From Pub to Piste, Denver is Wheelchair-Welcoming

A Journey to the Mile High City

‘Do you fancy a trip to the Mile High City?’ I ask my friend Anthony, who uses an electric wheelchair.
‘Erm, it doesn’t sound very accessible, mate,’ he pointed out. ‘I mean, how do you get up there? Is there a lift?’
‘No idea,’ I had to admit. ‘Sod it,’ he replied. ‘Let’s go.’

Anthony, who has cerebral palsy, doesn’t suffer obstacles gladly. He basically got an OBE for tearing up the rule book.
So, Denver, USA, which famously sits exactly one mile above sea level, wasn’t going to get in the way of him and adventure.

‘Maybe we could go skiing as well,’ I continue. ‘Denver’s right next to the mountains, and they seem to have this thing called a sit-ski…’

In fact, the western US state has one of the best setups for adaptive skiing in the world.
‘Fetch my long johns,’ replied Anthony. ‘We’re off.’
And off we were – to the western US state of Colorado, for a city-and-ski-break of a lifetime.

Getting There

On boarding the United Airlines flight at London Heathrow, Ant is transferred from his electric wheelchair to an aisle chair (the former needing to go in the hold), before being manoeuvred like a ming vase through to Economy Plus, the ‘Plus’ pertaining to additional legroom rather than extra lobster or bubbles.

Over the course of the nine-hour flight, Ant consumes seven episodes of Bridgerton and two cans of lager, the latter giving us occasion to check out the plane’s accessible loo, which doubles in size when a dividing wall is removed. Tidy.

Denver looks glorious from a high: the vast arid plains, the Southern Rocky Mountains, the glittering outline of its downtown. Descending on the city is a joy.

After reclaiming Ant’s wagon and clearing customs without fuss, we ride the accessible A-Line train into Denver’s Union Station, a neoclassical beauty topped with unmissable neon.

Within the station is Mercantile Dining and Provision, a Michelin-approved outfit where the pork chop is gobsmacking and the grapefruit panna cotta even better. (We forget to tip. Sorry Brie.)

Our hotel – the Indigo – is just yards from the station. The lobby is perfumed with complimentary popcorn (as it should be), and our room is definitely roomy.

When we inform reception that the fold-down chair in the roll-in shower isn’t ideal for Ant, they send up an alternative pronto. Fair play.

A Day in Denver

With a day to kill before making tracks for the snow, we breakfast the next morning at Snooze (where the bacon is candied and the décor is loud), before calling an uber-accessible taxi to get a ride out to the art museum.

We’re collected by Ross, who established RideToo when he clocked that people with access needs weren’t being catered for in Denver. While not cheap (£35 for a pickup and then £3 per mile), it’s good to know the service is here should we need it (ridetoo.us).

Denver enjoyed a major glow up in the 1960s and 70s, which is why it looks more like Milton Keynes than it does Venice or Ravenna. The art museum is a case in point: it is the opposite of classical, and better for being so.

If you’re strapped for time, proceed to the seventh floor, where the artworks reveal things about this neck of the woods, which can’t be said for the Monets and Constables that are available elsewhere.

Next, we take a stroll out to RiNo (short for River North), a low-rise district of period buildings that used to be a bit spicy but is now arty and bobo in a way that feels genuine and whimsical rather than cynical and deliberate.

Denver Central Market is at the heart of it. What a place! Excellent vendors, a warm vibe, and in Lunch Boxx it possesses an absolute belter of a lunch spot.

My bento box of rice, slaw, pickles, tempura shrooms and a bundle of carnitas (braised pork that’s both crispy and moist and served in its own juices) is frankly as good as it gets.

Because RiNo has the highest concentration of microbreweries in the US, we do a brewery tour after lunch with a Californian dubstep DJ called Darrick (denvermicrobrewtour.com; £40).

At Our Mutual Friend, the cherry beer is a godsend and the hot dogs are free on Mondays. At Ratio Beerworks, the carrot flower beer has us hopping like bunnies.

And at Odell – whose blueberry concoction has gone national in a big way – Ant starts rabbiting on about why the US should rejoin the Commonwealth.

Off to the Slopes

At 7am the next morning, we set off on the Winter Park Express, which has been conveying folk from downtown Denver to the resort of Winter Park since 1940.

At one point in the two-hour journey, having twisted up and into the Southern Rocky Mountains, we’re told that ‘a tenth of Colorado’ is visible out the window. What a way to get to the snow (one-way fares start from £7).

The ski-resort, Winter Park, is where you’ll find the National Sports Centre for the Disabled, which got going in 1970 when a local guy called Hal O’Leary took some youthful amputees and taught them how to ski.

‘There are a hundred ways of sliding on snow,’ says Mark Stump, a native Texan with a soft spot for Prue Leith, and a key cog in the NSCD machine.

For roughly £100, explains Mark, visitors to the centre are sized up, kitted out, issued a lift pass, then taken out by a fully trained instructor for a session on the slopes.

The centre also has a competitive branch, helping wannabe Paralympians from all over the world ready themselves for competition.

One local lad, Trevor Kennison, retrained as a sit-skier at the NSCD after being paralysed in a snowboarding accident. The documentary Full Circle tells the story of how Kennison returned to the scene of his accident… and did a double backflip in a sit-ski. Legend.

After a breakfast burrito at an iconic café called Coffee & Tea, Ant is introduced to his vessel, a Dynamique sit-ski. It’s basically a throne on two skis, with outriggers attached for extra stability.

The sit-ski also possesses a nifty mechanism that allows it to be slipped onto a chairlift as if it were as easy as buttering toast.

As Mark and Anthony shoot off into the distance on the chairlift, I hear Ant let out a protracted yodel, which probably indicates pleasure, but could also signal distress. I’ll check later.

As we descend on a series of green and blue runs, I can tell that Ant’s still a bit nervy, which is fair enough given that this is his first time on snow.

But he’s in great hands, with Mark Stump at his rear, ably steering him through the narrow sections, and then letting out the tether (by which the pair are connected) when the going is easier.

I check in with Ant at the bottom. ‘How was that, mate?’
‘Terrifying,’ came the reply. ‘Let’s do it again.’

After skiing for another couple of hours, we check into our accommodation, The Vintage Hotel, where our accessible room is at once cosy and spacious.

We consider checking out the outdoor jacuzzi, but it’s -12 outside so get into bed and watch Sense and Sensibility instead.

The next morning, we go higher and deeper into the mountain, again with Mark Stump as our anchor. Ant is increasingly at ease – which is probably why he stacks it a couple of times in quick succession.

During our final session, Ant’s mood is bordering ecstatic. I get the feeling he’d stay out here forever, and I reckon Mark Stump would as well, but I’m conscious that time is ticking.

‘Shall we make this the last run?’ I say.
‘No way,’ says Mark. ‘We don’t do last runs around here. Let’s do two more runs but skip the second.’
‘I’ve got an even better idea,’ says Ant. ‘How about we do three more but skip the last two?’
Mark Stump is delighted. ‘Now you’re talking, Anthony. Now you’re talking.’

Ben Aitken and Anthony Ford-Shubrook were guests of Visit Colorado, Visit Denver (visitdenver.com), and Winter Park Resort.

Practical Stuff

United Airlines offer direct flights from London Heathrow to Denver. Flights take around 10 hours. Prices start at £583 return.

The Winter Park Express runs Thursday to Sunday (in season). The journey takes about 2.5 hours, and one-way fares start at £7.

Accessible rooms at The Vintage Hotel start from £115. The hotel is a stone’s throw from the slopes and has a heated outdoor pool and hot tub.

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