- At Sunburst Ski Area in Washington County,
it's a crisp winter night.
The ski runs are packed with snow and ready to go.
It's a good night to strap up and hit the slopes.
[whoosh]
It's also the place to witness Dan Lococo's definition...
- On the right here.
- ...of a trust exercise.
- I've got an eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa
or commonly called "tunnel vision."
- Here's your poles.
- My visual field is very, very limited.
- All right.
- Dan participates in Wisconsin BOLD,
or Blind Outdoor Leisure and Development.
It's a non-profit program
that gives people who are visually-impaired
the opportunity to experience outdoor sports.
- Keep going forward.
- And yes, that includes downhill skiing.
- They had a ski program and I thought, "You know,
"if they're crazy enough to teach somebody how to ski,
I should be just as wild and do it."
- Heel toward you.
There. Step in.
- Ok, got it.
- Skiers are accompanied by sighted guides,
like P.J. Smith...
- Ok, we're going to slide down to the, to the lift.
- ... who helps steer Dan
up and down Sunburst's biggest hill.
- So when he's skiing, he's paying very close attention
to my voice and when I call his turn change.
- And left and turn.
- Left and turn. Right and turn.
Left and turn.
And I follow those voice commands.
- Make 'em easier.
Right and turn.
- If it takes bravery to barrel down a slope on a pair of skis,
it takes trust to do it while blind.
- They know that my life is in their hands
when they're doing this.
And so that trust goes both ways.
I have to trust them,
but they trust me to do what I'm supposed to do.
There are times I hear people talk about trust exercises
and someone tells me, "Oh yeah, we did this trust exercise.
"We made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
And we were blindfolded and someone told us how to do it."
Well, I went down a hill-- who knows how fast we were going--
and I trusted the person behind me to tell me when to turn.
- Wisconsin BOLD has given Dan
the chance to become a talented skier.
It's given P.J.
the chance to meet people like Dan.
- He has a outlook on the world that I wish everyone had.
- It's that connection that P.J. and I have
as guide and skier that really makes it
an electric experience out on the hill.
- Here we go and sit.
- And that's given both of them a big lift.
- I've been doing this for 35 years at least
and teaching skiing for longer than that
so it becomes part of who you are.
I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't doing this.
- It builds confidence,
but it also builds bragging rights
because that opportunity to say,
"Yeah, I ski and I ski downhill."