ROLL BOLDLY Summer 2023
AdvenChair is Rolling Boldly,
to the Benefit of Young, Old, and Veterans, too.
BY GEOFF BABB
We are still glowing a year after the epic Grand AdvenChair 2 on the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park (20 miles down and up). And our roll on Cannon Beach on a bluebird day in February (above) during a break in Snowmagedon '23 was nothing short of phenomenal. But what’s driving us the most since our last newsletter is the many other lives that AdvenChair has touched in various parts of the world.
Thanks to AdvenChair, 5th and 6th-grade students are enjoying the full Outdoor School experience at three large programs in Oregon. And this fall, they will be joined by kids at outdoor schools in California and Indiana. Read more in the story below.
A mobility-challenged grandmother enjoys the AdvenChair hiking wheelchair
Elsewhere, mobility-challenged grandmothers were able to enjoy multi-generational trips to wild places to celebrate important family events in AdvenChairs, while families in California, Idaho, and Tennessee can now share their love of the outdoors with their children who have disabilities long after the kids have outgrown their strollers.
Also, Team Kapen in Torrance, California once again helped the AdvenChair family grow by sharing the chair that took them to Machu Picchu in 2021. After enabling a family to celebrate a new trail honoring their patriarch last year, they recently helped brain tumor survivor Christine participate in the National Brain Tumor Society walk-a-thon in Los Angeles.
Brain tumor survivor Christine participates with an AdvenChair hiking wheelchair in the National Brain Tumor Society walk-a-thon in Los Angeles
Additionally, three students from OSU-Cascades Outdoor Products Program, Chandler Brookins, Will Lamar and Tyler Paulson, completed their Capstone Project by designing and testing a significant improvement to a critical moving part on the AdvenChair.
This upgrade will reduce friction and metal fatigue and has been integrated into Version 3.2. We can’t thank them enough for their efforts!
OSU-Cascades Outdoor Products Program, Chandler Brookins, Will Lamar and Tyler Paulson, completed their Capstone Project by designing and testing a significant improvement to a critical moving part on the AdvenChair
Looking ahead, in late July/early August, Christine Nguyen will join 30 other young adults from the Seattle area on a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Portugal, featuring an extensive trek in an AdvenChair along the Camino de Fatima. Read her story below.
And that’s not all of the exciting things that are happening this summer:
Crusaders for America, a veterans group in Pennsylvania, has also joined the AdvenChair family and will be hitting the trail soon.
The AdvenChair team will be participating in Destination Rehab’s SOAR 2023 at the Bend Pavilion on Saturday, July 8.
On August 25-27, an AdvenChair will be rolling on a part of the Olympic Discovery Trail in Port Angeles, Washington in support of Ian’s Ride, an event to help raise awareness for accessible trails.
Young or old, anyone can now roll boldly to places once thought inaccessible knowing they are riding on the most advanced, most versatile and most durable all-terrain chair on the market.
Onward!
Geoff Babb
AdvenChair announces new upgrades and prices for Version 3.2
When a product is built by a team of visionaries and perfectionists, it’s likely to get tinkered with and improved upon rather frequently. Such is the case with AdvenChair as we begin taking orders for our next version.
After passing its toughest yet – the Grand AdvenChair 2 to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back – the AdvenChair team realized that some elements of the chair could be made even better and began implementing several significant upgrades. On the next version, you can expect:
A new and improved fiberglass seating system from Enabling Technologies, a well-known adaptive sports innovator and manufacturer.
A lowered center of gravity (1.25") to prevent tip-overs on the side slopes.
A new forward beam design that replaces the front suspension with a fatter tire that can use lower air pressure for better traction.
New soft-shackle, open-loop towing points from Metolius Climbing replace the heavy and expensive stainless steel eye bolts.
New plastic bearings on the footrest and caster legs to provide stronger and smoother movement.
We also eliminated two redundant seat mounting tubes that were welded to the frame and replaced them with bolted-in seat tubes. Combined with the other changes mentioned above, we have managed to reduced the overall weight by 5 lbs., while improving both safety and comfort.
With some adjustments for inflation, the new AdvenChair 3.2 is ready to roll for a lifetime of adventure for a very reasonable cost of $11,950.
AdvenChair’s Portuguese Pilgrimage – Tackling the Camino de Fatima with an entourage of young adults.
By most accounts, a stroll around the park constitutes an active summer afternoon for a wheelchair. But for AdvenChair – the only all-terrain wheelchair to travel to both Machu Picchu and the Grand Canyon – a significantly more challenging venture is on the docket next month. Christine Nguyen, a 22-year-old resident of Renton, Washington, born with Cerebral Palsy, is about to embark on a pilgrimage with 30 other young adults along the Camino de Fatima in Portugal.
The group from St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Renton will be attending World Youth Day in Lisbon along with 1.5 million other young adults from all over the world. Part of the pilgrimage will include an extensive trek of about 10 miles a day over rugged and hilly terrain, as well as ancient cobblestone streets.
Ancient cobblestone streets in Portugal will be one of the surfaces for the AdvenChair all-terrain wheelchair along the Camino de Fatima
The Camino de Fatima in Portugal is the next challenging venture for the AdvenChair all-terrain wheelchair
“We are excited to rent an AdvenChair,” said Beth Nieva, the Parish’s Young Adults Group Leader. “This pilgrimage is not a vacation, but rather an opportunity to pack light (we are backpacking) and realize what is essential. I originally thought I could 'MacGyver' an old wheelchair, but the AdvenChair will be a much safer (and cooler- looking) alternative.”
All of Christina’s fellow travelers will have a chance to push and pull the chair up and over the unpredictable terrain and overcome difficulties on the fly.
“We will be visiting the Castle at Tomar, parts of the Camino from Lisbon to Fatima, and traveling all over Lisbon,” said Nieva.
Though she is able to stand and get around through the use of arm crutches, the opportunity to ride an AdvenChair is an absolute game-changer for Christine.
“The AdvenChair will provide accessibility, opportunity and safety in particularly challenging outdoor environments,” she said. “In a city that is known to be incredibly hilly (Lisbon is known for its seven hills), the AdvenChair will help me access and safely maneuver through rough terrain with greater ease and confidence.”
Christine recognizes that the AdvenChair not only breaks down physical barriers that often limit those with physical disabilities, it enables individuals to engage in new opportunities and situations that were previously considered inaccessible.
“I am excited to use the AdvenChair to explore new places, build new relationships, and connect with friends on this fun adventure!” she said.
If you are interested in helping the church cover the rental cost of the chair, please visit their website: https://ststephenslife.com/wyd-fundraising Donations will be greatly appreciated.
AdvenChair Levels the Playing Field for Outdoor School Students.
For more than 60 years, Oregon’s outdoor schools have offered life-changing educational experiences, allowing 5th and 6th graders to immerse themselves in hands-on science projects in the wild. For children with disabilities, however, trails and rugged terrain have always made participation an uphill battle, if not utterly impossible.
But thanks to AdvenChair, the pathways to outdoor learning are now wide open for every student at the Northwest Outdoor Science School (NWOSS).
“We are so grateful for our partnership with AdvenChair,” said Akari Jensen, Principal of NWOSS. “We have been able to provide access for at least ten different students this school year for reasons spanning from a physical disability to injury-related mobility issues.
"Having the AdvenChair on hand not only allowed all of these students to participate in the hiking, games, and field-based science activities, but to build connections and camaraderie with fellow students and staff members." The AdvenChair team was instrumental in helping the school make the most of the chair.
“The AdvenChair team made our entire staff feel more prepared to meet our students’ needs, as well as to be advocates for disability justice in our own lives. They led trainings with our staff and are always available to help us when we have questions about the AdvenChair. Outdoor School would not be as accessible without them!”
Shannon Copeland, an Instructional Assistant with Camp Cedar Ridge NW Regional ESD, echoed those sentiments wholeheartedly:
"Outdoor School was such a success for Graham [one of their students], and it would not have been possible without the AdvenChair,” said Copeland. “Up and down the hills, around the grassy field, that chair was invaluable. Without it, he would not have been able to participate in everything that he wanted to do."
Graham, an Outdoor School student, participates in everything he wants to do thanks to the AdvenChair hiking chair
Principal Jensen also reports that AdvenChair is very easy for staff members to use, adjust and maneuver. And Geoff is there every step of the way when they have questions.
“Not only that,” Jensen says, “Geoff occasionally came up to the Portland area from Bend to meet directly with students who would need to be fitted for the chair in advance of their week at Outdoor School. The impact of this was palpable. I watched these students see themselves in Geoff and realize that their disability is not a barrier to doing amazing things.”
