Devlin-Young continues to burn up the slopes

Chris Devlin-Young likes flying down mountains at 70 mph on skis. Never mind that his legs haven’t worked for years.

A Coast Guard veteran, Devlin-Young was paralyzed from the waist down after a C-130 crashed with him on board in Alaska.

The son of Darryl Young of Columbia Falls, Devlin-Young lives in New Hampshire and has a cabin on Jensen Road. He was in Columbia Falls recently to visit his family.

Devlin-Young is well-known in the Paralympic skiing community. He has a host of Olympic medals to his credit, including two Paralympic gold medals — his first in the giant slalom in the 1994 Paralympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

In January, Devlin-Young won the gold medal in Mono X sit-skier cross at ESPN’s X Games, at the tender age of 53. X-games are particularly challenging, he said.

“I don’t train for that at all,” he said. “I don’t want to get hurt.”

Similar to boardercross for snowboarders, the sit-skier cross course features deep, tight curves and jumps that run 150 feet — all while sitting on a single ski.

“Ski racing at 70 mph is safer,” he said.

Devlin-Young has competed in five Paralympic Games, the last in Sochi, Russia, where conditions were horrible. The snow was rotten, he said.

“It was 60 degrees at the top of the mountain,” he said. “Skiers broke backs, hips, one girl crashed and broke her face.”

Devlin-Young wrecked as well, suffering a shoulder injury that he’s still recovering from.

“I hit the fence,” he said.

But he continues to race and train. He has no plans to “retire.” He simply loves to ski.

“The freedom I experience in mono skiing completely eliminates my disability,” he said.

Devlin-Young learned skiing through the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. He also coaches other paralympians getting into the sport.

“It’s a way of serving others while still serving my country,” he said.

Devlin-Young’s winning run in the 2015 X-Games can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SV0uUsBasc.