Small Champions Marks 30 Years of Adaptive Skiing in Eagle County

Aspen —The snow on the Eagle River is quiet in the morning, a hush that settles over the valley before the lift lines start to form. But if you look closely at the slopes, there is a different kind of energy building. It’s not the roar of a crowd or the clatter of poles, but the steady, rhythmic work of a coach guiding a child through a turn. For 30 years, this has been the heartbeat of Small Champions, and as the organization marks its anniversary in 2026, the question on many local minds is simple: how does a small nonprofit keep its promise to every single child, year after year?

According to Sandy Schroeder, the Programs Manager for Small Champions, the answer lies in the community that forms around the activity itself. Schroeder, who was a special education teacher in the local school district for many years, notes that having a child with different abilities can be a very lonely place. You are completely occupied with taking care of your family, specifically that child, and the world seems to shrink. But when you bring those kids together, something shifts.

"From the parents’ perspective, what Small Champions offers is a community for not only our children who have different abilities and can’t typically access these kinds of experiences," Schroeder wrote in the Vail Daily. "So the kids all get to be around other kids and feel included in those groups... but then for the parents too."

It’s a support network born out of shared exhaustion and shared joy. Schroeder, whose son with Down syndrome first became a Small Champion in 2011, describes the bond that develops between parents who are going through the exact same thing. It’s not just about the ski lesson; it’s about knowing you aren’t alone in the valley.

The scale of that commitment is tangible. The program has grown from 10 kids in its first year to 80 children enrolled in the year-round program. Last season, 57 of those kids participated in the ski-ride program, which required 57 instructors. Because Small Champions operates as a one-coach-to-one-kid organization, that means 57 dedicated adults on the mountain, plus another six to eight adaptive assistants. It is a labor-intensive model that relies heavily on partnership.

Vail Resorts has been with Small Champions since the very beginning. Through its Epic Promise program, Vail Resorts helps cover costs by providing instructors at a nonprofit rate and supporting summer activities at Adventure Ridge and Epic Discovery. Small Champions asks for a nominal $300-a-year fee, but it works with any family whose financial situation doesn’t allow for that contribution. The goal, as Schroeder puts it, is to take all the recreation activities available in the community and make them accessible to kids with disabilities.

Schroeder’s own family has lived in many different places across the United States, and she says they never felt anything like this before. "It’s so unique to Eagle County and to what I consider our community, which is the disabled community," she said.

The Vail Daily’s three-part series on local nonprofits turning 30 also featured PEER and the Vail Valley Charitable Fund, but Small Champions stands out for its direct, physical impact on daily life. It’s a reminder that in this valley, inclusion isn’t just a policy; it’s a Tuesday afternoon on the slopes where a child learns to fly, and their parents finally get to breathe.

The snow melts by afternoon, leaving the trails slick and dark. But the memory of that morning — the focused eyes of a coach, the laughter of a kid who just nailed a turn — stays with you long after the sun goes down.