A rollover car crash in 2017 left Logan Fuller with lower-body paralysis, but it has not stopped the Dolores athlete from pursuing his passion for skiing.
Fuller has become a well-known independent monoskier on the slopes of Telluride and Crested Butte.
Fuller was a good athlete before his injury as well. He was captain of Dolores High School wrestling and football teams, and was a top-ranked Colorado wrestler. In his junior year, he ran back a 99-yard kickoff return.
But after the spinal injury, Fuller’s life changed.
Instead of training for athletics, he found himself training to feed himself and brush his teeth. Instead of receiving collegiate scholarships, his family received exorbitant medical bills.
The good news is he’s back. Fuller is attending college online and replaced his passion for snowboarding with a monoski, also known as a sit ski.
He has an incomplete spinal cord injury that caused lower-body paralysis, according to a press release. Like most paraplegic monoskiers, he has upper body weakness, but enough left to independently ski a monoski.
Fuller has been taking many lessons from the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program and attended a camp at the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte.
While he’s been off tethers after his first lesson, in order for him to ski fully on his own and more often, he’ll need his own monoski, the press release states.
The GoHawkeye Foundation has awarded Fuller with a $2,500 grant toward the a monoski setup, which cost between $6,000 and $10,000.
The Fuller family is on a fundraising mission to cover the costs.
The chance to return to his love of shredding down a ski slope brought renewed joy and purpose to Fuller’s life.
“It’s hard to not lose your mind when there’s nothing for you to do but watch time pass by,” Fuller said. “When I found that I might be able to ride a sit ski, I was immediately set on being able to get back to the mountain I loved. The happiness skiing has provided me and the outlet to freedom is more than I thought was ever possible after being paralyzed. From there on, I’ve been determined to be a great monoskier who can rip any part of the mountain.”
A fundraiser for Fuller’s sit ski will be held March 28, at 7 p.m., at the Telluride Distilling Co. tasting room in the Franz Klammer Lodge in Mountain Village.
There will be door prizes, a silent auction and live music by the Telluride Gold Kings.
Fuller has deep ties locally, living in Dolores for more than a decade, and he has held a Telluride ski pass since he was 10. His great-grandfather moved to the Dolores area over a century ago, and his mother and grandmother were both born in Cortez. He has many close and extended relatives living throughout the area.
For more information, visit GoHawkeye.org.
