Hello, my name is Lucas Grossi. I am the representative for the Adaptive Division of United States of America Snowboard Association. USASA offers full competition in alpine and freestyle events for adaptive riders. I have also been coordinating adaptive snowboard camps since 2000. These “learn to ride” camps offer the adaptive community a unique opportunity to ride together and gain from new experiences.

People with all various types of permanent physical disabilities are able to make snowboarding work for them. Below-knee and above-knee amputees ride with a little rigging to their prosthetic and sometimes using outriggers. People with partial paralysis can use restrictive knee braces and outriggers to shred down the hill. Paraplegics snowboard with a dope ride called a “sit n' jib”, which is kind of like a mono ski. Blind snowboarders are shredding with and without the help of a guide. Arm amputees are also snowboarding in much the same fashion as able-bodied folks. These methods are tried and true. I am sure that a lot of you have already working them out. It just takes the right attitude and a little trial and error.

Gimpin' Ain't Easy -- The Beginnings

When I was 12, I was in a car accident and my left leg was severed below the knee. I was really on the down and out for a couple of months because I couldn't do anything.

Then my brother Jake came home from a skateboarding competition in Portland. He saw a kid there that was a bilateral above-knee amputee who sat on a skateboard and pushed with his hands.

We went out into the garage and figured out how it was done. Pretty soon I was doing fifty-fifty grinds and rail slides on little parking blocks. It was the one thing that bumped me out of my slump and put me back on track.

The winter came and it was time to get on the snow. I learned how to three-track in the Tahoe Adaptive Ski School at Alpine Meadows. Then I raced with Far West Disabled Ski team for a few years. Three tracking was fun but there was definitely something missing. I had an undying need to learn how to snowboard. I was tired of sinking up to my eyeballs in powder and watching my buddies float effortlessly by.

So I went to my prosthetist and he helped me rig up my fake leg. The next weekend I went to Red Lodge, MT with my friends Stefan and Charlie. We got to the top of the chair and I asked them how to do it. Stefan said, "Point it!" I did just that and ended up taking out a tourist about a hundred feet later! (This is why all of you should take a lesson with a professional snowboard instructor when you decide to try it.) It has been fifteen years since that first run and I can still feel the excitement.

An Invitation

Snowboarding is the greatest thing I have ever done. There is nothing like leaning back, pointing the nose of your board and laying out some big ol' roosters in two feet of fresh snow. If you have ever dreamed of doing this, then email me. I direct a number of adaptive snowboard camps through out the year. I would love to help in any way possible. If you have already figured out how to ride, then come and join the adaptive snowboard community. Snowboarding is a gift that offers true freedom. I would like to share this gift with all of you.