Because Snowbird is committed to making the joy and beauties of the mountains available to handicapped people, they've constructed special wheelchair ramps for hikes in the meadows along the base slopes of the mountains. This drive to help began in 1978, when Peter Mandler began the Snowbird Disabled Skiers' Program.
This organization is a fully non-profit group. Snowbird allows the handicapped skiers free use of the lifts, and the disabled program provides all the necessary adaptive ski equipment rent-free. The only cost for a disabled skier is for the instructor.Peter has had many people volunteer to teach, but he finds that with all the arrangements disabled skiers have to make to get up to the resort, he has to have instructors he can count on, who treat it like a real job. He needs teachers who will be there no matter what.
Running the program is not cheap. Since Thanksgiving, Snowbird has taken more than 500 people skiing in the disabled program. They expect to serve mor than 1,200 skiers this year, alone.
To help pay the expenses incurred by the program, Snowbird runs two major fund-raisers a year. An art and ski equipment auction is held in October. And on March 17 and 18, the Annual NFL Benefit will bring NFL stars like Steve Young, Lee Johnson, Jim Herrmann and Marv Flemming, for a weekend where skiers can challenge the greats in races down the slopes for a donation to the disabled program. Many of the disabled skiers participate in these races, too.