Ed Lucks
1988
Contributor | 2004
Hometown: Snowmass, Colorado
School Name: Challenge Aspen
Ed Lucks was a pharmacist by vocation….he was an adaptive skiing pioneer by avocation and devotion. Ed began his dedication to skiers with disabilities in the early 80’s as a ski instructor at Snowmass, Colorado. He was working with young children with amputations from Craig Hospital on the slopes of Snowmass while working his full time job.
Ed pioneered many of the adaptive teaching techniques and equipment that are still used today in providing ski instruction to individuals with physical disabilities. To properly understand some of the alterations needed, he would spend the day skiing blindfolded, on one leg or on the sit-skis. He would then go home and refine the equipment based on her personal experience. Ed is credited with designing the crutch-like outriggers called the Ed Lucks Bend. He tinkered with sit-ski prototypes when the field was still in its infancy, joking that duct tape was the most important equipment in his tool box.
Ed also convinced the Aspen Ski Co. to sponsor an adaptive ski program, a program that led the way to the U.S. Disabled Ski team and the Snowmass based adaptive ski program Challenge Aspen, one of the largest adaptive sports programs in the state. Challenge Aspen’s first headquarters were humble: a janitor’s closet at the base of Snowmass shared with stacks of resort toilet paper. They had one sit-ski and a couple of crutch skis for stand-up amputees.
The organization’s scrappy beginnings quickly gave way to a more permanent home as community support grew. Aspen Skiing Company provided office space, and, with Luck’s technical ingenuity, Challenge Aspen developed cutting-edge adaptive ski equipment tailored to individual needs.
Because of Ed Luck’s dedication to a group of young skiers from Craig Hospital, adaptive ski technology grew leaps and bounds and Challenge Aspen became a force in the adaptive ski community.
