Off to Alaska!

I am off to Alaska! I leave on Sunday.

Thank You

Northeast Passage for lending me a cross country ski to use! Without it I'd be nowhere and their lending it to me shows what a big family adaptive programs really are.

Fischer Skis for donating a pair of twin tips

New England Disabled Sports, who helped scholarship me and offers me so much support!

Julbo generously sponsored my with a stylish pair of mountaineering glasses to help protect my eyes up there!

GoGirl sent me out some product to help me figure out exactly can a chick go the bathroom on a glacier, More on this when I have experience.

My family and friends who have out up with my chaos and stress in preparing.

And lastly, Telluride Adaptive Sports Program for putting on this trip and offering me the Heidi Kloos Scholarship to Help it all come together.

Making this happen has been such a massive collaborative effort and to see so many groups working together to make this happen for me for seems miraculous. This trip is nothing short of a fairy tale for me and I am so grateful for everyone who has made it that much easier for me to go.

Regional Geology: Oregon Coast

As a 1 credit class for geology majors, we have a chance to do some intense in the field learning. This semester the class was a four day field trip to the Oregon Coast. It was a 9 hour drive, each way, and included about 15 stops total. The weather ranged from snow, to intense rain, to sun, but for the most part we were graced with some beautiful sunshine.

The stops ranged from an ocean research ship, which was absolutely amazing, to view points off the side of the road, to strolls along the beach.

Mary's Peak decided to snow on us.

Favorite Picture

This science center was amazing! We got to touch sea annenomes!

The Wecoma Science Research ship. An amazing stop on our trip. I would love to work on a boat like this.

I fell in love with this slump.

Terraces all along the coast.

Making our way back to campus.

The Month of May

Regional Geology Trip to the Oregon Coast

Kayaked the something (I forget what river it was) and did my first combat roll

I finished my freshman year of college

I drove across the country from Washington to New Hampshire in four days

Went into a cowboy store. And left with a hat for myself and boots for my sister's graduation present.

Received my quarterly botox shots.

Handmade my sisters birthday card.

Had the best conversation with a three year old about how my wheelchair is like her stroller.

Asked my doctor to pay me for once.

Saw more shredded tires than necessary.

Watched my little sister graduate!

John Day Trip

For my geology literature class "Pages of Stone" we took a trip down to the John Day formation down in Oregon. Three days, and two very cold nights of camping were spent attempting to stay warm. This is mainly a picture post, because my words won't do it justice.

However, out of the trip we wrote essays about processes we witnessed throughout the trip, and I'll just end my talking by saying I wrote a nice little piece about a serpent rock that eats other rocks. 

Our lunch stop on the first day, notice the snow on the ground.

The first time we used the iPads was at this outcrop to avoid the hike uphill. The iPad set up, worked flawlessly and I was even able to see some wonderful scoria patterns.

Simon, for scale of course.

Geology is an arm waving major. 

The Painted Hills

The entire group inside the John Day Fossil Beds, which were quite a trek into.

Reason to be a Geology Major #3

Marshmallow Volcanoes on Regional Geology trips

Whitman Articles

Accessibility prioritized on Whitman campus
Published April 14, 2011



ARC provides assistive technology for student use
Published April 21, 2011

Whitewater frees student from “disabled” label
Published October 20, 2010

Reason to be a Geology Major #2

We get to do constant experiments, not even in lab. It's fantastic. Especially in the case of volcanoes, which as an explosive feature, means we get to explode things. 

A fish bowl full of flour on a hot plate. In most instances, I would sure nothing good could come of this, but we have an awesome teacher who comes up with the BEST hands on activities! She snuck a balloon into the bowl before class and no one knew it was there. When the hot plate heated up the balloon, it increased the pressure, causing the balloon to expand and pop, simulating an awesome Caldera Volcano. Seriously, try this at home. Part of me was hoping the flour would just explode all over; it was a Friday afternoon at the end of a long week. But the good news is we were rewarded with candy.

Doing experiments like this make me so excited and happy I chose Whitman. If I were at a larger school, I am highly doubtful I would be doing all of these crazy experiments and enjoying my classes so much.

Challenged Athletes Foundation

This past week I received my letter awarding me a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) to purchase a kayak! I made the mistake of checking my phone in yoga class and found out, and I was no longer peaceful; I couldn't believe it. I'm really excited and grateful to them for giving me what I need to get myself taken care of. It's crazy to think about how many people they must have made happy this week, because they distributed more than $1.4 million dollars to 980 individual people. WOW!

The wait was long, and for a long time I'd just put it out of my mind. The application had been submitted long ago, and the wait period felt like an eternity, which I'll admit CAF must have needed to read through thousands of grant applications.

To rejoice in my grant, I baked my kayak instructor who wrote me a letter of recommendation a cake. I'll let you guys judge for yourselves.

All in all, I'll be getting a whitewater kayak of an undetermined color, a paddle, and hopefully a helmet and spray skirt. And I am so thankful to the Challenged Athletes Foundation for providing me with yet another chance to get out of my chair.

The Second Date Rule

As far as adults go, I've got a second date rule. We've got to be on our second date or meeting, at least, before you ask me the question. Unless there's a reason, it's typically just personal curiosity that drive people to ask. Why are you in a wheelchair? It's not that I mind sharing, not at all. But there's something to be said when a person blurts it out when they still can't even remember your name.

Never ask someone why they're in a chair before you get their name. This may seem obvious, but seriously, it just happened last week folks. I'm sitting at the gym and a teacher who I didn't know just got started talking and before we exchanged names, she popped the question. Poor form.

When first making introductions it's hard enough to take the risk sometimes and step out of your comfort zone. I definitely do not want people to notice my wheelchair before me, because it's definitely my accessory and not the other way around, trust me, I push it all day. I wish there was more an acknowledgement of personal selves before we necessarily had to acknowledge the physical. The out of order introduction of disability then name, allows my disability to come first in my life, and that is never something I want to happen.

Alaska Challenge!

For a majority of the month of June I will be spending my time in Alaska, climbing to the summit of 9,545 foot tall Mount Dickey. The trek, which includes a handful of adaptive athletes, along with professional guides and adaptive professionals will be made over approximately 12 days, using sit down cross country skis and climbing equipment. Call me crazy, but doesn't this seem like my, the adventurous, insane, and sometimes slightly moronic person's dream? Well, yes folks, this is  the dream now. As an athlete, and a budding geologist, I want nothing more than to be pushed to my limits in the jaw-dropping landscape of Alaska. 


Telluride Adaptive Sports Program is leading this trip, with Mountain Trips doing the guiding services. This isn't their first trek to the Alaskan tundra, and they have future plans to help adaptive athletes to summit Denali. In a few years, I'm pretty sure I'll want to be a part of that trip too. This is the press release with even more juicy details about this years trek: Press Release

I'm being given scholarship through the Heidi Kloos Memorial Fund at Mountain Trip and TASP. Heidi Kloos was an avid mountaineer. She climbed Denali 10 times, and climbed all over the world. In March 2010, an avalanche took her life. This memorial fund has been created  in her honor to get women involved in the Alaska Adventure, and this year I'm in!


There are quite a few ways to donate if you'd like to help me out in getting to Alaska and to the summit of Mount Dickey. 


You can write a check to Telluride Adaptive Sports Program and you'd just need to write on it for Heidi Kloos Fund for MiKayla Briere and mail it to:
Telluride Adaptive Sports Program
Attn: Tim McGough
P.O. Box 2254
Telluride, Colorado 81435


You can donate on paypal at this website:
Paypal Donations for TASP Heidi Kloos Fund!
and then briefly send an email to tasp@tellurideadaptivesports.org with your name and that your donation is for the Heidi Kloos Fund for MiKayla Briere


And Lastly, you can call (970) 728- 5010 and make a donation over the phone, and again if you wish for your donation to help fund my trip, please state that you wish for it to be used for me.

Wounded Warriors Project: Part One

Every year, once, twice, or sometimes even more, I have the blessing of working with Wounded Warriors. In December there’s the big shebang out in Breckenridge, Colorado that brings hundreds of vets from many different nations, and even more volunteers together to ski. I’ve gone to this gathering in Colorado once, to this Ski Spectacular. I must say, the camaraderie I’ve seen amongst these guys and the strength they’ve got within them is phenomenal.

What they do overseas makes them heroes. What they do when they come back really makes them stand out more to me. The truth of the matter is that most of the soldiers I know are wounded vets, and they’ve got some of the best attitudes I’ve ever seen. To loose so much of themselves, literally, while fighting for out country, I am proud to be a part of helping them to be able to find a new passion and ability with the new challenges they have.

Chris Williams, our Vet Aaron, and I on the first
day at Bretton Woods.

The New England Adaptive Sports Coalition (God, that’s a mouthful guys) has hosted this for longer than I’ve been mono skiing, and every year I’ve been with NEDS I’ve been a part of it. Ability Plus at Waterville, Bretton Woods, and New England Disabled Sports at Loon make up the coalition and co-host all parts of this three day event.

We weren’t just teaching guys to ski this week, most of them already knew how to ski and get down the mountain. We were teaching independence, capability, and confidence, and I think everyone skied away with more. Everyone fell. Everyone had a good time. There was a sense of simplicity that we were all just skiers exploring the mountain together. At one point, Chris’ and my lesson left us in the dust, loading the chairlift independently, and skiing down to the racecourse. While he might not have realized it, he passed a milestone. 

The whole group: Veterans, families, volunteers, and sponsors

There was close to a hundred volunteers during this Wounded Warriors Program this past week. Volunteers from mountains across the east, Veterans from across the country,  army, navy, marines, all coming together to give each other hand, a “HOOAH” I was proud to be a part of. 

All Photos are copyright of Ken Watson at MediaTell.com

Vocational Rehab

Today, I met with the New Hampshire Vocational Rehab, VR for short. Ultimately, their goal will be to help me find a job when I am finished with college and my degree, but on a more short term basis they are able to offer support, assistance finding tutoring, accommodations, and help me to realize some networking potentials that I have within my reaches.

The meeting was really positive. From the get go, the counselor actually remembered me from a high school I attended for a brief semester almost four years ago. Here in North Country, NH, it really is a small world, where everybody knows just about everybody. I am hopeful I will be accepted to the VR program as what they call a 'customer' and be able to have a little bit more assistance with my education.

I'll be honest on here, the assistance I need in education, adaptations and in life comes in two forms mainly, support mentally/ emotionally, and support financially. Let's face it, college is expensive, but so is every single piece of adaptive equipment I need to be able to live on a day to day basis, as well as be an active athlete. I've typically got the first part handled, but financially life is challenging.

Here's to hoping VR approves me as a customer!

Airplanes, airports, and wheelchairs

As a college student, I fly just about every three months when a break comes around. And, due to certain airlines, I despise it. Let me break this apart so it doesn't turn into a tangent.

Spare wheelchairs, adaptive skis, wheels, outriggers, the equipment weighs a lot. Airlines should let adaptive equipment fly for free. When one airline tried to charge me $150 dollars for the overage fee of my outriggers and skis I was ready to take out my ski boots and jacket and wear them through security to remove enough weight. Adaptive equipment weighs (and costs) an arm and a leg, its the nature of the beast, but you should not need to pay to fly it.

I am not a person of means that can afford a first class or premium seat. On certain airlines, this means an isle chair, which for me is awful. Aisle chairs involve being strapped in and mean you no longer have control of your motions as you are wheeled through the rows of the plane. Unfortunately, from my experiences, the workers who are responsible for the aisle chair and the person in it, speak little english, and treat the person as an invalid, barely communicating with them as them strap them to this foreign uncomfortable chair. It is an uncomfortable experience.

Another thing that bothers me, is waiting until the entire plane empties before they can bring the aisle chair back on board to deplane me. This is especially troubling when you're in a rush to make a lay over.

Now comes the part where I would like to point out that I am not being given anything to say this or endorse this company. But honestly, Southwest, has provided the most positive flying experiences for me. Pre-boarding those in wheelchairs, at least for me, eliminated the need for an aisle chair, making me much more comfortable. And I would like to vouch that though they have sometimes lost my luggage temporarily, they have never damaged my luggage or any of my adaptive equipment.

Geology Major

I declared my geology major a few weeks ago, gaining myself the coveted code to the geo computer lab and 24 hour access to the science building. Those, are the minor things that are nice to have, free printing, a nice computer lab that isn't packed.

However, let me tell you, a geology major was not necessarily destined for someone who's in a wheelchair.  I don't mind falling over or getting piggy backed, but in reality those aren't going to be effective means of working in the future, and thus, making geology more accessible has now become the task at hand. With this, I keep the Academic Resource Center at my school on their toes, and I am so grateful that they don't mind all the challenges I put in front of them and that they are capable of thinking outside of the box.

When you google the internet for off-road wheelchair, what will most likely come up is this electric wheelchair that has army tank like wheels and essentially will cost you as much as a new car. Personally, this is not something I would want to rely on, and it isn't something my school would want to pay for. So, back to the drawing board.

One thing we rely heavily on is technology. Currently in the field, we use a two way computer connection on Mac Computers through iChat to set up a video feed from a TA in the field, to me as close to the feature that I can get. The problems that this creates, are some we are trying to solve soon as they will pose issues in the spring semester. Battery life is not as long as we need to rely on. For a three or four day field trip, a computer won't last, so we need to either find a mobile charger or bring multiple spare batteries. There's the glare issues on the screen. Often I'm sitting in direct sunlight, and no matter how much I dim the screen, I still find myself twisting in odd positions to try and get a good visual of the screen.

Recently we've started exploring front wheel options, intended to make a manual chair slightly more of an all terrain vehicle. At worst, hopefully it will keep me from catapulting forwards out of my chair. Best case scenario, this could be the solution we were looking for.

While there are a lot of complication with me being a Geology major, I have no doubts we'll eventually solve the problems and dial in a system that works for me. Am I the only person in a wheelchair who's ever wanted to be a geology major? I love the outdoors, and the idea of sitting inside all day isn't for me, when we've got such a great world outside. Mother nature may not choose to make herself wheelchair accessible, but together we'll get around that.

Volcanic Eruptions!

 Today I exploded a volcano. That's right, there was an explosion. My volcanoes class simulated an explosive eruption. Before you question that, yes, it is a real class and it is so much fun! Let me reiterate the fact that this is why I am a geology major (more to come on that at a later date, but I did officially declare). 

Liquid nitrogen provided the actual explosion. As budding volcanologists, we measured the amount of 'magma' pre and post eruption, measured the spread of volcanic pumice and debris by putting things into out volcano, for example, packing peanuts, pumice and tennis balls. This is essentially what it looked like right before we dropped the bottle of liquid nitrogen into it: 

If your observations are anything like mine, you would notice that packing peanuts, tennis balls and pumice, which you most likely cannot see, float on water.

The eruption was an eruption. Fast and loud, it entirely caught me off guard as it threw packing peanuts spiraling all over the field where we were experimenting. For your entertainment:

You can kind of tell I jumped a bit when the boom occurred. 

and enjoyment number two:

Being the west coaster that I am now, I live near a subduction zone, which happens to generate volcanoes, meaning this entire coast is filled with great volcanoes to study. Take for example, the late, great Mt. St. Helens. I asked if I could paper mache the trash can to look like a volcano, but the teacher denied me and class swiftly reminded me this was college. To that I say:

It's okay, I'm a geo major!

My Friday Night

My Friday night was spent here:

A little cabin my college owns, about a half hour from the main campus, nestled in Oregon.

The primary heat source in this cabin is a wood stove in the main room, that for some reason we allowed to go out during the night. It was a whopping 11 degrees when we arrived at the cabin, which, admittedly, was cold even for me. 

For warmth we had hot brownies, hot cocoa, each other and our sleeping bags. Luckily this little place has power and running water. 

What a day

This is essentially what a bluebird day in eastern Washington looks like. I'm typically a groomers kinda gal, but sometimes, you've just gotta get off the beaten path, and that is exactly what Sara and I did yesterday. Admittedly, it may not have been my brightest idea to just up and decide "Let's go ski this trail in the woods that we have no clue where it leads to!" But alas, into the woods we went. Me, on a slalom ski, probably the second dumb idea of the afternoon.

I fell, a considerable number of times, but thanks to the soft snow none of them too dangerous. Other than the one where I got a tad too close to a tree. Some of my falls were more like sit downs, or ski into ledges. I'm not really sure what to call them. Decide for yourself.

Despite how stuck I was, just look at how blue the sky was! We were skiing down a gully and had these gorgeous views. There was a natural half pipe, weird how nature just makes things like that on its own.

All in all, we spent about an hour getting down this run. Not something I would have done normally, but challenges are good.

This is why I'm a geology major.

Migraines

I have migraines. Sounds simple, right? Few hours in a dark room, and a couple excedrin and it should be gone, right? No, this is anything but simple. Honestly, it's the most challenging thing I've had to deal with health wise in my life.

This migraine started May 27, 2010. That's almost nine months ago, incase you didn't feel like counting. It's never actually gone away, but simply been subdued into submission for short amounts of time through various means. I spent three days in the hospital for it, have tried literally 20+ medications, had to inject myself  with a very painful drug, and now, I get 30 shots of botox into my head every two to three months. Yes, you read correctly, I am a 19 year old who needs botox injected into my head to simply be able to function on a minimal scale.

This was the first treatment that actually helped me return to my somewhat normal life. It takes two to three weeks for the botox to start working for me, which my doctor believes is not normal. It also only lasted for slightly over nine weeks from the date of the injections. But it works, so again I went in for another round of my botulinium toxin A.

Hardest part about fighting this migraine, is that it's entirely inside my head. Other than the sunglasses, which rarely leave my face, people would never know. Reading books nauseates me at more than a few pages, and my mind is too scattered from pain to really focus on Othello's real downfall. I pull my hair, because the pulling on my scalp feels like a temporary release from the pent up tension inside my head. But none of this screams migraine to them, because I function through it all.

I jokingly use volcanic terms to describe my migraine. Over-pressurization inside my head. If my migraine were a volcano, it would be Vulcanian, because this thing is explosive. Heck, you could probably even use earthquakes at a metaphor the concussions I rack up. Essentially, I am trying to keep my head from exploding and destroying the city of MiKayla.

If you aren't falling you aren't learning.

I tend to fall, a lot. I'm clutzy. I push myself to the brink of control. I take risks. For me, it's an amazing way  to live my life. With, of course, for the instances when I hit my head, then it's bad. Skiing is no exception. My friend Sara is my ski buddy, even offering to be my ski patrol for me because in typical MiKayla fashion my mum was worried I'd injure myself somehow. She carries my stuff, which to point out, is no simply task with a mono ski. The monoski itself weighs 30 lbs, add outriggers, skis, and a ski bag and you've got quite a few trips to make.

Back on track, just had to stop and appreciate my friend. We went skiing on Saturday. Up before the butt crack of dawn, hour and a half drive to the mountain for a few hours of bliss. Or well, what should have presumably been bliss. I was off my game. I have no shame in admitting I fell. Let me tell you, I fell a lot. And it hurt. I fell getting off the chair lift. I fell laying down some turns. I fell going through the line. I fell because I was more focused on laughing on Sara than skiing. When I fall, my mind instantly goes to either, what did I just do wrong or a squealing thought of damn there's snow down my back. But either way, the fall gets looked at, and I try not to make the same mistake again. Except for the instance of the chairlift. When I'm there, I'll blame it on the chair lift. But seriously, I had no idea why I couldn't get off the darn thing! I scooted, I flung my arms, I landed on my face.

I'd just like to point out that the ski is actually uphill.

I LOVE skiing, seriously, most freeing sport for me. One thing that frustrates me on the mountain though, is that everyone feels a need to acknowledge the differences. The thumbs up, the way to go, the wow that's awesome, or the dreaded 'you're such an inspiration'. Nature really is a great equalizer, especially current day with the adaptive technology, but I still feel out of place in the lift lines. When people (It seems most often to be teenage boys) ask me how hard it is, I don't think they would understand when I tell them how mental the lesson is. For now, I just smile politely, attempt to get on and off the chair lift and shred my way to sanity.

Upside down

Things in my life are often turned upside down. Sometimes by my own doing, other times by forces beyond my control. However, I enjoy it the most when I am able to flip my own world, and successfully right myself (without drowning).

My school offers open kayak in a pool twice a week, where you can basically show up and learn whatever you would like about kayaking. They've got students who come in and teach and it's a really great atmosphere. Last semester, I took a white-water kayaking class that met once a week in the pool and went on one river trip. It was all the open kayaks and instructors that flipped me over countless times that helped me to learn how to roll a kayak. Now when my kayak should flip over in the pool, I typically end up right side up. We're still working on it in real rivers where there's a tad more pressure though.

Why a blog?

I live far too adventurous a life to not have a blog.