(Conor is on the right in this photo)

Being an intern at Vermont Adaptive so far has been a great experience. One of the highlights of working with Vermont Adaptive is the wide range of people you get to work with on a weekly basis. It has been great to work with children and adults and see the enthusiasm for skiing is all the same. My main role at Vermont Adaptive this season has been training to become a lead for tethering individuals on bi-skis and instructing individuals on mono-skis. It has been a very fun and informative process learning these skills. This past weekend I led my first session with a client and it was such a rewarding morning on the mountain. This was the client’s second time in a bi-ski and my first time leading so it was a great learning experience for both of us. It also happened to be one of the bigger powder days in Vermont this season but the instructional sessions with Vermont Adaptive supervisors were super helpful and made the day very manageable. The new snow made the trails super bumpy so using tethers was not going to be an option. I opted to use the bucketing technique and ski while holding onto the bi-ski so it was more in control and safer.

I am looking forward to leading more sessions and getting the chance to work with new clients to learn and help teach them new skills. Seeing mono-skiers on the mountain has been very encouraging to me and wanting to help clients become more independent on the mountain. Vermont Adaptive is a great program to be a part of, and I highly recommend anyone who wants to participate in volunteering or joining a session should come to check it out!

To learn more about the internship program at Vermont Adaptive or to apply, go to: https://www.vermontadaptive.org/internships/