Words by Molly Baker

“You sound like you're repeating some part of Melville’s Moby Dick,” says Mike Douglas, as we listen intently to Josh Dueck describing his 2010 silver medal slalom run at the Paralympic Games. We are meeting for coffee in downtown Banff, just a few nights after the premiere of Douglas and Dueck’s film “Freedom Chair”—the story of Josh getting back into the mountains after a major ski accident.

Indeed, there is a foreboding kind of drama in Josh’s voice. But his life is anything but anticlimactic. It’s undeniably heroic.

Dueck has a look of vitality and determination you might see in any other young athlete. His handsomely freckled face displays eyes that don’t give up. Dueck's self-awareness is piercing. The guy is a force to be reckoned with and if his accomplishments in skiing don’t tell you that, all you have to do is listen to him articulate his story. 

Now 30, Josh was 23 years old when he became paralyzed from the waist down after testing a front flip off a jump during his coaching days for Silver Star Freestyle Club in Vernon, BC. At the time Dueck had chosen coaching instead of professional skier stardom. Among skiers in the program at the time, TJ Schiller, Riley Leboe, Josh Bibby, and Justin Dorey, are just a few.

“In hindsight, the only difference between myself and those guys was that they were willing to make the sacrifices to be a pro skier,” says Dueck about his choice to coach. “They owned the knowledge that skiing was what they were meant to be doing.”

Winning the Best Film in Mountain Sports at this year’s Banff Film Festival (the first screening of the film ended with the only standing ovation of the week) and featured in Salomon Freeski TV’s Episode Five, Josh’s story has emerged. In many ways, it is bigger than any X Games medals (although Josh does have a gold one under his belt from the 2011 Mono Skier X event) or Olympic appearances (Dueck has a few of those too). Josh’s existence transcends all the prerequisites of success in skiing. He whole-heartedly represents the reasons people ski. And it’s apparent that it’s what he was meant to do.

Salomon Freeski TV S5 E05: The Freedom Chair

“We saw an opportunity with Salomon Freeski TV with Josh,” says Mike Douglas, there to help Dueck represent the film. “Later, when we finally saw the interviews, it was obvious we needed to go further.”

“Freedom Chair” is now on the Banff Film Festival World Tour, was accepted to over 20 international film festivals, and was even released on Yahoo’s homepage, which alone promises close to one million views. Douglas’ insight was exact and it’s obvious they could go further.  

“I am not acclimatized to this kind of attention,” explains the humble and well-spoken Dueck. “This is just the first time my story has been told well.”

Not only has Josh managed to get back on snow and win competitions in multiple disciplines on his sit ski, he has now stomped forty footers and slashed pillow lines better than most. The trip to Chatter Creek, BC last season with longtime friends Mike Douglas and Mark Abma wasn’t the first time Dueck took his sit ski to the pow, but he was certainly pushing his own personal limits.

“He never even got to look over the edge,” points out Douglas of the airs that Dueck attempted and stomped on the Chatter Creek trip. Douglas and Abma helped direct Josh into every air, only once ending in a minor run-in with a tree. Blind faith in his ski partners led him to some of his best lines of the season. “Everyone had to commit on that trip. I had absolute trust in the people I was working with,” says Dueck of the 40 footers and even jumping over Abma at one point. “If I hadn’t had those guys, who I’ve known and skied with for years, the fear would have been too great.”

When I talk to Josh, I don’t hear fear. When I watch him charge in “Freedom Chair”, I don’t see hesitation. When Josh speaks, he doesn’t sound afraid. And all of the recent exposure is just one part to his hard charging narrative. Douglas and Dueck plan to start work on a new project, a short webisode installment.

“It was an invert that took me down and I want to stomp what took me out,” announces Dueck at the end of our conversation. “I just want to get er’ done.”

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