Pete’s story: Thriving on our ski karting course

4 March 2025

Meet Pete:

• Plays power chair football
• Volunteers as a Back Up power chair skills trainer
• Loves adrenaline-filled outdoor activities!

A spinal cord injury can happen to anyone, at any stage of their life. In Pete’s case, he sustained a high-level spinal cord injury when he was building up his career as a mountain biker. Already at a semi-professional level, Pete was out riding trails with a friend – but on the last 200 meters of the ride, disaster struck.

“We just thought it would be a chill ride, but coming towards the end of the route I hit something. I think it may have been a tree stump, which sent me over the handlebars of my bike.

“I remember landing on my head and hearing a crack. I had damaged my spinal cord at the C3 level”.

Pete had sustained a high-level spinal cord injury. He describes this time in his life as an “upheaval” – for both him and his family.

“I was living away from home in Scotland when I sustained my injury. My parents would need to travel 300 miles just to visit me in hospital.

“In the first few months of my injury, just living day to day was a struggle. Even when I got my first power chair, just learning how to go through a doorway was challenging. There was such a steep learning curve to everything.”

Fortunately, Pete met Back Up while in hospital. He encountered Rich, one of our Outreach and Engagement team members, who provide essential support to newly injured people in spinal centres around the UK.

For Pete, meeting another young man with a spinal cord injury helped him see that it would be possible for him to start living life to the full again.

“It was largely older people on my ward. I must have been the only one under forty years old. Meeting Rich was life-changing. He was a younger guy with similar hobbies and interests to me. It showed me I wasn’t alone.”

Since meeting Rich, Pete decided to keep being a part of the Back Up community. He decided to spend his time volunteering with us as a power chair skills trainer, teaching the skills he learned in hospital to others in a similar situation. His mum, Cath, also made use of our services. A family mentor was there to give her practical advice and a listening ear, and she also regularly attended our Back Up Lounge – an online space for everyone affected by spinal cord injury.

As the years went by, Pete never stopped loving outdoor activities – especially anything which gave an adrenaline rush! This year, he joined our Sweden Ski Karting course, which is designed to give people with a higher level injury the freedom and excitement of being on the slopes.

“I remember Rich telling me about the Ski Karting course years ago when I was in hospital, which sounded so cool! I’m very glad I waited until there was a ski I could use independently, though. That is the fun in any sport like this.”

“This year Back Up had access to a ski kart I’d be able to completely operate myself. It had a control system I’d be able to operate by sipping and puffing into a tube! There are only 25 of these things in the world, and it would allow me to ski independently.”

With this adaptive ski kart, Pete was free to take to the slopes in full control of his movement. Although he had a ski instructor with him to assist with braking the kart, this became part of the fun. The two of them worked together as a team to see what was possible with this new technology.

“The problem-solving aspect really appealed to me. The instructor and I worked together to figure the kit out. By the end of the week I was going up chairlifts for the first time and tackling bigger runs!”

Since going on this course, Pete has also discovered that travel is possible after spinal cord injury. It showed him that, despite its difficulties, going away and taking on a challenge can be very rewarding.

“As well as the skiing – this course also showed me that flying really isn’t for me! I’ve recently booked myself a skiing holiday in France for this year, but I’ll be driving over rather than taking a plane.

“If I were to give someone advice who is considering going on a Back Up course? I’d say just do it. You won’t regret it.”

Need support after spinal cord injury? You can register for support here.

Inspired to give something back yourself? You can learn more about volunteering with us here, and you can also make a donation to ensure our services will support more people like Pete in the future.