Veterans Adventure Group was founded to create a strong support network to help veterans transition to civilian life through participating in extreme sports. With activities such as adaptive skiing, SCUBA diving, caving, mountaineering, kite boarding and drag racing, they offer quite a variety of trips and excursions. Some of the goals of these trips are to foster friendships and restore confidence by getting outside comfort zones and learning and building upon new skills.
In their words, “It is the mission, duty, and purpose of Veterans Adventure Group to restore teamwork and purpose, provide support, guidance, and a strong network by building, training, and equipping teams of Veterans to thrive in extreme environments.”
Currently, Veterans Adventure Group is located in Nashville, Tennessee, but they have adventures around the country. One of their goals is to have more networks throughout the country and to sponsor excursions around the globe.
I had the honor of filming content for the trip to Winter Park, Colorado, where they participate in the adaptive ski program. The group I met had already had experience with the monoskis, and were extremely athletic already, so they were all ready to hit the slopes and shred upon arrival! It was really exciting to watch them fearlessly ride and have such passion for the sport. They really were rippers, and kept me on my feet (well, on and off the snowboard) the entire trip! Filming them wore me out, but it was so worth it, and it really inspired me to take my skills to another level.
Below are some of the photos from the three days I was with them. Most of my photography came from my Sony Alpha and screenshots from the GoPros (some the instructors rode with and some placed on the monoskis).
I would like to personally thank Michael Paul and Justin Matejcek for giving me this amazing opportunity to not only photograph these awesome athletes, but to experience what the Veterans Adventure Group is all about. Also HUGE thanks to the ski instructors who really helped me out! I quickly learned how humbling ski photography is, and could not have done this without them.
Visit their website: http://adaptivevag.org/
Founder and main contributor to This Adventure Life, Kirsten Alexis has passion for all things adventure and the outdoors. She is an avid participant in action sports, such as skydiving, paragliding, snowboarding, high-altitude trekking, mountain biking, surfing and more. She is passionate about inspiring others to live their wildest dreams as well as conserving the environment for others to enjoy for years to come.