Adaptive Recreation in Park City: Why the National Ability Center Is the Crown Jewel

The history (in brief)

The NAC was founded in 1985 by Meeche White and Peter Badewitz, two skiers — one a Vietnam veteran, one a longtime ski instructor — who believed that the people they knew with disabilities deserved a real mountain experience, not a watered-down one. They started with a handful of skiers and a borrowed building. Forty years later, the campus off Highway 248 hosts thousands of participants a year, including U.S. Paralympic athletes who train here.

What I love about the NAC's history is that it never stopped being a Park City story. The founders were locals. The instructors are locals. The board is full of people who live in Old Town and Promontory and Jeremy Ranch. This is not a national org that happened to land in our backyard. It started here.

The full program lineup

Here is what the NAC actually offers — most visitors only ever see one piece of it:

Winter

• Ski school. The flagship program. Adaptive ski lessons at Park City Mountain (formerly Park City Mountain Resort) and on the NAC's own learning hill on the campus. Mono-ski, bi-ski, sit-ski, three-track, four-track, visually-impaired guided skiing, snowboarding. The instructor-to-student ratio is exceptional.
• Ski racing. The competitive arm. NAC athletes have won Paralympic medals. The race team trains alongside able-bodied programs at PCMR and Deer Valley.
• Snowshoeing and cross-country. Run out of the campus and at White Pine Touring trails.
• Sled hockey. At the Park City Ice Arena.

Spring/summer/fall

• Equestrian. Year-round actually, but the outdoor arena opens up beautifully May through October. (My beat — see other posts.)
• Cycling. Adaptive bikes, recumbents, hand cycles, tandems. They run group rides on the rail trail.
• Paddleboarding and kayaking. At Jordanelle and Rockport.
• Rock climbing. At the on-campus tower and at Momentum Indoor Climbing.
• The challenge course / ropes course. On campus. Underused, in my opinion. Spectacular for groups.
• Archery. A perennial favorite for kids who can't get the hang of skiing.

Year-round

• Veterans programming. A huge piece of what the NAC does — military and veteran-focused weeks, often free of charge to participants.
• Group retreats. Customized programming for visiting groups: schools, hospitals, family reunions, military units.

The Quinney Welcome Center

If you haven't been to campus in a couple of years, the new Tom and Mickey Quinney Welcome Center is worth the drive. It opened recently as the new front door of the campus — a real welcome experience for visiting participants and families, with a cafe, a retail space, and event space. It also functions as the volunteer check-in. Beautiful Modern Western architecture (timber, stone, big glass to the mountains) — the kind of building Park City does well when it's thoughtful.

The Quinney Center matters because for a long time the NAC's biggest weakness was wayfinding. Visiting families would arrive overwhelmed. Now you walk in and someone meets you. It changes the whole entry point.

For visiting families

If you are coming to Park City for vacation and you have a child or family member with a disability:

• Book lessons or sessions through the NAC website (discovernac.org) at least 4-6 weeks ahead during peak winter; sooner is better.
• Many programs offer scholarships and financial assistance — apply when you book.
• Lodging: the NAC has its own McGrath Mountain House, fully-accessible lodging on campus that's available to participants. Bookable for short stays.
• You don't need to be an experienced skier or rider. Many participants try a sport for the first time at the NAC.

For locals looking to volunteer

Every program above runs on volunteers. Equestrian, ski, cycling, climbing — all of them want help. The onboarding is sport-specific (you can't volunteer at the climbing wall after a ski-school orientation), but the general volunteer application is the same starting point. They have always-needed, never-enough volunteers in the ski school. If you can ski intermediate terrain, you can be useful.

What I tell people

When friends visit and ask what "the NAC thing" is — because Mark mentions it at dinner, because they saw a banner on Main Street, because their kid noticed the sit-skis at PCMR — I tell them this: it's the best thing in Park City that isn't a ski mountain. Forty years in, with national-level athletes and a brand-new welcome center, run by people who live here and care, serving riders and skiers and climbers who would otherwise be quietly told "no" by most of the recreation world.

It is the crown jewel. Adaptive or not, it is one of the things I'd put at the top of any "what makes Park City actually Park City" list. Above the festival you're not allowed to mention anymore. Above the Saturday Park Silly Sunday Market. Above whatever Vail is currently doing.