This August, Paradox Sports will travel to western Ukraine to help launch the Ukraine Adaptive Climbing Initiative: a new effort to train Ukrainian climbers to create adaptive climbing opportunities for Veterans with disabilities.

In partnership with Razom for Ukraine, and with support from Ukrainian climbing leaders, Second Wind, and Petros, Paradox will help lead a five-day adaptive climbing training from August 2–6, 2026, in Ivano-Frankivsk and Kamianets-Podilskyi. The training will engage roughly 20 Ukrainian instructors and 20 Veterans with disabilities, with the goal of developing and supporting a cadre of local adaptive climbing instructors who can grow programs long after Paradox returns home.

Stay Engaged: follow Paradox Sports on Instagram for live updates from Ukraine and future developments in this project.

The Ukraine Adaptive Climbing Initiative is designed to help Ukrainian climbers build the skills, systems, and confidence to develop adaptive climbing programs across the country.

During the training, Paradox will share what we have learned over nearly 20 years of adaptive climbing and Veteran programming, including:

• Adaptive climbing systems and equipment strategies

• Disability awareness and adaptive instruction

• Volunteer and instructor training models

• Risk management and program design

• Veteran-centered programming

• Ways to build climbing communities where people with disabilities are partners, not passengers

The Paradox approach is simple, but powerful: focus on what someone can do, not what others assume they cannot. Or, in our favorite words: “Show me what you’ve got.”

Ukraine is facing an extraordinary and growing need for rehabilitation, reintegration, and community-based support for Veterans with disabilities. A recent New York Times article, citing the Superhumans Center in Ukraine, reported that there are now estimated to be at least 100,000 amputees in the country. The article also highlighted the growing role of sports in helping wounded soldiers rebuild strength, confidence, and connection.

Many Ukrainian Veterans are returning to civilian life with limb loss, spinal cord injuries, visual impairments, traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, and other visible and invisible wounds. Clinical care, prosthetics, and physical rehabilitation are essential. But recovery is also social, emotional, and deeply human.

It happens when someone finds a community that understands.

It happens when challenge becomes possible again.

It happens when a person is not treated as a patient, but as a climber, teammate, leader, and full partner.

Climbing is uniquely suited to this work. It engages the mind and body. It builds trust quickly. It creates peer connection. It asks people to solve problems, take risks, communicate clearly, and support one another. And when adapted well, climbing can meet people where they are while opening the door to something many thought was no longer possible.

Ukraine already has a powerful and growing outdoor and climbing culture, even amid the ongoing war. Recent reporting from the Associated Press described the growth of the Stoned Climbers festival, now Ukraine’s largest outdoor climbing and live music event. Inspired in part by Yosemite climbing culture, the festival reflects the role climbing is playing in Ukraine: building community, resilience, and moments of relief during wartime.

Our role is to stand beside Ukrainian leaders, share tools they can adapt to their own context, and support a network that can grow far beyond one week of training.

The logistics for this program came together quickly because the need is urgent, the summer and fall climbing season matters, and our Ukrainian partners are ready to move.

Razom for Ukraine has committed $8,000 to help make the training possible. Paradox Sports is raising funds to match that support to cover core program costs and expand the impact of the project. Gifts will help us:

• Bring and donate critical adaptive climbing equipment

• Cover travel costs and emergency insurance

• Support training materials and program development

• Help Ukrainian partners build the foundation for future adaptive climbing opportunities

• Create diverse media content to tell the program story and cultivate sustained support

• Continue this partnership beyond the August training

This initiative is not about Paradox flying in to save the day. It is about listening, learning, teaching, and building lasting partnerships. Ukraine already has the climbers, the Veterans, the need, and the leadership. Your support helps bring adaptive climbing tools, training, equipment, and momentum to a community ready to put them to work.

The Petzl Foundation: The Petzl Foundation, founded in 2005, supports non-profit organizations through financial and equipment grants, in France and worldwide. The mission of the Petzl Foundation is to support or initiate projects that serve the public interest. These projects shall seek a harmonious balance between human activities in the mountains and the vertical world relative to their impact on our natural, cultural, and economic environments. The Petzl Foundation:

• Encourages education in risk management techniques designed to prevent accidents,
• Promotes the conservation of ecosystems that have difficult or vertical access,
• Contributes to best practices in the vertical world by gaining new knowledge.

Petzl: From headlamps to personal protective equipment, Petzl manufactures and distributes premium products for general outdoor use, climbing, working at height, and more. Petzl is committed to creating safer places for those who work and play in the vertical and dark worlds and for those who want to access their own inaccessible every day. Petzl is a family owned business, independent and completely free to choose their own endeavors; maintaining industrial excellence, paying attention to their impact, and pioneering perpetual innovation. The Petzl Technical Institute assisted Paradox in developing the adaptive climbing systems we use on our programs and in our trainings.

The North Face: The North Face, founded in 1966 in San Francisco, is a premier outdoor product brand specializing in technical outerwear, apparel, footwear, and equipment. Owned by VF Corporation, the company drives innovation to inspire global exploration and withstand the most extreme environments. The North Face’s Universal Collection, developed with input from Paradox athletes, is Inclusive outdoor equipment packed with accessible innovations. Equipment from this collection was donated to Ukrainian adaptive athletes as part of this program.

The five-day training will combine classroom learning, technical instruction, and hands-on adaptive climbing practice.

Topics will include disability etiquette, adaptive instruction, limb difference and amputation, spinal cord injury, visual impairment, hearing loss, neurological disability, polytrauma, PTSD, and strategies for creating a supportive environment for climbers with visible and invisible disabilities.

The technical curriculum will include adaptive climbing systems such as power belay, open mechanical advantage, counterweight belay, full-pull systems, visual impairment guiding, prosthetic use, and strategies for adapting indoor and outdoor climbing environments.

Just as importantly, the training will focus on the culture of adaptive climbing: respect, consent, patience, shared problem-solving, and the belief that the individual climber is the best source of information about what they need.

DJ Skelton: Paradox Sports co-founder | Retired U.S. Army Major | Advisor on Veterans’ affairs in Ukraine

DJ Skelton co-founded Paradox Sports from Walter Reed Hospital after being grievously wounded in combat in Iraq. DJ went on to serve as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an advisor to Ukrainian leadership on Veterans’ affairs, and many other roles in foreign and Veterans affairs. For this initiative, DJ is volunteering his time to help guide training, partnership strategy, and security planning in coordination with our Ukrainian hosts.

Alex Kosseff: Executive Director, Paradox Sports

Alex Kosseff is the Executive Director of Paradox Sports and an experienced nonprofit leader, climber, educator, and outdoor program consultant. He is the past Executive Director of the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and has worked closely with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA/UIAGM). Alex will assist with the training and lead partnership development, communications, and long-term program planning for the Ukraine Adaptive Climbing Initiative.

Sam Sala: National Program Manager, Paradox Sports

Sam Sala is Paradox Sports’ National Program Manager and is the lead staffer for the organization’s adaptive climbing programs, trainings, trips, and community events. He will lead the training on the ground in Ukraine. Sam is a leading expert on adaptive climbing and brings deep practical experience in veterans’ programs, volunteer training, participant support, and climbing guiding.

Tristan Blommer: Photographer and videographer

Tristan Blommer is a professional climbing photographer and videographer who will help document the training, the partnership, and the stories of the people building adaptive climbing in Ukraine. Tristan is volunteering his time for this project, helping Paradox share the work with care, respect, and accuracy.

Alex Kosseff and DJ Skelton are available for interviews before and after the August training.

Alex Kosseff
Executive Director, Paradox Sports
alex@paradoxsports.org
406-570-6880

Images: Header: 2024 Paradox Sports Grand Teton Veterans’ Climb, Photo: Paradox Sports; Ukranian Veteran, Photo: https://war.ukraine.ua/imagebank/; Skelton, Photo: Sam Sala; Adaptive Climber in Yosemite, Photo: Tristan Blommer Photography