{"id":802338,"date":"2019-12-15T17:30:11","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T00:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=376065"},"modified":"2019-12-15T17:30:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T00:30:11","slug":"olivero-disabled-sports-usa-ski-spectacular-participant-trains-in-breckenridge-for-expedition-to-south-pole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/olivero-disabled-sports-usa-ski-spectacular-participant-trains-in-breckenridge-for-expedition-to-south-pole\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivero: Disabled Sports USA Ski Spectacular participant trains in Breckenridge for expedition to South Pole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Afghanistan war veteran and below-the-knee single amputee, Cameron Kerr stands on the slopes outside Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, Colo. on Dec.14, and holds the flag he will be carrying on his journey to the South Pole. The Disabled Sports U.S.A. Ski Spectacular, Dec. 9-15, has brought together a variety of adaptive sport athletes, disabled veterans, instructors and professionals who focus on empowerment and the latest technology and resources in adaptive snow sports.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Afghanistan war veteran Cameron Kerr has a conversation with a fellow snow enthusiast from the ski slopes of Breckenridge at the Disabled Sports U.S.A. Ski Spectacular at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge on Dec.14. The conference brought together a variety of adaptive sport athletes, disabled veterans, instructors and professionals who focus on empowerment and the latest technology and resources in adaptive snow sports.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 Cameron Kerr and the staff at the Breckenridge Nordic Center had to get creative this week when the former U.S. Army officer trained for his upcoming expedition to the South Pole.<\/p>\n

While visiting Breckenridge for the Disabled Sports USA Ski Spectacular adaptive snow sports event, Kerr traded in his snowboard for a pair of Nordic skis. Then, to simulate the conditions he\u2019ll encounter on his trek to the South Pole, Kerr loaded 10 industrial-sized cans of vegetables for 60 pounds of dead weight. The trip will take him a week and a half over 60 nautical miles from the 89th parallel south.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts-native Kerr, 32, returned to the Disabled Sports USA Ski Spectacular adaptive winter sports event for the second time this week in part to prep at altitude for his second trip to Antarctica. After touring a portion of the land and sea surrounding the Antarctic peninsula in 2012, Kerr will descend further, this time to the exact bottom of the planet as part of Antarctic explorer Robert Swan\u2019s \u201cLast 300\u201d expedition.<\/p>\n

Swan, the first person to ever reach the North and South poles in one lifetime, was 14 days and 100 nautical miles into his 300-mile journey as of Sunday afternoon. Sponsored by Swan and Disabled Sports USA, Kerr will join Swan\u2019s expedition group for the final stretch through variable summer Southern Hemisphere conditions including temperatures as cold as minus 30 degrees Celsius and winds as gusty as 60 knots.<\/p>\n

The experience will serve two purposes for Kerr. For one, it\u2019s a way for him to take part in Swan\u2019s vision of cultivating what Swan hopes will be the next generation of climate leaders, as much of Swan\u2019s work has been specific to climate change at Antarctica.<\/p>\n

More personally, Kerr wants to continue to show that wounded veterans like him can live lives void of common post-military issues \u2014 such as post-traumatic stress disorder \u2014 and complete with activity and adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the personal challenge,\u201d Kerr said at the Ski Spectacular at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge on Saturday morning. \u201cIt\u2019s about saying, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s next?\u2019 Which is kind of what we (military veterans) are all about. \u2018Good job on that, what\u2019s next?\u2019 We\u2019ve got to kind of keep upping it, but also being a part of the small conversation to pivot away form prevailing narratives about veterans, helping to be a little part of that pivot to showcase, \u2018Look, wounds are just the beginning. Disability isn\u2019t what you think it is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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