Caterpillar Monologues with Chandler Balkman

I met Chandler about 6 years ago at our home mountain in Washington, Alpental. My mom and I had seen this young guy shredding around the resort skiing fast and fluid on one leg. We introduced our selves and learned he had recently lost his leg in a boating accident. I also got to ski with Chandler a few times at Alta, and I grabbed his number. To this day I have him saved in my contacts as “Chandler Kills it.” He is the most enthusiastic guy and seriously throws down on his ski! I was so impressed with how fast he was, and how confident he jumped off everything. He likes getting air more then I do! Most of all though I was impressed with his attitude. Not only is he positive, but he is a rad, down to earth guy. One day when we were skiing together, he had been following me off the cliffs I was hitting and showing me other fun drops. I asked him if he has tried skiing switch. By the end of the day he was craving switch turns on his ski… Here is Chandler’s story.

Brief summary of the boating accident. How long ago did it happen?

Back in 2006, I lived near Lake Sammamish, a lake close to Seattle. I love to swim, and one Summer evening my dad and I decided to swim out to a buoy and back. I had swam out to that buoy many, many times as a kid–it was just something I grew up doing. That evening, we hadn’t noticed that our boat wasn’t parked at the dock. My sister had taken it out to go see a friend. As we were swimming back from the buoy, the boat was returning back to the dock. I was using swim fins, and I was just kicking under the surface of the water, not swimming at the surface, so I couldn’t be seen at all.

The boat traveled right over me, and I got rocked by the propeller, which shattered my pelvis, cut my foot, hand, and totally destroyed my right leg from the foot to the hip. I was rescued by my dad, canoed to shore (the boat had broken down) and eventually made it to the hospital. I lost about 70% of my blood, and barely survived the night. After a couple months, I was out of the hospital and eventually made a full recovery, having lost a leg in the proc

Me: I hear your on your mission? Tell us a little about that!

Chandler : Right now I’m serving as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Toronto, Canada. Typically, a missionary will serve for 2 years straight, with no vacations (and no skiing). I’ve been doing this for over a year. I love it. My assignment here is to work with people who speak Mandarin Chinese, so I’ve learned to speak the language, which has been a really good challenge. Being a missionary has given me an opportunity to put everything on hold and focus completely on others. Basically, I spend every day just sharing with people what I know to be true and invite them to learn about it. It’s been so, so good.

What were your first thoughts when you found out you would have to live with one leg?

When I really understood that I had lost my leg, I just thought “what things can I still do?” I was 16 years old, and I loved skiing, tennis and lacrosse. It seemed like my favorite things would be unavailable to me. It was tough for those first few days.

How has losing a leg made you who you are today?

I think that the biggest thing I’ve learned from the whole experience is the empowering attitude of focusing on the positive aspects of a situation. I remember being visited by a guy who had lost both legs above the knee, and he says to me, “hey man, you’ve still got a knee left, imagine how hard is to go down stairs without a good knee. ” He made me realize that I was lucky. Not only did I have a good knee, but I had a whole good leg left! That made me so happy. It’s now a habit of mine to look for the good in a bad situation, and it’s definitely become a big part of who I am.

What opportunities has having one leg created in your life? What have you learned about your self since then?

I think the biggest thing that has come come from losing a leg is an enjoyment of every single day. Every day, I think about how grateful I am grateful to be alive. I enjoy the things I do. I have had great opportunities to meet a lot of really cool people that I probably wouldn’t have met had I not experienced the things I have.

Who has been your biggest support? Is there a particular role model in life?

My biggest support has been my family and my faith. I grew up in a very supportive family, and they helped me get through so much. Miracles have happened in my life, and I know that God has looked out for me a lot. As I began to recover after the accident, one of my early goals was to ski again. I remembered seeing a one-legged skier at Blackcomb, just ripping under the chairlift on the first run of the day. I was a little kid when I saw him, but I remembered that image, and I thought “I can be that guy.” Whoever that guy was, his example gave me a realistic foundation for my goal to ski again.

What was it like to get back on skis? What role has skiing played in your life?

Getting back to skiing was so good. My doctors were worried that if I fell skiing, I could re-break my pelvis, so they banned me from skiing until the spring. In February, I had an appointment with one of my surgeons, and asked him if I could ski. He gave in and said okay, and that day I skipped the last part of school and went skiing at Alpental, my home mountain. On the first ride up the chair, I was nervous that I would fall getting off the chair. To my surprise, it went okay, no falling, and I made my way slowly down the run with no big problems. On that first afternoon, I was back to skiing advanced terrain, but I was hungry for more. Later that season I made it back to skiing powder and even a little slackcountry.

After a few seasons of skiing on one leg, skiing to me is a way to experience freedom, physically. I have a prosthetic leg, but I’m unable to really run around. When I ski I don’t use it. I love not feeling like I’m hindered in any way. Skiing is a way that I can feel the rush of going fast. I love to ski in trees and figure out fun lines. It makes me happy to ski creatively. Skiing on one leg is pretty much the same as two. The mechanics are the same. I love that I can still ski hard. Skiing is one of those things which I will try to continue do until the day I die. I don’t know how long my leg will last. My body might give out a little earlier than other people, but until it does, I’ll be skiing.

Any last words or advice for us?

As I write this, I haven’t skied for more than a year, simply because I am taking this two year break. Do I miss skiing? Oh yeah. However, I am happy right now, and I think it’s remarkable when we leave the things we love most, it’s possible to still find happiness. I am so grateful that I can still ski. I think some people just kill themselves thinking about a bunch of “what if” questions. Don’t focus on the “what if” things of the past, and focus on the present, certainly with the future in mind. I am thoroughly convinced that if we choose to be happy, we can be happy.

Chandler, My self and friends, skiing at Alta

Posted in Caterpillar Monologues and friends and interviews and life and Skiing by vaadland on December 6th, 2011 at 3:10 am.

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Deanna Dec 6th 2011

Thanks Chandler for sharing. You are such an inspiration to us all. I remember you skiing with your dad and then catching singles with you later………..always saw a most beautiful/special person from the day we meet.
look forward to seeing or skiing with you again! Deanna

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