It’s been 20 years since Adam Hall first walked into a Paralympic stadium as a youthful 19-year-old alpine skier.

A snowboarder at heart, he had made the switch to alpine skiing to chase his Paralympic dream, although perhaps back then, he was unaware of just how far the sport would take him.

Four years after his debut, he heard the New Zealand national anthem play for him from the top step of the podium in Vancouver, where he won Paralympic gold in the Men’s Standing Slalom.

Now having competed in his sixth Paralympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, the 38-year-old seems as wowed as ever at holding a medal in his hand – this time a silver. He describes the post competition period as ‘dreamy’.

“I’m in shock - exactly what just happened?”

“I’m just taking it all in. Breathing and soaking it all up. I’ve still got the medal around my neck and I’m thinking, how did you get there?” he says.

It’s the essence of ‘it never gets old’ for Hall, who with six Paralympic medals, has now drawn level with Patrick Cooper as the most decorated New Zealand Winter Paralympian of all time.

Hall hasn’t yet made plans on whether there will be another Games, and says those decisions will come in time. For now, he’s a full-time athlete, travelling the world chasing winters back-to-back.

He and his equally talented counterpart Corey Peters, a gold medallist from Beijing 2022, have been the mainstay of New Zealand’s Paralympic effort for over a decade now. Though they show no signs of slowing down, the natural question is, where will the next generation of winter para-athletes come from?

Hall says the next winter sport stars may come from the youth ranks, or they may not yet have had the accident that brings them to the sport. He points to Ben Johnston as New Zealand’s rising talent – “he’s fantastic and fully committed.”

Hall says the hunger to compete at the highest level comes from within and para-athletes succeed by finding a balance between external assistance and support, and personal ‘skin in the game’. “Kiwi athletes work hard with much less than other nations, and maybe that tenacity is what sets us apart.”

For Hall, who was a sport lover from an early age, always outside and active, giving everything to snow sports was just natural instinct. “It’s a sport in which you can leave your disability behind.”

That sentiment is shared by Snow Sports NZ Competitive Pathways Manager Scott Palmer, who helps develop the adaptive programme, alongside Jane Stevens.

“It’s a fully inclusive sport and one that provides true freedom. There are no special slopes, you can go up the mountain and have the same experience as anyone else.”

Snow Sports NZ works to ensure any person with a disability with a dream of enjoying the snow can fulfil their ambition – from grass roots participation to elite level. That means working with resorts to create adaptive environments, facilitating instructors and volunteers, and providing adaptive equipment. It’s about enabling and supporting participation at all levels of the pathway.

Palmer acknowledges the number of elite para-athletes is small, but says this is just how the sport works, and the goal is to work hard to support those with talent, to get them ready to compete at paralympic level.

Aside from Hall and Peters, there are currently three New Zealand para-athletes training at varying high-performance levels, and who may be ready for the French Alps in 2030. Among them Bailley Unahi and Ben Johnston.

Developing a consistent adaptive pathway in snow sports is a challenging thing however, given the relatively small pool of participants, and the combination of commitment, talent and resources needed to rise to the top.

Another challenge is helping grow an adaptive athlete from just participation to competition. Snow Sports NZ has run an annual Adaptive Festival for upwards of 15 years but noticed that the jump from taking part to racing seemed hard for some to make.

This year, Palmer says SSNZ will run a week-long series of events – first the festival, then a ‘learn to race’ camp and then the Adaptive Nationals - as a way of encouraging disabled skiers and snowboarders to have a go at competing. It’s another way of stimulating the competitive pathway and inspiring the next generation of Adam’s and Corey’s.

Palmer says it’s not really about numbers however, and the goal of Snow Sports NZ is simply to ensure that adaptive athletes have the same opportunities as non-disabled skiers and boarders. Effectively, it’s about quality, not quantity.

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