By Jenny Neyman

Photos by Clark Fair, Redoubt Reporter. Owen Swaby gets two hands from mom, Kate Swaby, left, and volunteer Denise Harrow during a learn-to-ski event for kids with special needs Saturday at Tsalteshi Trails.
Redoubt Reporter
Being a physical therapist, Angela Beplat could rattle off the skills the kids were working on as they participated in a learn-to-ski event for kids with special needs Saturday afternoon at Tsalteshi Trails behind Skyview High School in Soldotna.
“You’re always trying to
work on core strength and bilateral coordination and all these different types of skills, but skiing is so cool because it’s an activity that naturally has all those kinds of things. It’s all there,” she said.
The parents — watching their kids laugh and play, concentrate on staying upright and tackle the difficulty of shuffling up a slope only to launch fearlessly back down it — could attest to the social and educational aspects of the event.
“They get to see kids from therapy or school, and it’s also good for them to be around older kids who are skiing,” said

Sophie Lathrop sports a stylish unicorn helmet as part of her warm-weather garb during a learn-to-ski event Saturday.
Angela Lathrop, who brought her four adopted kids, ages 6 to 9, to the event. “It’s good to see them get out and do stuff, and it also raises their confidence. So many times with our kiddos with special needs you have to be so careful with safety and they don’t always understand the inherent danger in things. Continue reading