Survivor's will to recover moves mountains Paralyzed Middlebury alum prepares to climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Author: Logan Brown

While watching Winter Carnival ski races, it is easy to be awestruck by just how fast athletes in their tight spandex suits fly between those blue and red gates. If you blink, you might just miss the Middlebury ski team's blurry visages in navy blue. Although such speed has made Middlebury a top competitor in Division I skiing, such speed does not come without cost.

Every year 11,000 people suffer from spinal cord injuries. Eight percent of those injuries are caused by sport and recreational activities, according to the Mayo Clinic. Football, rugby, wrestling, gymnastics, diving, surfing, ice hockey and downhill skiing have all been known to put athletes at risk for serious injury. Many people have read the story of Kelly Brush's '08 tragic skiing accident and inspiring recovery, but few have heard Chris Waddell's '91 similar story of paralysis. Both intense athletes all their lives, these two students came to Middlebury with intentions of being impact alpine skiers on Middlebury's team. Despite their accidents, they did have huge impacts on the ski team and the entire Middlebury community at large. Waddell continues to impact the larger disabled community as he makes preparations to attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.

In 1988, Waddell - then a sophomore - was warming up for a day of training when his ski popped off prematurely. This accident sent him into the trees. He came out with crushed vertebrae, a severed spinal cord and the harsh reality of never being able to walk again. However, within two months of his accident, he was back at Middlebury. Today, when he talks about his decision to return so quickly to school, Waddell sounds surprised that he was able to make such a quick turnaround. After his injury he lost close to 50 pounds and most of his muscle: thus, getting around campus became very difficult.

"I had to look at campus in an entirely different way," he explained. "I would sit there in my room and map out where I wanted to go based on whether there were hills or stairs - at that point anything could stop me. Luckily, I had so many people supporting me it didn't matter where I wanted to go."

Although Waddell faced many new difficulties, he said returning to that supportive Middlebury community was one of the best decisions he ever made. His teammates, fraternity brothers, good friends on campus and (he jokes) "some of the most attractive females on campus" were all by his side when he needed it most.

The organization Friends of Middlebury Skiing and Bart Bradford, the Middlebury ski team coach at the time, were invaluable in getting Waddell skiing again. They provided him with a monoski, also referred to as a sit-ski, which would change his life indefinitely and allow him to remain an integral part of the team. Soon after his graduation, in which he skied down the Bowl in his monoski, Waddell went to join his new team, the United States Disabled Ski Team, in his first Paralympics Games. He also attended three Summer Games in which he raced his wheelchair. He went on to race his monoski in four more winter games, and came out of those experiences with 12 medals to show for his success.

When asked what moment sticks out most to him from his time on the disabled team, Waddell said it was winning the downhill in Norway. There are three classes of monoskiers based on levels of lesion. Waddell was in the category of skiers with the highest level of paraplegia. Early on in his career, he said he wanted to be the fastest monoskier in the world. However, because of his extreme level of paraplegia compared to other classes of monoskiers, many people doubted Waddell. At the time that he made his bold statement, he finished races about 10 seconds behind those other classes of monoskiers. In that downhill race in Norway, he beat all three classes of monoskiers.

"In the fastest race I was the fastest guy," said Waddell. "That was a highlight especially because no one thought I could do it. That is what this is all about - making the impossible, possible."

Despite that fact that his career on the disabled ski team has now come to an end, Waddell continues his quest to "make the impossible possible". This summer Waddell will be the first paraplegic to attempt to summit the 19,340 foot high Mount Kilimanjaro. Waddell and the many people working to help make this journey possible have modified a four-wheeled hand bike in order to increase traction significantly and make the bike as light as possible. They have named the device "Bomba" which roughly translates from Tanzanian as "cooler than cool."

The device has lived up to its name well. Before the modifications to the bike, Waddell was breathing hard and sweating profusely while trekking up mountains with his friends who could walk and talk casually beside him without breaking a sweat. He explained that, with his new device, sometimes his friends have to run to keep up with him. Also the device is so sturdy that Waddell does not have to worry about tipping over on his bike. Such technological progress has allowed Waddell an incredible degree of independence and an even bigger opportunity to help the disabled in the future.

Waddell's organization, One Revolution (www.onerevolution.com), plans to donate 1,000 wheelchairs and hand cycles to developing countries like Tanzania in 2009. A documentary about Waddell's summit adventure is also in the works. Waddell expresses great interest in telling his story well and making it reach as far as possible. He believes that the film could force people to revisit some of their assumptions about the disabled community. He says the film is about "filling the void with a picture." He explained that it is easy to see the limitations of humans, especially disabled ones, but he also believes that "one of the coolest parts of being human is our ability to adapt.

"We need that visual picture that says, 'this is the possibility, this is a picture of success," said Waddell.

After the anticipated summit, Waddell hopes to return to Middlebury and present his documentary to the community that was so influential in his return to athletics and the Winter Carnival slopes.