A life-changing injury didn't stop my little girl learning to ski

Going on a skiing holiday is not like a normal break, where you might throw in a beach towel, a swimming costume and a change of clothes. You need kit – lots of it.

So on the first ever skiing holiday for our teenage family in April this year, we splashed out on new coats, gloves, socks, salopettes.

But we also had to make sure we didn’t forget a key piece of kit, which we have become used to over the past decade – a prosthetic leg, together with spare silicone sleeves to hold it in place.

Ever since Pollyanna, our two-year-old daughter, lost her leg below the knee in a bus crash in April 2007 we have done our best to make sure that she is brought up like any other young girl.

So this year, my wife, Sarah, and I decided to take Pollyanna and her brother, Barnaby (16), and sister, Sapphire (14), on a skiing holiday to Passo Tonale, in the Italian Dolomite mountains. Pollyanna’s mobility is good and bad due to her habit of growth spurts, which means that her leg needs frequent operations that can confine her to a wheelchair for months. In the weeks before we left, like other novice dads, I took the children for skiing lessons at the Snozone, a huge indoor artificial slope in Milton Keynes.

Both Barnaby and Sapphire had been on school trips before and it was clear that they could look after themselves on the slopes. Sapphire was a natural, Barnaby less so. They only needed a lesson each to remind them of what to do. But with Pollyanna, it was more complex because she was a complete novice and she only had one leg.

I had picked the Snozone because there is a team of adaptive skiing instructors who teach the disabled how to ski. The first challenge was to work out what kind of skis Pollyanna would need. She has no shin or foot below her right knee, which meant that she would only be able to stand on her good leg. There were a couple of options: a sit ski, which is a bit like a chair on skis, or outriggers, which look like crutches with short foot-long skis attached to the ends. 

The outriggers were clearly the best option. Pollyanna would balance on her good foot on one normal ski, wearing her prosthetic blade on to which she could put weight when queuing for a ski lift. 

The Snozone has two slopes – a nursery slope and a much longer and steeper one, which, by my reckoning, would be a blue ranking in Italy.

Stephen Jordan, her instructor, led Pollyanna to the nursery slope, carrying two outriggers for Pollyanna and two for him, as well as a ski for each of them. I watched anxiously as Stephen patiently took Pollyanna through the gradual process of learning how to ski with her outriggers. Pollyanna did so well but was clearly tired and a little reticent about the prospect of trying to ski in Italy. To lift spirits, I told her to imagine the views of the mountains as she sped down the Dolomite slopes, but I was worried that we could all be making a huge mistake.

But after three hour-long lessons on the slope at the Snozone, she was turning left and right as she gingerly travelled about 50 yards downhill. These were small, incremental steps and very moving – it was like watching her learning to walk again – as she grew more confident with her outriggers. But the big test would be how she would cope on the real slopes, given that Pollyanna tires easily walking on her prosthetic leg. So the Hope family set off in April, with Pollyanna in her wheelchair. 

A first problem on arrival was the kit for Pollyanna. As can happen when travelling overseas with a disabled child, the wrong message had got through about the degree of support needed. The staff at the ski-hire office thought that she was a double amputee, and had spent a fortnight sourcing a sit ski – a bucket seat suspended above two skis. Luckily, a nearby instructor’s office had a pair of outriggers and we were able to start skiing the following morning.

The next problem was finding snow. It was late season and very warm (as high as 60F (15C) in the day). Tonale, together with other runs at Ponte di Legno, Temu and the Presena glacier boast between them 100km of skiing over 42 pistes, served by 28 lifts, but during our week-long stay around 40 per cent of them were closed. 

Nevertheless, we set off the next morning full of optimism, meeting Eduardo, Pollyanna’s instructor, at the base of the ski lift. Despite the lack of snow on the lower slopes, the skiing higher up was great fun. A red run above our hotel – reached by two chair lifts – took us to a starting point for two red runs at 7,257ft (2,212m). An added incentive was that there was a traditional Italian bistro there which must serve the best spaghetti carbonara and mulled wine this side of Verona. The sun terrace afforded terrific views of the Presena glacier opposite. 

Under Eduardo’s expert eye, by the middle of the week Pollyanna was making huge progress on her single ski and her two outriggers – and was soon skiing more confidently than me. She was fearless heading down red runs, outpacing my attempts, leaving me attempting large snowplough turns. It was a joy to watch.

Barnaby had also improved and was showing real skill on the blue and red slopes. Yet the two stars were Sapphire and Sarah, for whom runs of any colour were navigated with ease. But Pollyanna tired quickly and often would head back to our hotel, the five-star Grand Hotel Paradiso, on the edge of Tonale, to rest.

She was fearless heading down red runs. It was a joy to watch

We were on a half-board package, so the hotel was our sanctuary throughout the week, with an indoor swimming pool and full spa in the basement to apply the right balm to exhausted ski legs. Unfortunately, the hotel had a policy of not allowing children in the swimming area after 4.30pm (the same time as when the ski lifts outside stopped working). We pleaded with the hotel and eventually they relented to allow Pollyanna to swim and rest her leg after the exertions on the slopes.

Away from the skiing, we enjoyed the hotel’s delicious food. The evening meal began each night with a sumptuous salad buffet, while smartly dressed waiters took orders for the prima (pasta) and seconda (meat) courses. Within 500m of the hotel, several bars offered the prospect of fun après-ski drinking. 

On one afternoon, we enjoyed exploring the more villagey Ponte de Legno – further down the valley. It is much more scenic, with chocolate-box chalets, which must look stunning when it snows. By the last day, Pollyanna and the other children had transformed into competent skiers, and I made the mistake of thinking I had too. 

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In a moment of foolhardy adventurism, I decided that I would tackle the run down from the top of the glacier – a hairy combination of a very steep red run followed by a near-vertical black slope. I set off with Sarah and Sapphire in the morning. This was a big mistake because it meant that the slope was covered by a veneer of ice that had not yet melted. As Sarah and Sapphire sashayed down the slope, I made slow progress with my looping snowplough turns. I started well enough but then – disaster! – my ski got caught, and I wiped out, skidding 100ft like an out-of-control sack of potatoes down the slippery surface, arms and legs akimbo.

Sarah tried to help me, but she was laughing too much, and Sapphire just giggled as she glided elegantly past, saying: “Hurry up Dad. Come on!”

We flew home the next morning. It had been a tremendous week. Pollyanna’s disability had meant that I had not thought it was possible to go on a family skiing holiday together. But I was wrong: Pollyanna had had a great time. And there is no reason why we cannot go again.

Essentials

The package

Crystal Ski Holidays (020 8610 3123; crystalski.co.uk) offers a week’s half-board at the five-star Grand Hotel Paradiso from ￡756 per adult/￡569 per child (2-11) at Passo Tonale, with flights and transfers. Flights also from other UK airports.

Snozone

Snozone (0333 003 0520; snozoneuk.com) offers adaptive lessons on a one-to-one basis from ￡34.99pp.

Plan ahead

Planning your next winter getaway? Meet our specialist writers at The Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Show at London’s Battersea Evolution from Oct 26-29. Readers can enjoy a saving of 15 per cent when quoting THETELEGRAPH at skiandsnowboard.co.uk