'A freeing experience': Guides help visually impaired skiers take to Seven Springs slopes

Editor’s note: The captions under the photographs associated with this story include a description of the image content so that information might be relayed to software assisting the visually impaired.

Downhill skiing with a guide took away any fears for Amelie Colletti.

Having the support close by to navigate the slopes at Seven Springs Mountain Resort was reassuring — and empowering.

“It was so much more comfortable having guides that were able to tell me where to go and what to do than me to think with my eyes,” she said.

The Bethel Park woman and a handful of others took to the slopes Sunday through a program with Western PA Blind Outdoor Leisure Development that paired them with volunteer guides. Those guides worked with skiers who have vision impairments to get suited up, onto a chairlift and down the hills.

The organization has been pairing skiers and guides for about five decades and tries to schedule six downhill ski sessions a season, president Nancy Leverett said. The guides have techniques for aiding the skiers, mainly communicated by voice.

For first-timers, that can be explaining what skis and boots look like or how to get on and off a chair lift before any of the fast-moving fun starts, Leverett said.

“The guide has to be a good enough skier to not be worrying about their own skis,” she said.

The feeling of being at the top of a downhill ski slope can be scary: “You can kind of feel there’s nothing in front of you,” Leverett said. “But I just love it. It’s such a freeing experience, as a blind person, to be able to have that freedom of movement.”

“Yeah, you’re listening to the person giving you your directions. … But you’re out there just moving all on your own,” she said. “The speed is fun, too.”

Seven Springs has partnered with BOLD for many years, and the passion and dedication of the group’s volunteers and leadership makes for inspiring experiences, said Brett Cook, vice president and general manager of Seven Springs, Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain.

“Skiing and snowboarding is a thrilling experience — crisp fresh air, the feel of the snow, the thrill of sliding downhill and having fun with friends and family,” he said. “We want to share that experience and create opportunities by removing barriers and making dreams into realities.”

Colletti has had light sensitivity and depth perception challenges since birth because of cone-rod dystrophy, a group of rare, inherited eye disorders. She has no vision in one eye, she said.

She had previous experience skiing about 10 years ago, but that didn’t compare to the ease of working with a guide. Colletti got back on the slopes after that hiatus earlier this month with BOLD. During that trip, the guides were easygoing, friendly and accommodating to a skier’s ability level, she said.

“Just because we have vision loss, that doesn’t mean we don’t have abilities,” she said. “We just need some verbal support, and, sometimes, an arm.”