2021-2022 Last ski tour event in Madonna di Campiglio
On April 8th to 10th the final/end-of-season 2021-22 “Freerider Ski Tour” event will take place in Madonna di Campiglio at the heart of Dolomites. A crowd of sit skiers will invade the ski slopes with their mono-skis to experience the mountains and have fun skiing. Teleflex s.r.l., Italy, has been sponsoring the Freerider Ski Tour since 2004.
The “Freerider Ski Tour” is a series of itinerant ski course events organized by the “Freerider Sport Events” association around Italy with the goal of promoting sit ski awareness. Teleflex has been sponsoring the Freerider Ski Tour since 2004 to allow persons with spinal cord injury to practice skiing and experience the mountains by ski. The sport as means of integration and autonomy is one of the Ski Tour goals that made Teleflex believe in this initiative.
Over the years the interest in sit skiing (also known as para-alpine skiing or mono-skiing) has increased in Italy, in part thanks to the Freerider Ski Tour events. Ski stations now accept mono-skiers and even have adapted ski lifts, and have removed architectural barriers to enable sit skiers to access the slopes. Even the law changed to allow mono-skiers to ski freely and to regulate their ski practice as well as standing skiers.
The Freerider Sport Events association has several sit and standing ski instructors there to teach people with spinal cord injury or other disabilities how to ski with a mono-ski. During the multiple events, local disabled sport associations are involved at the ski station part of the Freerider Ski Tour to help people keep skiing.
In the months before the start of the ski tour (from October to December), a promo tour is arranged to present the opportunity to people in major spinal cord units and rehabilitation centers around Italy. At these presentations, it is not difficult to find people enthusiastic about the initiative who appreciate us letting them know about this amazing possibility and to help them enjoy this part of life again.
For more information about Freerider Ski Tour please click:
Image source: Freerider Sport Events