Access Challenge 2006 lived up to its name for Gibsons resident Kenn Quayle who admitted the event was extremely challenging at times, but also freeing and inspiring.
The Aug. 11 to 13 event held on the Coast took six teams of disabled participants and their crews up to the top of Tetrahedron Provincial Park in specially designed Trail Riders.
Disabled participants sat in the high tech wheelbarrow-type Trail Riders while teammates pushed, pulled, lifted and hauled them over challenging terrain on the mountainside.
"It was a big mountain and a steep trail. It was definitely a work out," Quayle, who has spastic paraplegia, said.He was generally dumped from the Trail Rider once a day while teammates manoeuvered over terrain and he said the experience definitely wasn't "relaxing," though it may look like a laid-back experience for those in the Trail Riders."Just keeping the buggy aligned was a struggle. You're constantly shifting and compensating. On the first day we definitely struggled," he said.
There were spots along the trail where logs lay two feet off the ground and teams would help each other cross such obstacles."People from other teams would come over and help and Jordan, the organizer was just fantastic. She had so much energy and she'd just get in there and say 'heave' and we really needed that oomph. That willingness to just do it. There's no half ways," Quayle said.
He has always found it difficult to ask for help, being that his disability is gradual and he can still do things for himself at times.
"I have trouble just asking someone to get me a cup of tea because I don't think I can make it to the counter and back never mind asking someone to help haul me up a mountain," Quayle said.
He found the experience of spending time with other people with disabilities very empowering and freeing in a way.
"I got to meet people with differing circumstances who are going through the same kinds of things though many were much more disabled than I am. I heard stories about what they do to get through and I saw a lot of love and patience and humour," he said.
Being able to be so close to nature was also freeing for Quayle who remembered driving through the Rocky Mountains several years ago and saying, "this is as close to the mountains as I'll ever get, sitting here looking at them through this window."
He proved himself wrong during Access Challenge 2006 and now has a new view of what is and is not possible in his life.
"Just smelling the smells in the forest, hearing the sounds of the birds and the animals, it reopened a whole part of the world that I thought was closed. I want other disabled people to get that. To keep looking and asking questions because you'd be surprised what you can actually do," Quayle said.
Event organizer Jordan Kerton said that's what Access Challenge is all about.
"All of the e-mails I got from participants have said it was a life changing experience. That anything is possible if you want it bad enough. That life doesn't end after a disability and that's the point. That's what makes this event so important," she said.
Kerton noted she would love to do another Access Challenge event on the Coast, but said the Trail Riders may have too much impact on the Tetrahedron's sensitive ecosystem.
"Maybe I could just take two Trail Riders up rather than six. There are a few people from the challenge that want to try to make it to the top next year," she said, noting participants didn't quite make it to the last cabin on top of the mountain this time.
But even if she can't hold another local event she hopes to offer a way for individual Coast citizens with disabilities to explore outdoor activities in the wilderness.
"I'd love to start some sort of outdoor recreation program for people with disabilities, and not just hiking, there are adaptive kayaks and things like that as well. I'd love to hear from anyone who is interested in offering the service or utilizing it to try to get a feel about what the disabled community might want out there," Kerton said.
To get in touch with her email [email protected]. For more information about Access Challenge, the Trail Rider and other programs offered through the British Columbia Mobility Opportunities Society go to www.disabilityfoundation.org/bcmos or call 604-222-1312.
