The NSCD was founded in January 1970 when Winter Park Resort's ski school director agreed to teach skiing to a group of children with amputations from The Children's Hospital of Denver. Three decades later, the NSCD is widely considered the largest-and most successful-outdoor therapeutic recreation agency in the world. Each year, thousands of children and adults with disabilities take to the ski slopes, mountain trails and golf links to learn more about sports-and themselves. With specially trained staff and its own adaptive equipment lab, the NSCD teaches a variety of summer and winter sports to individuals with almost any mental or physical disability. To learn more about this great organization, visit www.nscd.org.

Photo by Byron Hetzler

As a young man Tom devoted himself to becoming a a world class mountaineer, he quickly established himself, taking on climbs like a winter ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn, Mt. McKinley, and the nose of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. An auto accident changed his life forever when an out of control vehicle struck his VW bus head on. Tom emerged from surgery with two severely damaged knees - including the removal of his right kneecap - and the amputation of his right foot. His spirit remained intact.

Building upon his successful world's first disabled ascent of Mt. Everest in 1998, "Seven Summits" has become Tom's current three year quest to climb the highest peaks on seven continents. When he's not out climbing the world's highest peak, Tom works as a college professor and corporate speaker in addition to heading his own charitable foundation,The Windhorse Legacy which benefits disabled people worldwide (www.windhorselegacy.org).