Lt. Col. Daniel Dudek didn’t expect his first sit-skiing experience to be as eminently possible as it turned out to be.

“This is great. After you get wounded, you start thinking, ‘I’m not going to play golf any more, I’m not going to do this (or that)’; you certainly don’t think you’re going to ski again. And this is incredible,” Dudek said on a bluebird day on Whistler Mountain on Jan. 22.

Dudek is the commander of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Lewis, Wash., which is one of about 35 units created in the U.S. Army since 2007 to provide thorough medical care, advocacy and leadership to ill, injured or wounded soldiers. He found himself sampling sit-skiing in Whistler with three other soldiers from his battalion through a new program launched by the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program (WASP).

The “Anything’s Possible” program has been created to help give military personnel introductions to adaptive sports after injuries, and WASP is working with longtime Whistler part-time residents Bill and Barbara Norman and the American Friends of Whistler to make it all happen.

The Normans said they feel connections to the U.S. armed forces through family members, such as Bill’s World War II-veteran father and brother who was wounded in Vietnam, and they have seen the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the number of wounded soldiers. They have also become more exposed to WASP’s programs over the last year and a half, as part-time Whistler residents, and they wanted to contribute something worthwhile.

“We’re so grateful for all that the military men and women are doing for our country, and for us as citizens, and we just wanted to be able to somehow give something back to them. So bringing them up here and giving them opportunities to learn or relearn a sport in this amazing environment was something we wanted to do,” Barbara Norman said.

Bill Norman said the couple was inspired by a WASP ski-lesson success story and by watching the launch of WASP’s adaptive rowing program last summer on Alta Lake. Seeing one of the participants go from trepidation to showing “unbridled joy” in rowing around the lake in just 20 minutes showed them that truly anything is possible, he said.

The soldiers from Fort Lewis were offered the first chance at the new program, as Bill Norman said the couple knows their group and felt particularly motivated to do something for the local northwestern area. They are pursuing ways to have Canadian soldiers participate too, he said.

Dudek said skiing with WASP could be an amazing recreational option to add to his battalion’s offerings, as they currently have six main sports plus electives.

“You never know what’s going to resonate” to help wounded soldiers turn feelings of “I can’t into I can” and rediscover their identities and independence, Dudek said.

“Obviously being out on Whistler on a day like today, if this doesn’t do it, nothing’s going to,” Dudek added, laughing in the sunshine on his sit-ski.

Soon, visiting soldiers will be able to stay in the Whistler Athletes’ Centre, the fully accessible complex in what is currently the Olympic and Paralympic athletes’ village. WASP gets to move into the facility along with the Whistler 2010 Sport Legacies leaders and other partner groups post-Games.

“The legacy possibility of this new facility, and WASP’s footprint in it, is only just being realized… To be able to attract new participants and user groups, military or otherwise, will ensure a sustainable future for our organization,” WASP Executive Director Chelsey Walker said in a statement.

Since the facility is a little busy at the moment, preparing for the arrival of Olympic athletes and company, the visiting soldiers, spouses and medical personnel from Fort Lewis stayed with the Normans or in the Delta Whistler Village Suites. The Delta stepped up to offer discounts and work with the organizers, and Whistler Blackcomb chipped in lessons for Dudek’s wife, Bill Norman said.