DEAF WINTERFEST BRINGS 200 TO BRECKENRIDGE

WINTERFEST BRINGS 200 TO BRECKENRIDGE 

The U.S. Deaf Ski and Snowboard Association (USDSSA) hosted a Deaf Winterfest event from Feb. 24 to March 2 in Breckenridge, Colorado. There were about 200 attendees. 

I asked the USDSSA team some general questions and I’ll show you their responses and also include photos and videos from the weekend! 

[Clips of skiers, snowboarders, and others on the slopes and mingling in halls. Courtesy of USDSSA]

Question: How do you choose the Winterfest locations?  

Keith Doane, USDSSA Ski Leader: The members decide what they prefer and hold votes. We try to be fair on switching between the West and the East. We’ve done the West most times lately but we try to switch back and forth. 

Questions: Can you provide some USDSSA history? 

Jason Yeh, USDSSA Vice President: The USDSSA was founded in 1968. They have been hosting biannual conferences all this time. This is the 23th Deaf Winterfest. Our largest deaf gathering was in Telluride 2006. We had 350 people. This year we're close to 200 people and we have a lot of young people here. A fun fact is USDAA is one of the first organizations that affiliated with the US Deaf Sports Federation, which was formerly known as the AAD.  

Nice! Looks like a lot of fun. The USDSSA said on Saturday night, they held a brief moment of silence in honor of Wes Whalen, who was a longtime USDSSA member who tragically passed away during the 2023 Winterfest event. 

The USDSSA said they’re working on announcing their next Winterfest which is likely to be in the Northeast next year and encouraged people to follow their social media. 

Finally, the USDSSA said they’re looking forward to sending their athletes to the next Winter Deaflympics in 2027 in Austria. 

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