Howdy! My name is Anna – I’m an incomplete para based in central Oregon and have been part of the KBF community since my first equipment grant from them in 2016. Over the years, KBF has kept tabs on my hare-brained “para-ski-mountaineering” endeavors, and I’ve thrived in (and because of?) the community they’ve helped connect and strengthen. It’s this community, this network of other active paras who motivate me, and our able-bodied friends who bring the stoke (and sometimes the muscle), that has totally fueled my life post-injury and has allowed me to keep dreaming big! If I’ve learned anything in my 7 years as a para, it’s that community is everything – and surrounding yourself with other active, hyped paras is the only way to fly!
Most recently, KBF’s support helped me tick off a big-time item from the proverbial ol’ bucket list: heliskiing in Alaska!!! I get psyched ANY time I’m able to sitski in the backcountry, because logistically, those two things just don’t normally jive easily. So to have a helicopter plop me on top of a mountain, my brain nearly exploded from the excitement. And the runs down…oh man…some of the sweetest, butter-iest, most scenic untracked runs ever. Mmmmm. Take me back!! (Too bad I don’t make enough money to make a habit of this new addiction haha…)
SO. Who’s next?? What have you been dreaming of? …and what are you waiting for? What’s inside your head telling you “there’s no way!”? Because, let me tell you, there are a billion reason why I never thought I’d be floating around in a helicopter.
7 years ago, I couldn’t have dreamed of heliskiing if I tried haha. I didn’t know how to ski, my body sucks at regulating temperature, I’m not a millionaire, the list goes on! But each project, opportunity, and dream that I’ve had has built and grown upon the last one. Corny take home?: You cannot fathom the dreams you will have 7 years from now. Don’t cut them short by not living the ones you have now.
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