Photo by U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association

Halsted, along with his wife and twin daughters, recently moved to Ufrata, Wash., so the family could be closer to his parents, who live in Idaho.

“The snow is dryer here and the conditions are better for me to train,” Halsted said.

Halsted’s desire to fly is not lost, as he said he plans to earn his pilot’s license once he gets settled in.

Thea Skinner, U.S. Paralympics intern, sat down with Halsted to talk about his future in Paralympic Nordic skiing:

1.      Tell me about your background in sports and education.

SH: “I started swimming in high school and shortly thereafter I began to compete in soccer and cross-country skiing. I’ve always preferred team sports, so I started rowing at Washington State University. After college I tried out for combat control in the Air Force and I qualified. After my injury, the Veterans Affairs rehab program showed me that I can continue sports and it brought me back into the world of athletics. At first I thought downhill would be my thing, but the work-to-play ratio for Nordic skiing was more enjoyable.”

2.      You attended the first USOC Paralympic Military Summit in Colorado Springs, Colo. in 2005. What was that experience like?

SH: “We weren’t sure what we were getting into. We went off of the winter sports clinic from the VA. Some people take the speeches at the VA and believe they are athletes. However, we needed to be introduced to competition at our disability level. This event is the next step to an introductory of sports. The staff knew we wanted to compete and offered ways for us to do so. For me, the Summit provided the next level of competition that I was looking for.”

3.      What trends do you notice in Paralympic Nordic Skiing?

SH: “Since our sport is small, the equipment is created by the athletes themselves. Networking allows us to get ideas on how to position ourselves. For example, there’s one best way to sit in the frame and after talking to the Nordic Team, I decided to mount my ski on a mountain board.

People are starting to open their eyes and look at the physiology of Paralympic Nordic Skiing in order to be more objective toward it. The Russians and Japanese were more into networking, because I think the athletes were not building the equipment.”

4.      How do you balance the energy required for your two-year-old twins and Nordic skiing?

SH: “It’s tough; they do drain the energy out of me. Before them, I had too much free time. When you don’t have a plan, you may forget your priorities. They make you work harder and allow you to set goals. My family is my support group and that support allows me to compete.”

5.       How are you pushing yourself in your training regimen right now?

SH: “I train for sprints and distance for one hour each day I’m on the road. I also lift weights and swim.”

6.      What is your motivating factor to get out of bed everyday?

SH: “It also has a lot to do with where I’ve been. My injury gave me an ‘opportunity’ to experience a sort of life of ease. I spent about a year in the hospital with surgeries and an infection in the rods that were put in my back to stabilize the injury. During that year, I was not required to do anything. In hind sight it was a sort of vacation. I was detached from life and I didn’t like it. It’s rather empty. I remember the high I get when I compete with others, and it usually pulls me out of bed. I just like it when others push me to limits I will not usually push myself - knowing that someone out there is working out at that moment.”

7.      What do you treat yourself to?

SH: “Little things can be big things. Our big family things are movies and my guilty pleasure is video games.”

8.   What is your favorite place to ski and why?

SH: “I like Norway, but I will do better when I am more comfortable with the language. I liked the moguls and black diamonds. The international consciousness was enormous. The amount of effort they put into their cross country is equal to our effort towards alpine downhill.”

9.      Any words of advice to hopefuls starting out?

SH: “The general feeling is that when someone is in a chair you get a lot of help, and then your level of effort goes down. I see the mentality. When you go to the Paralympic level you can get blown out of the water. Do not take that negatively, do not let them deflate you, and do not give up. Have the patience to bridge that gap. Understand the need to be exposed to competitions.”

10.  Paralympic sports are always focused on the theme “Raising the Bar.” If you were to have a personal motto what would it be?

SH: “Rehab helps you exist. Sports help you live.”