Nina Steyn is an 18-year-old para-alpine skier from Vernon.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Nina Steyn

Vernon resident Nina Steyn has been skiing the Okanagan’s mountains since toddlerhood. However, her experience of skiing and everyday life changed drastically with a diagnosis at ten years old.

Steyn learned to ski alongside her family when they moved from South Africa to Canada.

“Up until that point, I didn't have any vision issues other than being farsighted,” Steyn told iNFOnews.ca. “So, I wore glasses. But I kind of just sat down in school one day and realized I couldn't see the board.”

Steyn was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a condition that left her with no central vision.

“Generally speaking, I can't see any details. I can't see anything that's further than a few feet away from me.”

Steyn walks with a white cane to navigate through day-to-day life. She also studies psychology at the University of British Columbia and relies on magnification software and text-to-speech technology to do assignments and readings.

However, if it wasn't for Steyn's condition, she may never have considered pursuing a career in sport. 

“As a kid I did like a lot of other activities," Steyn said. "I don't think it's anything that I ever would have done if it hadn't been for my vision loss and I’m honestly so lucky that I did get into it.”

Steyn was eager to continue skiing after her diagnosis.

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“I obviously wanted to get back into skiing,” she said. “I remembered how fun it was from when I was a kid. But like we didn't really know how that was going to work for me, because it was suddenly very different.”

With her visual impairment, skiing presented a whole new set of challenges.

“I can't see when the snow is steeper or when there's a bump. I can't see the signs, I can't see the people around me,” she said.

Last week Steyn competed in Snoqualmie, Washington at the USCSA’s Northwestern Conference’s fourth qualifier race.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Nina Steyn

Steyn and her family connected with the Silver Star Adaptive Snow Sports program which helps people with disabilities learn to ski or snowboard. 

To begin with, Steyn’s instructor wore a neon vest to guide her down the mountain. Later they progressed to using Bluetooth headphones which enabled the instructor to speak directly to her while Steyn skied. 

Finding a newfound enjoyment for the sport, Steyn joined SilverStar’s Adaptive Race Team.

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“I had never been in racing as a kid. I didn't know anything about it. I was just kind of like, OK, well, I'll try this, I guess. And then I really liked it.”

After deciding to go to university, Steyn realized she wanted to continue pursuing competitive racing and joined the UBC team in September 2023.

“Ski racing is definitely a very big commitment. You really have to give it your all,” she said. “But after just the last month of skiing, it's confirmed for me... I really want to take this further. I mean, I don't know how realistic it is yet, but I would really love to get on the Para-Alpine World Cup circuit.”

Para-alpine skiing involves racing around gates, or poles, in the snow. The fastest skier to slalom through the course and get to the bottom, wins.

“It's difficult for anyone, but especially when you're visually impaired,” Steyn explained. “It gets a lot more difficult because I can't really see the gates. I can only see them when I'm like right beside them because I have peripheral vision.”

Steyn must stay within close proximity to her guide who lets her know when there are upcoming pitch changes or turns.

“Every time I pass a gate, I say: ‘Yup’. So that my guide can kind of know where I am behind her.”

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A picture of Nina Steyn (left) and her guide Bella (right) wearing high visibility vests and Bluetooth headphone sets.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Nina Steyn

Skiing is a notoriously expensive sport. But with the extra cost of a guide, who Steyn pays a wage to and covers all of their expenses, the costs are even greater.

“Ski racing is definitely a very, very expensive sport for anyone. There's a lot that you need to pay for, there's a lot of specialized gear," she said. "You have to pay for the maintenance of all of those things and then training itself also costs a lot because you have to travel somewhere.”

Studying in Vancouver has also left Steyn strapped for cash when it comes to skiing. 

“It’s very untraditional for people to be doing what I’m doing in pursuing university education and possibly professional athletics at once. Unless they have some giant scholarship, which I don’t have yet.”

To help supplement the costs, Steyn set up an online fundraiser to collect donations to go towards her skiing career.

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