Jean-Yves Michellod Patron of new Verbier4All Association

Jean-Yves Michellod has agreed to become a patron of Verbier4All, the new association which aims to improve all­-year round accessibility to the mountains for people with a physical or visual deficit.

Mountain guide and extreme skier, Jean-Yves Michellod  won the Xtreme Verbier in 2004. But two years later, following a serious accident in the mountains, he found himself with partial paralysis.

But Jean-Yves didn’t let this slow him down. He stunned the sporting world and beyond with his resolve and unaltered desire to tackle untracked faces.

With the Falquet brothers, just one year later, he won Hike and Ride and was also the subject of the film ‘Skieur Libre’ which was awarded gold at the highly acclaimed International Festival of Alpine Film in Les Diablerets.

In 2009, Verbier’s local hero nailed the North Face of Mont-­Blanc – in his sitski.

“Verbier4All could not wish for a better ambassador to inspire and motivate people of limited mobility to get out there, be active and try adaptive sports,” a statement from the group reads.

“From the outset, we have been hoping Jean-­Yves would join this adventure and become our patron,” said Valérie Vaucher, President of Verbier4All, the gropup’s president, adding, “He is exactly the right person to help promote our project and also share his know-how and experience. I am really happy he has agreed to take on the role.”

Verbier4All’s objective is to set up a library of summer and winter sports kit, available for use, free of charge, to people of limited mobility. The organisation is currently fundraising in order to purchase its first rigs and put its structure in place: hopefully for this coming winter 2019-20.

Jean-Yves is delighted to be supporting this initiative, “For me, it was inconceivable that I wouldn’t continue to ski after my accident. Once I’d mastered it, I found I could get the same powerful and magical sensations in this little rig, as before. This project wants to enable more people of limited mobility to experience that same feeling and I really think that’s great. I hope that by becoming patron of Verbier4All, I can help spread the word and share the mountains and sport that I love.”