STOWE, Vt. (WCAX) – Eleven-year-old Kellan Tilton of Maine never thought he’d be able to ski.
Tilton was paralyzed from the waist down as an infant due to a cancerous tumor in his spinal cord.
“I was like, ‘Oh, it’s a bummer, I’ll never be able to go skiing or skating or stuff like that,’” Tilton recalled. “But then my mom said, ‘Yeah you can, there is a way, it’s something called monoskiing.’”
Tilton did his first run at just four years old.
“That first day when I rolled in, I was just ecstatic. I was so excited,” Tilton said, shaking his head.
Tilton was the youngest of 25 adaptive athletes at Stowe Mountain Resort’s Monoski Camp Sunday.
The 12th annual event is the collaborative effort of Green Mountain Adaptive Sports, High Fives, Kelly Brush Foundation and several other adaptive sports groups. Athletes travel from around the country for monoski clinics among the adaptive ski community.
Monoskiing is a popular option for people with amputations and spinal cord injuries. Athletes sit on a single-wide ski and move using arm skis called outriggers. Tilton gave me the crash course.
“What all monoskiers have are outriggers. They have little skis on the end and you can deploy ‘em, and basically these will just help you make your turns,” Tilton explained. “So, you’ll get off the lift and you’ll just steer wherever you want to go. It’s a really cool process.”
For many adaptive athletes, monoskiing is a ticket to independence. Erik Kondo of Massachusetts discovered the sport in the 80s and never looked back.
“Being able to ski was quite amazing because it gives you a feeling of freedom that you’re just not going to get from a wheelchair or a lot of other activities,” Kondo said.
Another Massachusetts monoskier, Alex Goldmeier, picked up the sport after a ski accident in 2018 paralyzed him from the chest down.
“I think there’s just something incredibly freeing and empowering to get back on the ski and take back something that I was injured from and something that’s mine,” Goldmeier said.
He’s three monoski sessions in now but says nothing will beat his very first run.
“I was stoked! I was screaming a lot, I was like, ‘Woohoo!’” Goldmeier yelled. “This is the first step to independence.”
The crew topped off their last run with a photo of everyone who made the day possible. Organizers say they’re excited to see the event growing every year.