Veterans of every generation find their stride at the 40th Winter Sports Clinic

In the mountains of Snowmass, Colorado, the 40th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic brought together disabled veterans from across the United States in April 2026 for a week of adaptive winter sports. The annual event invites veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, neurological conditions, visual impairments and other profound injuries to take on challenging outdoor experiences they may once have believed were beyond them.

The clinic spans generations. The youngest participant was 23-year-old Coast Guard veteran Phillip Wotton, a lifelong athlete who loved surfing and volleyball before a diving accident in 2024 left him paralysed; after a year and a half of recovery, his care team introduced him to the slopes. The oldest was 84-year-old Navy veteran Harold Eugene Brown, proof that there is no age limit on rediscovering what the body can still do.

“The annual event invites veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, neurological conditions, visual impairments and other profound injuries to take on challenging outdoor experiences they may once have believed were beyond them.”

The activities range widely, from alpine and Nordic skiing to sled hockey, scuba diving, snowmobiling and rock climbing. For many participants, the point is not competition but reconnection, regaining a sense of independence, confidence and belonging that injury or illness can erode. The shared experience among veterans who understand one another is often as powerful as the sport itself.

Get out there, get involved. Once you are involved, you will not want to get away, Brown advised his fellow veterans. His words capture the spirit of an event that, four decades on, continues to show how adaptive sport can transform recovery into something joyful and forward-looking. For those who serve and come home changed, the clinic offers a mountainside reminder that limits are often more negotiable than they first appear.