It’s almost time for winter and many of us here in New England are excited for yet another ski season! I for one can’t wait for some powder days in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the Green Mountains of Vermont. In searching for information, I came a story about a man whom I did not know, but felt compelled to write about.

Kevin Alderton is one of the world’s fastest men on skis. In 2006 he set a record of over 100 miles per hour on a downhill course in France. He’s also blind. An Ex-Soldier, Kevin was blinded in a violent street attack in 1998, trying to come to the aid of a woman who was getting beaten.

He was inspired to achieve this goal by someone he met after his accident, a blind ex-soldier named Billy Baxter. Baxter holds the world record for fastest blind motorcyclist (a whopping 165 mph!), and could directly relate to what Alderton was going through. One year later, Kevin was on one of the world’s best speed skiing courses, the Flying Kilometer, in Les Arcs, France. He fell before he reached the timing zone, and even on his back was clocked at 100.54 mph. He estimates he was doing 120mph before the fall, and is trying to get another chance to break his own record.

He occasionally trains at an indoor facility near Milton Keynes and is currently hoping to help make London’s trains more accessible to blind people by painting lines on the ground in the train stations, known as the Rainbow Route. For more on Kevin and his inspiring story, check out this more in depth article.

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