Hoodoo ski area, ore. – The Ukrainian war veteran, Oleksandr Shvachka, lost his left leg due to the Russian tank fire outside kyiv. Three years later, the last step in its physical and mental rehabilitation recently developed under a bright blue sky on a snow -covered mountain to more than 5,000 miles (8,047 kilometers) away.
Shvachka, 38, was one of the five Ukrainian veterans who arrived in the northwest of the Pacific for skiing classes this month with Oregon Adaptive Sports, an organization that works to make sports more accessible to people with disabilities.
On a recent day, he listened carefully to an instructor before throwing himself on a slope in the Hoodoo ski area in the center of Oregon, leaning on two “stabilizers” of hand, which resembles crutches of the forearm with short skis at the ends, for shifts and balance as he accelerated.
Shvachka was injured in the town of Makariv outside the capital of Kyiv in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine The previous month. He said that skiing in the mountain was an “incredible emotion.”
“It’s a new experience, and I’m very happy,” he said.
The city of Corvallis de Oregon has been sister cities with Uzhhorod in western Ukraine for more than 30 years. His association Sister City is organizing veterans, some of whom have been recovering at the Uzhhorod rehabilitation hospital, as well as two Ukrainian ski coaches, said the co -founder of the Carol Paulon association.
The objective of the skiing program is to improve the physical and mental health of veterans and teach Ukrainian skiing coaches how to use adaptive skiing equipment so that they can share that knowledge with the thousands of amputates of the country devastated by war. The group had four days of lessons in the course of two weeks.
“It reminds them that they can participate completely in life,” said Paulson. “The best thing is the feeling that they not only obtain independence, but also of well -being.”
At the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, Paulson taught adaptive skiing to Vietnam War Veterans who had lost limbs. She saw how to be active in the mountain improved her mood and wanted to offer the same experience to Ukrainian war veterans.
“The tranquility of skiing compared to other sports is also special,” he said. “It’s calm. You have the pristine snow and the wind breeze. “
For Shvachka, adaptive sports have been key in their physical and mental rehabilitation, while the other veterans provide motivation, he said.
In 2023, with his prosthetic leg, Schvachka ran a 10K race organized by the United States Marines in Washington, DC, and competed with other Ukrainian veteran amputates in the Arnold Europe Classic, a branch of a fitness competition and body construction founded by Arnold Schwarzene.
In that multi -sports event, a group of eight veterans used ropes to pull four semitruck cabins that weigh 35 tons (31.7 metric tons) of more than 65 feet (20 meters) in just over 30 seconds, according to The Instagram page of the eventwho described him as a worldwide record of strong man.
Pat Addabbo, executive director of Oregon Adaptive Sports, said ski lessons allocate the transforming power of sport.
“What you are seeing here today is a great example of that: people from all over the world, who come to our small ski area here in Oregon, to learn these skills that change the lives that can luckily lead with them and teach others,” said Addabbo.
Ukrainian veterans and ski instructors will take stabilizers with them back to Ukraine so that they can start teaching three track ski using a full -size skiing and two stabilizers for others who have lost their limbs.
“I think we are starting a new era of our warm war rehabilitation program,” said Kristian Minai, one of the Ukrainian instructors.
Minai also trains the National Deaf Ski team in Ukraine and is working on the development of a national Paralympic play skiing team.
“Maybe, one day we will see them from the podium at the Paralympic Games,” he added with a smile.
