Best Ski Day of 2016

 

A month ago yesterday, January 2, was our BEST ski day for the whole year.  Regardless of what  will happen over the next couple months up at Silver Star Mountain Resort nothing can compare with the thrill of January 2.  That was the day Jen went skiing.

 

Its not every day that we get a visitor who has taken an all-day flight from Halifax to Edmonton, followed by an 11 hour road trip just to ski at our mountain.  But then there is not a lot that is  ordinary or conventional about Jen.

We've known Jen since she was twelve. We moved in across the street from her family in a small Alberta town and soon she was our go-to baby sitter for our girls who were five and two years old.  We've been friends ever since. 

She was bright, precocious and talented and we instinctively knew she would be someone who would have a full life, someone who would make a difference.  Her early teen years were busy with piano lessons, ballet and Ukrainian dancing.  She was on the school basketball team and a top academic student.  After high school she registered at U of A, took a year of Physiotherapy.  Then, due to personal circumstances, she transferred to King's University College.  After completing a degree in social sciences, it was time to leave her comfort zone and head off by herself to the other side of the country to complete a journalism degree at The University of King's College in Halifax. After a short stint back in Alberta, Jen moved back to Halifax and, to this day, she calls Halifax home.  

She held positions at a couple social agencies but realized that she could not engineer the social changes she wanted.  So she returned to school and completed a Master's degree in Urban Planning. She then worked for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax for five years first as the sustainable transportation coordinator and then started the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Alliance, a network of community groups from rural  and urban parts of the municipality working to make Halifax more sustainable.

Jen and her boyfriend Tom enjoying a horse-drawn sleigh ride early New Year's Eve at Silver Star Mountain Resort

In recent years she has completed her Masters degree in Fine Arts and has written a book, a memoir about her experience with Multiple Sclerosis. 

At age 15 Jen was diagnosed with MS. Now at 38, due to the extreme aggressiveness of this disease, she has advanced to full quadriplegia.  However the progression of the disease has not stopped her from living a vital and productive life or having a wicked sense of humour!  Currently she continues as a member for  the Halifax Community Health Board and the President of Rainbow Refugee Association of Nova Scotia

Jen surrounded by a wreath of bras  Photo credit Jordan Blackburn at The Coast 

When she discovered that there were opportunities for persons with disabilities to ski she was more than interested.  She found two small local hills but wanted to try skiing on the 'real' thing, at a Western Canadian mountain resort. So she jumped at the chance to visit Silver Star Mountain Resort and go out with a couple of  'stage-coachers' with SSASS (Silver Star Adaptive Snow Sports)

Jen and Tom New Year's Eve 2015 at Brewers Pond, silver Star Mountain Resort

Early on Sunday January 2, we drove up to the Star, through the dull valley cloud into a bright sunny day.  The spruce and pine were laden with fresh snow and the ski runs were laid with smooth corduroy.  It was -5 degrees.  A perfect ski day!

 

 Jen's 'ski team': stage-coachers Paul Lawson and Rob Vat, physio Marnie Melnyk and photographer Richie Leslie met Jen outside  the NATC building to help pull/push her 370 pound wheelchair into the SSASS room.  There they transferred her into a MountainMan sit-ski.  This involved harnesses, a neck brace, multiple pieces of foam, a sleeping bag, a helmet with mini-bungee cords to connect it to the frame of the sit-ski and a bit of duct tape.  After a spin around the Village and a couple trial runs on the Magic Carpet the team was off to catch a ride on the Comet Chair.
The snow was butter-smooth and the crowds were sparse.  Jen gave the okay to speed things up and we streaked down the mountain shredding powder. Four  times up the Comet chair, twice up Silver Fox chair and once up Silver Queen chair.  Then down the mountain at exhilarating speed.   It was awesome. A smile was glued to her face for the whole two and 1/2 hours. 
Hands down the best ski day ever!

Celebrating a successful ski trip with lunch at Sparkling Hill on Jan 3

Jen's home now in Nova Scotia and on a mission to find an adaptive ski program closer to home.  If she comes up with no options, she's invited back to SSASS to do it again!

Jen has a blog; check it out at :    www.jlpowley.com

Here's a short video clip from Jan 2...  https://www.dropbox.com/s/8jdb9b426clgjpf/Jen%20SSASS%20Jan%202016%20v2.mp4?dl=0