Need help input off list

[RGF1]

HI All
As most of you know I am disabled . I also am in a bit of a bind as many also know I "comute" between Aspen and NH I want to help other disabled people get out into the mountains (that is my qualifier it has to be mountains)
SO I am asking for aoff board help
I basically want to have a group of disabled pople who on thier own with out a organzation hiking on thierw own with llams to carry stuff .
Mostly they would be chroic pain patients
Is this impossible or can I figuer out how to do it . ihave no idea how to get help , and am not nor do i want ot be a non porfit .
But I want ot stay with in the rules of the board so plase Email me . anmd i can tell you what i want . I feel badly i cannot fully expalain as some one wiull take it the wrong way as alwys .
No thsi is not a he who must not bementioned venture . . this is just me and one other person looking ot do this . with out being a non profit all that BS .

I leave that for thosevwho can do it .
I just want some ideas and how ot get some help mostly gear . used new last years modle ect
Moslty it would be here and in Colorado
thakns rick
Plase if you hav nothing of value ot say or must flame do me a courtsy and do not flame as i know a few get upset at the bvery notion of disabled pople in "thier " mountains

thank you Rick
You can post som basic ideas of where to look if it will benifit others but please keep most of board

 

[Peakbagr]

Rick,

Don't worry about being flamed for trying to do good.

 

[Doc McPeak]

My Mom was diagnosed with MS just as she was getting back into climbing mountains (she's now in a power wheelchair) so we are always on the lookout for accessible areas and organizations that help provide access. There's a great place up near Long Lake NY that we will be visiting this month, and I will send you some info.

This is a great idea and there are definitely resources available to help you figure out the best way to accomplish it. I've worked with various organizations and may be able to give you a little feedback if you like. Feel free to e-mail me.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Rick,

I don't know what to tell you. My wife has CRPS/RSD and has for 12 years now kicked off by a simple wrist fracture from a fall on the ice in our driveway. She has two nerve stimulators implanted for pain just in one arm and are considering more surgeries to stop her pain that is travelling throughout her body. It is a tough nut to crack. My wife cannot do hard hikes into the mountains anymore. I have to chose the hikes very carefully for her. Rocks, and roots that cause pain to her legs and feet, water crossings that cause pain from the cold temperatures, and uphill climbs have to be carefully considered. We are very careful about only going until she is half tired and then turn around. I never push her past that point. Never. To do so is to increase her pain for a very long time past the end of the hike. As you know the pain never stops. But trying to keep it at a point that it isn't worse than normal.

I wish you luck in your pursuit and with your condition but knowing what I know, and granted it is limited, but even the doctors, honest ones, will admit that their knowledge about this is limited. I don't hold a lot of hope for what you are trying to do.

Keith

 

[RGF1]

Rick,

I don't know what to tell you. My wife has CRPS/RSD and has for 12 years now kicked off by a simple wrist fracture from a fall on the ice in our driveway. She has two nerve stimulators implanted for pain just in one arm and are considering more surgeries to stop her pain that is travelling throughout her body. It is a tough nut to crack. My wife cannot do hard hikes into the mountains anymore. I have to chose the hikes very carefully for her. Rocks, and roots that cause pain to her legs and feet, water crossings that cause pain from the cold temperatures, and uphill climbs have to be carefully considered. We are very careful about only going until she is half tired and then turn around. I never push her past that point. Never. To do so is to increase her pain for a very long time past the end of the hike. As you know the pain never stops. But trying to keep it at a point that it isn't worse than normal.

I wish you luck in your pursuit and with your condition but knowing what I know, and granted it is limited, but even the doctors, honest ones, will admit that their knowledge about this is limited. I don't hold a lot of hope for what you are trying to do.

Keith

I know Kieth i guess afdter hearoing RSD/ CRPS my self it was like being hiy by a rock . I still hike and get ouit but I do not dare go far i would go ot the RMC cabins . the AMC husts are ok but just abit overwhemlimg for me I also do not want ot be the center of attention really I know if I and a few otherrs go ot a hut with Llamas we will be a big distraction .
I am loking for a place ot rent them in NH or tjhhe daks i know where to get them piutvwest . so i welcome any one fullable or disabvled . . on a trip . I am as always going ot be in Aspen in the Summer I miss it alot but i am hoping ot maybe go to titcomb Basin in the winds o in the same trip them back to Aspen . I stay i9n Aspen /Snow mass beacuse i cn easliy drive to14 k peaks from easy to really topugh thoughni think my dayson captiol are over nopt sure . I can still get up North maroon .I have to wroite myb TR forvthat . Andmy night hike . upo 13 943 ft cathrdral or did it write that already any ways i climvbed it at night and got bacl ot cathrdral lake to take sunrise photos it wqs well very bueatiful and different . allne at night on a big peak a full gibbons moon lighting the way . . ., Biut I miss cmaping pout and the whoel experince as I do not feel safe carrying all i wouold need even the light weight sruf is too much . so i weanta Llama to od it . andi can get some great s shots wich i naveto scan i get a new onwean still do not use it fulolyn ill try soon.
the 645 fuji velvial images are just mind blowing no grain even at a 16 x 20 and a larger size that is opn display in Aspen . I sell at least one a week copy a wel a lab ther has the slide . I am working on more and want water fall as i posted geez thnks a if i plan a hike i might poast when i am waiting for some good color in the leaves . so it will be soon .So look in trips as in um today
Rick thanks to all
I fope i can get a few pain paitnmes pout and give thme som hope . i knmowhowe much it sucks i sat in damn wheel chair staring up at the Maroon bells and Pyramid peak ., I made a promise to my self i wpould climb hme each again and I haVEnot alwats easily
So iam posting a trip hear too

 

[Quietman]

Here are a few links that I found.

Llama trecking links

Here is a direct link to one in Bethel, Maine that I had heard of
Telemark Inn

A NH Llama organization
NH Llama Assoc
At the bottom of this web page is a picture showing Llama hikes of the White Mountains. And here is the groups contact info from the association's membership list.
Deborah Frock
PO Box 96
(3130 Chinook Trail, Tamworth 03886)
Freedom NH 03836 Phone: 603-323-8913
Llamas: 3

Hope this helps!

 

[RGF1]

THANKS!!!
i had noir idea they even had them in NH

 

[Quietman]

Glad that I could help. I work for a non-profit spinal cord injury foundation and know first hand about loss of mobility and access to the outdoors.

This thread of a disabled person's enjoyment of our mountains really stuck a chord with me.

Mt Washington from a different viewpoint. Thanks to Sleeping Bear for the post!

 

[Skyclimber]

I feel what you are trying to do, to be very commendable and a very unselfish act! I wish you luck in every aspect to get your plan to work for you. Good Luck! I hope you can do it. I'm sure you will.

 

[DougPaul]

i had noir idea they even had them in NH

I was walking or biking on the Minuteman Bike Path in Lexington, MA and someone walked by with a llama. Don't know where it came from, but they may have infiltrated suburbia...

Doug

 

[Stan]

It sounds like the things you bring to this "group" are your outdoor skills and willingness to help others. There is no better start in my mind.

There are adaptations that can be made to help any disability in new or difficult situations. Though your focus is chronic pain, strategies unique to each individual may need to be developed. Physical therapists or other professionals who are familiar with pain management and with the experience you seek to share could help devise those adaptations.

Outdoor Explorations provides integrated (people with and without disabilities) outdoor experiences. You may wish to do your trips in the context of a group like this or you may wish to seek referrals to those who are familiar with chronic pain and can help with planning your trips.

Good luck. What you propose is no easy task but if you can pull it off you will be rewarded far beyond the joy of a hike itself.