Legally blind man learns to ski with guide

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Hitting the slopes again, after becoming legally blind.

"It's more focused, where I just have central vision and where I just see straight ahead, so I have to move my head to be able to see what you would see in 180-degree vision."

Todd Taylor is an engineer, who was encouraged by his wife to see a doctor two years ago after he kept bumping into things.

"Unfortunately, when I went to see the doctor, they said, 'Wow, you know you're legally blind and you don't see so well,'" he said.

Taylor said although he has six and seven degrees of vision in each eye, his peripheral vision is gone and so is the lifestyle he once had.

"It's really disappointing, you can't drive anymore and all of the sudden, you don't really have a lot of mobility," he said.

His friends told him about a program in Winter Park, Colorado that helps visually impaired people to ski.

"You can actually have a guy that helps you ski down the mountain," he said. "It was awesome, like liberating, super free."

Taylor focuses on the ski guide as he goes down the hill and is alerted on any changes in the slopes.

"To be able to get back on a mountain and be able to smell the smells on the mountain and just the excitement of being there, it's really awesome," he said.

Taylor's next step is to qualify for the U.S. Paralympic Alpine Skiing National Team, but he needs support to get him through.

"Until you make the national team, it's the reasonability of the athletes to do all of the fundraising," he said.

The total cost, including his guide's equipment, ends up being around $15,000 and although its an expensive journey, Taylor says it's a liberating one that he doesn't hope to end anytime soon.

Todd Taylor Paralympic Ski Racing - http://tiny.cc/toddtaylor