Kathy Chandler
Recreation/Development | 2012
In 1992, Kathy Chandler founded the Waterville Valley Resort Adaptive Ski Program, growing the program from six original volunteers to over 80 volunteers today. In the first year of the program, she and her fellow instructors taught fewer than 50 lessons…today, the Waterville Valley Adaptive Ski Program provides between 800 and 1,000 lessons annually and is recognized as one of the outstanding adaptive ski programs in the country.
Kathy first became interested in adaptive skiing when she served as a ski school director in Massachusetts. Recognizing a lack of opportunities for persons with disabilities to learn to ski, she enrolled in the first training clinic for adaptive skiing held in the East. Kathy then began recruiting and training volunteer instructors to join her in starting the adaptive program at Waterville Valley. Five years later, she formed a non-profit organization, AbilityPLUS, committed to helping other ski resorts make their facilities and programs accessible to individuals with disabilities. While Kathy was at AbilityPLUS, nine other adaptive ski programs were started in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
In 2009 Kathy took the first ever sit-skier to the Special Olympics World Games in Alaska. In 2017 she travelled to Austria to the World Games to serve as a coach for the U.S. Special Olympics Alpine Ski Team. Over the years, Ms. Chandler has traveled to Spain, Austria, and Canada and throughout the U.S. to teach adaptive ski techniques.
Kathy has also been instrumental in the development of adaptive skiing at a national level, working with the Professional Ski Instructors of America on setting standards and training for adaptive instructors. She has served as the adaptive coordinator for PSIA, and Kathy also has served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Special Olympics.
