Two Top Mountain Adaptive Sports Foundation, a nonprofit based at Whitetail Resort in Mercersburg Pennsylvania, is one of the nation's newest adaptive sports programs for people with disabilities. This rapidly growing program services wounded troops in the nearby Baltimore/Washington region, as well as civilian athletes with a wide range of disabilities.

As a ski instructor at Whitetail since opening day in 1991, Bill Dietrich, Two Top's Founder and Executive Director, saw the need for this type of program at Whitetail. "We aim for this foundation to be a resource for all disabled people in our region," Dietrich says. "However, Whitetail's proximity to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the large number of veterans in our area gives the foundation a natural focus on wounded troops."

Two Top is Pennsylvania's newest chapter of Disabled Sports USA, a nonprofit based in Rockville, Maryland focused on giving those with disabilities an opportunity to gain confidence and dignity through participation in sports. With their help, Two Top has developed a Wounded Warrior Project for our troops at Whitetail. This year, Two Top is starting summer programs to include fly fishing, kayaking, cycling and golf.

In January of this year, over thirty instructor volunteers participated in a special training weekend at Whitetail where they received special instruction from Major David Rozelle and other skiers with disabilities. Volunteers learn about the specialized equipment and techniques needed to assist adaptive skiers to safely learn the basics of balancing, turning, stopping and using chairlifts, regardless of their injury or disability.

Major Rozelle is an Iraqi veteran who lost his leg below the knee when a mine exploded under his Humvee. He is the first amputee to return to active duty and command his unit in a combat zone, and wrote his memoir entitled, Back in Action: