Day 899 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

I did promise a debrief on Sunday's last day of skiing before we headed home, so here it is!

Grayson and I got to Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) as early as we could manage in order to take advantage of the good morning snow. As the day warms the snow it gets soft and becomes more difficult to ski on. We were skiing by 10:00 which, for us, wasn't bad! It takes about 2 hours to get Grayson over to DSES, then more time to put on boots and actually get out to the snow.

Sunday morning we had a team of 3 DSES instructors with us – and it was a good thing! We were able to set up a protective "bubble" behind Grayson so that two instructors could work with him without fear of someone skiing in too close. One of the instructors was one that was with us the previous Sunday and was amazed at Grayson's progress. One of the others was a High School Junior, somewhat of a ski prodigy, that regularly volunteers with DSES and has worked with Grayson before. Her warm smile and quiet competency always charm Grayson. Her father was also with us today (the third person) and we had a ball! We let Grayson take the lead in setting the pace sometimes, they coached him through some of the more difficult runs, and generally we had a blast.

In the afternoon we had the ski wizard – Zachery. Unfortunately I had to go pack up our room, but Grayson had fun. At one point in the afternoon Grayson went up Chair 3 and came down the backside, then went down Fascination, an expert run. He took a break (10 minutes) about a third the way down the run, then he finished. He took a few runs afterward on Sesame Street, then he went for a final run down Broadway.

By 3:00 I was back on the slopes and I caught up to see Grayson do his final run down Broadway. Grayson went back in and I took one final run for the season - Chair 3 to Fascination. It was a blast!

We then changed out of our ski clothes and piled in the car and started to head down the mountain for home! This was a highly successful and fun trip for Grayson, and it was a blast for me to watch hin come so far in 9 days.

Pax!

Brant