Day 897 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

A long first day back at work, and a late night! I promise I'll give you a debrief on Sunday at Mammoth soon.

The highlight for me today was the obvious benefit to Grayson of all of the physical activity for the past 9 days. Anishka, who is not particularly tall, had to hoof it to keep up with Grayson on his walks today (Grayson normally walks at a snail's pace.) And this evening when we were going up to the back yard to grill the chicken for dinner, Grayson ran up the stairs! That blew me away since I haven't seen him do that for as long as I can remember. And he did it not once but each of the 4 times we went up to the back yard. Wow!

As if I needed more proof that the 9 days in Mammoth were good for Grayson!

Pax!

Brant

Day 896 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Everyone is home safe and sound!

Grayson and I arrived home late tonight after skiing a full day at Mammoth. Regina is home from her visit to see her father. It is late and we are all headed to bed. A debrief on the day will come tomorrow!

Pax!

Brant

Day 895 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Greetings again from Mammoth!

The weather today was beautiful – crisp in the morning and warm in the afternoon. The snow conditions in the morning are the best, but they have been surprisingly good in the afternoon – not too sticky, but a lot more work to ski through the slower snow.

Grayson had another exceptional day today. All morning was spent on intermediate and high intermediate runs with one exception – a black diamond! He successfully navigated Patrolmen's, a black diamond run with Zachery's constant coaching. Here is a picture of the happy team on Chair 2 immediately following that run. After this lift, we skied over to Chair 3 and went down the backside to Saddle Bowl, then down Broadway – certainly the longest run he has done since his injury. Quite a morning indeed!

In the afternoon we stayed off of Chair 3, but most of the runs were similar to the morning albeit with trickier conditions because of the softening snow. We skied with Brian, one of the other pros at Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) and we had a fun afternoon – including another run down Patrolmen's! The kicker was when we got to the bottom of Broadway about 3:15 and were on our way over to the Gondola Building where DSES has its offices. We thought that Grayson was done since he had skied so much on such difficult runs today. As he passed Chair 11, he turned and jumped in line! His instructors followed him on to the lift. I had to put my skis back on! We took two runs down Sesame Street and even had Grayson follow me down one run. Grayson would have gone for more if he could have.

For those that are keeping track, Grayson took the following runs today – Beginner: Sesame Street; Intermediate: Stump Alley, Mambo, Broadway; High Intermediate: Saddle Bowl, Ralphies; Expert: Patrolmen's.

The learning and the physical conditioning from the continuous days skiing has really shown. Last weekend he was tiring easily and we had to make 2 to 3 stops for breaks on the way down Broadway. This is no longer the case. Now he will go down from the top of Chair 1 all the way to the bottom without a stop.

Tonight is our last night here on the mountain. What an extraordinary week it has been. What an honor and a thrill to be part of it.

Pax!

Brant

Day 894 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Greetings once again from Mammoth Mountain!

Today the weather was awesome! Beautiful sunshine and calm winds greeted us after a cold night. B mid morning the snow had softened and it was a glorious day for skiing! And ski we did – WOW!
This morning Grayson was given one of the volunteer instructors for which there is a special bond. She is an awesome skier and really manages to connect with Grayson. The second instructor was Mark Spieler, the Director of Outside Operations for Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) – also the former Training Manager for the Mammoth Mountain Ski and Snowboard School. Mark is responsible for training all of the volunteers and monitoring progress of all of the students. What a pair to work with this morning – with beautiful conditions also!

This morning with lots of active coaching, Grayson skied Sesame Street, but quickly moved to higher ground. The pitch of the slope on the beginner runs just doesn't "make" Grayson do turns – he just wants to point his skis downhill and go. So off to Chair 1 we went and we took St Moritz, Mambo (twice) and came home to lunch on Broadway. (Mambo and Broadway are Intermediate runs).
If you saw my Facebook posting from lunch today, you will have known that Grayson and I ate out on the sun deck at the main lodge – Grayson with a pizza and a fruit cup, me with a salad. Here is the picture if you missed it!

After lunch we had Zachery, one of the pros who has worked extensively with Grayson. He was assisted by another who skied with us last Sunday. Zachery consulted with me and we decided that there was no point in doing the regular run down Sesame Street, and we headed immediately to the Gondola. This afternoon Grayson ran 5 different runs of Intermediate to High Intermediate terrain. Specifically he went down Mambo, Stump Alley, St Anton, Broadway and finally Powder Bowl to Ralphies. The most impressive part was not that he went down this terrain, but that, unlike the morning, Zachery just led and let Grayson follow. And follow Grayson did! He went down these runs with few stops, and only once, in the most difficult terrain, did he get "stuck", a problem we saw repeatedly early in the week. He was awesome today!

When I planned this trip, I never realized what a benefit of having so many lessons continuously would have on Grayson's ability. In retrospect, it appears to be one of my better decisions! The growth in his ability over the course of this week – an intense week focused just on skiing – has been immense. He is now going down very long runs without a break, executing parallel left turns wonderfully, and doing very good wedge right turns in a continuous flow. In January he was building muscle and relearning in 11 half-day lessons over a 9 day period. In our few days in February he was doing some skill refreshing during 3 half day lessons. This week he has already had 13 half day lessons in 7 days, with 4 more lessons to go. No wonder there has been such an improvement in his muscle memory and his strength. Frankly he didn't have the strength to do what he did today just one week ago. Proof once again that continuous therapy, no matter the form, yields significant benefits.

For all of us, today was a real WOW day!


Pax!

Brant

Day 893 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Greetings from Mammoth Mountain!

Today "spring conditions" were not exactly what Mother Nature gave us. After skiing in t-shirts last weekend, today we wore everything we had. We received about 3 inches of new snow, although with the 50 mph winds, the snow may be in South Dakota by now! All lifts had suspended operations by 2:15 PM so we had the opportunity to go inside and warm up before the Springtacular closing banquet.

Grayson had fun and did well again today, though conditions were less than ideal. He made a successful run down Broadway before we decided to just lay back and have an easy day on Sesame Street. Grayson was game for more, but when they shut down the Discovery Chair (Chair 11), also the last chair running, our ski day was over.

Tonight was the Springtacular closing banquet. Every participant is called up during the banquet and given an award. Grayson earned the "Spirit of the Trojan" award for his spirit and his obvious appreciation of USC. Here is a picture of him standing on stage with the rest of his group.

These events always make me cry. I know what is coming, and I still lose control. Grayson is so loved and appreciated by everyone he touches here at Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES). I lost track of how many people came up and hugged him as they were saying their good-byes. Many will be here tomorrow and excitedly asked if they could come and ski with us! I am so touched by these people that I had no idea that they were so touched by Grayson. I was simply overcome with emotion. There is absolutely no question that we will be back again next year.

Even Mother Nature's cold blast of a late winter can't put a chill on the warm feeling of love that we have been given tonight.

Pax!

Brant

Day 892 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Greetings once again from Mammoth Mountain!

Grayson had a standout day here at Mammoth. He was teamed with some wonderful volunteer instructors who conspired and worked to really get him skiing again. He spent most of the day on intermediate terrain and his instructors really worked to help him connect his turns and to keep himself in control. Today was just a joy to watch – even though the weather was not cooperating! This afternoon it rained most of the time and we were all soaked by the end of the day.

Places like Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) always help anyone who walks in their door. What is amazing is how much support and enthusiasm is given to the students by the entire volunteer team. Grayson was coming down a tricky run known as the Wall and as was successfully navigating it, I heard a voice from somewhere shout out, "Go Grayson!" The voice was from another DSES instructor was on the chairlift overhead who had spotted Grayson.

What a wonderful organization we discovered here and what fun it is to watch Grayson grow with them!

Pax!

Brant

Day 891 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

We had a great day today! This morning Grayson worked with one of the regular Mammoth Mountain ski instructors and was paired with the 19 year-old son of Grayson's very first instructor at Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES). This afternoon, Grayson worked with the father of the head instructor at DSES who also volunteers time here on the mountain. We met him and his lovely wife earlier in the week here at DSES while skiing with his son – an amazing teacher who has an incredible ability to reach people like Grayson with cognitive impairments. DSES is a small family where there are never more than a few degrees of separation!

Last year we were primarily working on Sesame Street, or Chair 11. Most people refer to this as the "Bunny Slope" – beginner territory. This year, especially this week, Grayson spends most of his time on more challenging terrain – St Moritz, Mambo, Broadway, St Anton – quite a change since January 2011. It does highlight that gains can still be made even if a full recovery is not possible.

The beauty for me of watching Grayson ski is watching him work to connect to past experience and put it to work for fun. I observe him get stuck, get frustrated, get tired, and just lay down in the snow. I also see him successfully connect a series of turns (with coaching) on intermediate terrain for 5 minutes or more while remaining in control. And occasionally he pulls something out of his experience from deep inside and surprises all of us. Today he needed to make an immediate left turn and instead of doing the beginner wedge turn he flipped around like a pro. The knowledge is in there – tapping into that vast locker is the challenge.

As a parent of a cognitively challenged adult child, it is a thrill when a pathway to one of these past experiences is connected to "now" and is executed. Those moments are rare indeed, but they sure feel good. Very good.

Pax!

Brant