PVA hosts inaugural Grand Teton Outdoor Experience
Izzy Abbass hadn’t attempted kayaking or boating in nearly 20 years.
Diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) in June 2017, the 57-year-old Army veteran moves slower now and admits he struggles with balance issues.
But during the June 23-27 Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Grand Teton Outdoor Experience in Jackson, Wyo., and surrounding areas in eastern Idaho, he took down both adaptive sports. It just required more patience, grace and time. Views of the luscious green trees, water and sun-filled blue sky at the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho were so worth it.
“It was fun. Although my MS has really cut down on my balance. I mean, I have big balance issues, like a lot of people with MS. So, that was a little interesting. But I love being out here. I just love being out here,” says Abbass, a Denver resident and PVA Mountain States Chapter member who served from 1985 to 1993 as an infantryman. “You know, this has been so much being out in the mountains. Outdoors has always been such a huge part of my life. So, I’m just happy this opportunity came up to come out and do it again.”
Inaugural Event
Nine PVA members participated in the organization’s first outdoor experience event, put on by PVA, along with Teton Adaptive, based out of Jackson. While there, they had three days of outdoor activities, including adaptive mountain biking on the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort trails; riding a gondola up to the Teton Mountain Range to check out the views at the top; participating in adaptive yoga, sailing, kayaking and fishing on the Palisades Reservoir; hiking or adaptive cycling inside Grand Teton National Park; and taking a boat ride on Jenny Lake inside Grand Teton National Park. Their caregivers and family members experienced some outdoor fun, too, participating in horseback riding and water and hiking adventures, before the event culminated with former GAP CEO Art Peck and his wife, Kirsten, hosting a cookout and bonfire at their Wyoming home.
First-year Teton Adaptive Executive Director Adriene Henderson wanted to give participants a chance to try new outdoor recreation activities they can do back home.
She says PVA reached out to the organization and its past program director about a year ago about the venture. Teton Adaptive helped members with all the sports, from helping participants transfer into the adaptive off-road mountain bikes, boats and kayaks, to coaching them during adaptive mountain bike parking lot lessons and offering other tips to help the adaptive sports work for them.
“I hope it provides them two things — one, an incredible week where they get to spend time with other people who are venturing into this, spend time with their loved ones that are here and spend time with their team and just realize what’s possible, and then two, I hope that we’re able to find some things for them that can translate into their everyday lives,” Henderson says.
Abbass’ opening day doing adaptive mountain biking on the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort trails turned out to be rough — physically and mentally. After cycling up the mountain’s hilly terrain, he took a pretty hard fall on the trails and had to end his afternoon early. It shook his confidence.
The next day, he tandem-kayaked with PVA Wisconsin Chapter member and Marine Corps veteran Tim Martin. They nearly fell in together with a shaky start, but once Abbass started getting the hang of it, Martin says he looked great. Hours later, Abbass went on the water again and went on a rigged-up adaptive boat. His confidence had returned.
“And so part of me, I remember what I was able to do and, you know, there’s still that hang-up on what I can do now based on my level of injury. And I’ve always been active in the outdoors. Now, I was on a volunteer mountain rescue team for 15 years. So, I’m used to walking. And now, when I see, like, a grassy median in a parking lot, it’s like now a huge tactical problem for me to overcome, which it never was like that before,” Abbass says. “I mean, hell, I was climbing mountains and doing all kinds of stuff, so I’ve got to be honest, I was so happy to get out, you know, up into the Tetons and taking a gondola ride yesterday and stuff like that. Getting in a kayak, I love being out there. It was fun … I wasn’t sure of my ability. But going out and doing that and doing a tandem with another buddy from PVA, Tim. I loved it.”
Meanwhile, PVA Mountain States Chapter member Sarah Cramer had her own excitement. She caught a fish while on the rigged-up adaptive boat.
The 36-year-old Army veteran sustained a spinal cord injury after a fall during a 2010 training accident while reloading missiles at what was then called Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) in North Carolina. She likes the thrill of fishing, and definitely had one after reeling in a 1 pound cutthroat trout, with a bald eagle nearby in a tree.
“Yeah, it was pretty easy. I was just nervous with the bald eagle that just landed in a tree like a hundred yards … maybe a minute before I caught it,” Cramer says.
More Events Ahead
More PVA members will have a chance to experience these events, as two additional ones are being offered in the coming months — one in Breckenridge, Colo., in August and another in Maine in February.
PVA Northwest Chapter Vice President and Army veteran Joy Cochran can’t wait to try more outdoor activities at home, especially after her bike ride with an adaptive off-road recumbent bike.
“I am wanting to do more bicycling and sailing. Those are really fun. And just find more ways to explore different places,” Cochran says. “The [Grand Teton] national park had a spot where you could take a wheelchair all the way down to the water’s edge on the lake, and it was completely accessible. So, I would really like to explore more and find those little kind of treasures, places I can still access.”