Day 527 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today was the opening of the Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra annual Springtacular – a four day ski and snowboard event for the cognitively challenged. We arrived at the Mammoth Mountain Conference Center at 9:00 this morning to a room full of participants, parents and volunteers determined to make this a great week. We were treated to a Sweet Adeline group performing the National Anthem and a few other favorites, before we hit the slopes.

Grayson had a (mostly) great day. He started out at the Discovery Chair to get his "ski legs" under him and to break in a new instructor. Before lunch we took a run up the gondola to McCoy Station and skied some more challenging runs.

Lunch was back in the conference center and we dined on Mexican food. After lunch we went up chair 6 and Grayson skied down some even more challenging terrain. Grayson was doing really well! He was in control, going where he intended, able to stop when he needed to and moving at a pretty good clip! We wound up at the Stump Alley Express and rode it up before starting back down to the main lodge. Grayson was starting to run out of gas, or so we thought. As we came down, he was suddenly falling a lot, and we determined that he was tired. I discovered later that the more challenging terrain was too much for his muscle tone and he was just shot. We knew something was amiss when he wouldn't get up. In just a few minutes we had 5 members of the DSES staff there. After a bit a ski patrol member came by and offered a ride down the hill – that was a no brainer! Grayson took a ride to the bottom. The staff stayed with him until I collected all of his gear from the conference center then we went back to the hotel (viewed here from where we were stopped with Grayson). It was then I discovered that he was sore and not tired or dehydrated or adjusting to the elevation – he had difficulty walking! We ate at the hotel tonight to minimize movement!

Tomorrow will be a very easy day to let Grayson's legs recover. The best news of all – this was without a doubt the most physical work Grayson has done since his incident. Sore muscles are really, really good!

Pax!

Brant