Bringing accessibility to the heart of Verbier
Established at the end of May 2019, Verbier4All is the combined initiative of Valérie Vaucher, Annick Meystre, Bethan Drinkall and her Ski4All Wales team, plus François de Borchgrave, the Belgian father of an adaptive skier, Kathryn Adams and Olivier Voelin, all skiers in Verbier. On meeting, they realised it was time to pool their respective know-how, experience and love for the resort to make it more accessible for persons of limited mobility.
Mountains attract adventurers, athletes and nature lovers. They can be a source of excitement, wonder or restoration and peace. Throughout the year, Verbier and the mountains that surround it, offer a wonderful range of activities.
Long-term goals
Our long-term goal is to establish in Verbier, an extensive library of summer and winter equipment for adaptive recreations and sports so that everyone can join in, regardless of physical impediment. Medical practitioners have observed great improvements in stamina, confidence, strength, balance and coordination in patients who are physically active. Friends and family can vouch for the positive impact when they are all having fun together on the mountain. Many people would like to be more active but need support in this. Mobility deficits may be acquired at birth or caused by a hereditary condition, others may be the result of an accident, an illness or just simply the ageing process. But that doesn’t mean these people can’t have an active lifestyle: in fact, we believe they should.
And that is what motivates us: the founding members of Verbier4All. We have all embarked upon this adventure together because we have personally experienced and seen the magic of adaptive sports at work.
Adaptive skiing has real momentum behind it.
The increasing range of equipment available means that nobody needs to be left at home.
For adaptive skiing or snowboarding, there is a variety of material for those who can ski independently and need just a little assistance on and off the lifts to those who can sit and enjoy while their buddy steers from behind:
• sitskis available for every size and every level
• tethers, hoops, outriggers or ski-wings.
Summer activities
In summertime, we can offer those of limited mobility the chance to try mountain biking with our trikes.
