my family and for 51 weeks in the year I’m constantly feeling like I’m having to run just to keep up with those fully sighted around me. Although I hear “you’re an inspiration” or “that’s amazing” they have sympathy but none understand the daily challenges that go with a serious sight impairment, from making a cup of tea to analysing numbers on a spreadsheet and generating reports and everything in between. For 51 weeks a year I hear “you don’t look like you can’t see” or “can you just scan this word document” or having to ask the cooking temperature and time for tonight’s dinner.

This trip provides 7 whole days when, in it’s most simplistic form, I can just be sight impaired Jan. I can go at my own pace through life, which is generally slower than those with full sight, I don’t have to explain why I’ve done something a certain way or explain I can’t follow a PowerPoint presentation. There’s no expectation on or of me. I can take a deep breath in and just - breathe, at my pace without any expectations. I’m surrounded by members with their sight conditions who totally understand our daily challenges, we talk to each other and help provide solutions to every day problems. I can relax, I can be ‘me’. For one whole week I don’t have to run just to keep up, the guides and staff completely understand that and there’s no pressure or expectation I’m allowed to go at my own pace - from taking my time over making a cup of tea (so I don’t end up knocking it over) to going for a walk around the village, all week I set the pace. It’s rather bizarrely liberating.

Because of all the above I can find ‘Jan’ again and re-centre myself.

What I haven’t yet mentioned is anything to do with skiing! I hadn’t skied at all until my first ski trip 4 years ago and now I’m hooked. The area is perfect for such a wide range of members skiing experience, the guides are quite simply superb; they support, guide and push us to achieve our goals, pushing us out of our comfort zones to achieve more than we expected without denting our sometimes fragile confidence. Throughout the week, wearing our distinctive green jackets, we are asked about the charity; what it does to support the members and how impressed they are with what the charity achieves/provides.

Whilst the trip lasts 7 days the wider benefits to my family, friends and work colleagues last far longer. My family find I’m easier to live with, as I’m still going at my pace; well initially, my friends find I’m far more light hearted and laugh more and my work colleagues find I’m more relaxed, less stressed and productive. In essence I return more ‘me’ and ready to take on life again. Whilst I appreciate this trip comes with a significant cost and financial commitment from all involved, for me the benefits far outweigh the personal cost.

I can’t put a price on how much it means to go at my pace, to be around those that understand the daily challenges of sight impairment, to relax, to breathe and to be ‘me’. As I’ve already said the benefits ripple out to those around me and although over time they diminish for a while the positive affect on those around me because I’ve re-centred myself is massive.

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