WINTER PARK — When Danelle Umstead started losing her sight at age 13, her world stopped.
“I sat around for about five years feeling sorry for myself,” Umstead said.
But then her dad kicked her off the couch and onto the ski slope. Now, she’s headed to the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, as part of the U.S. Adaptive Ski Team.
Beneath sunny skies and sponsor banners, Umstead has joined 400 racers in Winter Park this weekend for the 35th annual Wells Fargo Ski Cup, a benefit for the National Sports Center for the Disabled.
Saturday’s race teamed professional disabled skiers with able-bodied amateurs, and included a celebrity fun event. Disabled skiers will test their skills against one another today. The three-day event will raise more than $200,000 for the center’s disabled- sports programs.
Visually impaired skiers like Umstead are paired with a sighted guide, who narrates the terrain, conditions and movements needed to complete a run while skiing directly in front of their partner, which Umstead said takes incredible trust.
The trust she and her guide share extends off the slopes. They are married and have a 2-year-old son, and compete together in international ski events.
Their marriage makes them a better team on the slopes, said her husband, Rob.
Skiing changed Umstead’s world, she said, and taught her to love her life, blind or not. The National Sports Center for the Disabled contributed to that.
“Here, I’m getting the best training in the world,” Umstead said. She lost her vision through retinal disease and macular degeneration.
The center began 40 years ago in Winter Park, bringing kids from Children’s Hospital up to ski. The center runs summer and winter programs in four cities. Professional sports teams, such as the Denver Broncos, often work with the center to encourage disabled kids to participate in sports.
Last year, the center provided 24,000 ski lessons at its Winter Park facility, many of those taught by dedicated volunteers like Dave Gow. He began volunteering three years ago as a way to give back and to stretch his comfort zone.
“I was one of those people who looked away when they saw a disabled person,” not knowing how to react, Gow said. Now, their stories inspire him. He loves the joy he sees in his students’ faces as they slide over the snow.
A joy that springs from the freedom of the slopes, said Anna Turney. She watched other skiers and chatted with teammates while awaiting her turn to race at Winter Park’s lively base. Always an active person, Turney broke her back while snowboarding in 2006. About a year later, she returned to the slopes in a monoski. The sport provided needed focus after her accident.
“My whole life revolves around skiing now,” Turney said.
Even as skies turned gray and snow moved into Winter Park on Saturday afternoon, participants and sponsors were still glad to be there.
“It’s just such a great event,” said Cristie Drumm, spokesperson for Wells Fargo in Colorado. “It’s really an honor to be part of it.”
Heather McWilliams: 303-954-1698 or hmcwilliams@denverpost.com
