National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic

VA and Disabled American Veterans will host the 37th annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, March 25–31, in Snowmass, Colorado. The clinic, a world leader in adaptive winter sports, showcases the health and rehabilitative benefits adaptive sports provide Veterans.

For more than three decades, the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic has helped disabled Veterans overcome obstacles and challenge their perceived limitations to create “Miracles on a Mountainside.” Nearly 10,000 Veterans have conquered the slopes of Snowmass since 1987, when VA first hosted the clinic for 90 Veterans.

Winter clinic helps Veterans believe

The clinic allows Veterans with disabilities—such as traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations and blindness—to participate in activities many of them never believed possible. World-class instructors and recreation therapists volunteer to work with Veterans to help them experience the full potential of adaptive sports and recreation therapy for improving health and well-being.

The hope is that Veterans will build upon this experience and continue to lead active, healthy lives through continued support and lessons learned.

Veteran Mariela Meylan

Every Veteran on the slopes has a story to tell, like U.S. Army Veteran Mariela Meylan, who was left in a coma for more than eight months after surviving a 2004 hit-and-run in Kuwait that killed two of her fellow soldiers. ​

Doctors at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center advised her parents that their daughter would likely not survive, but after years of intensive therapy, she is able to fly down the slopes of Snowmass with the help of volunteers and adaptive equipment.

Program mission

The mission of the Winter Sports Clinic is to involve disabled Veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, neurological disorders, visual impairments and other profound injuries and medical concerns in challenging therapeutic outdoor experiences and education.

These experiences provide the catalyst that improves overall physical well-being, mental health, self-esteem, community re-entry and readjustment.

This year, approximately 400 Veterans with disabilities are expected to participate in sports therapy opportunities, including Alpine and Nordic skiing, sled hockey, scuba diving, snowmobiling and rock climbing.

See highlights of race day from the 2022 National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.