VASU SOJITRA

ATHLETE & DISABLED ACCESS STRATEGIST

Vasu has earned the title of ‘one of the most accomplished athletes on the planet’. He is also an amputee – though the label feels redundant in light of his sporting prowess. After losing his right leg to a blood infection as a baby, Vasu taught himself to ski aged only 10. Since then he has gone on to excel in adaptive outdoor sports including trail running, rock climbing and pack-rafting on his specially adapted crutches, or as he prefers to call it: #ninjasticking. 

To date, Vasu has achieved several firsts all over the USA. These include being the first disabled athlete in Wyoming to scale the Grand Teton (elevation: 13,775 feet), and descend Mount Moran (elevation: 12,610 feet) on skis. Vasu has also made what’s believed to be the first adaptive ski descent of Denali – the highest peak in North America at 20,310 feet high – with fellow adaptive athlete Pete McAfee. More recently Vasu has climbed Ecuador’s Cotopaxi volcano, and represented Team USA in the 2022 Amputee Soccer World Cup qualifiers.

Despite these feats, Vasu is reluctant to individualise his success – preferring to see himself as just one example of what disabled athletes can achieve when given proper support and resources. Reflecting his collectivist approach, Vasu is a passionate advocate for making the outdoors more intersectional and inclusive. He is the first adaptive athlete to work with The North Face, and has run outdoor activities for people from marginalised groups in his home state of Montana. Vasu also hosts events as a co-founder of the Inclusive Outdoors Project, and plans to start consulting on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues for other outdoor brands and organisations.