Meet James and Alice

Current international rankings = 16th (slalom) and 18th (giant slalom) (baseline 2024/25)

1st in overall Slalom Europa Cup for the 2022/23 season

2nd in Europa Cup standings overall for technical races in 2022/23 season

Austrian Champions in 2021/22

Imagine being registered blind. Now imagine throwing yourself down a steep race course at 45 mph, only knowing where to go by following your guide’s bright yellow jacket and listening to what she says via your bluetooth headset.

You can’t see the gates you race through. You don’t know where the edge of the piste is, nor if there are any trees or hazards around. You don’t know what the snow conditions are like – and forget about seeing other skiers. You’ve got no chance at spotting them!

Meet James and Alice, Great Britain’s kick-ass Visually Impaired ski racers. James Luetchford is a Severely Sight Impaired (classified B2) alpine ski racer, who is guided by his wife, Alice Luetchford. They ski for Great Britain in international Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super-G races.

Together, James and Alice train with Global Para Race Team (GPRT) who have been instrumental in arranging training and race support.

DONATE NOW through GPRT

How Alice guides James down the slope

Both James and Alice wear bluetooth radio headsets and speak to each other down the slope. Alice gives James certain words at certain points during the course and makes sure James gets down as fast as he can (while still safely of course!)

Funding

Funding disabled ski racing is a huge challenge. With annual costs of £30,000 and receiving no funding James and Alice have to raise a lot of money each year. If you can, please support us on our journey by donating through the button below.

DONATE NOW through GPRT

Alternatively, you can also support our ski racing by purchasing one of Alice's pieces of art. She is directly inspired by her time in the mountain and paints from photographs she's taken once she returns back to their van or flat in London. All proceeds from Alice's art go towards her ski racing with James.

James’ eyesight

James’ eyesight impairs his skiing in the following ways. He
has extreme tunnel vision.
cannot see moving objects (nor other skiers / edges of pistes / trees / walls of snowdomes).
his eyes take hours to adjust to changes in light conditions. Even tiny changes in light will leave him feeling blinded, as though someone has turned off the lights.
James is registered as being Severely Sight Impaired (aka blind) at home in London.

Van life

James and Alice life in a VW Crafter when ski training and racing with their two cats Molly and Moggs to keep costs down. Learn more here!

Best results

2023/24

3rd in Europa Cup slalom in Folgaria, Italy
2nd in slalom at Liechtenstein National Championships
1st in slalom in Sörenberg, Switzerland (FIS race)

2022/23 - guided by Jacob Goode from Jan 2023

1st for Slalom in Europa Cup for 2022/23 season
2nd in technical races in Europa Cup for 2022/23 season
1st: Slalom Europa Cup Final (March 2023) in Forstau, Austria

2021/22

1st: 2 races in Mellau, Austria (Apr 2022) in slalom - Austrian National Championships
2nd: Kuhtai, Austria (Apr 2022) in both slalom and Giant Slalom - German National Championships
2nd: 2 races in Park City, USA (Feb 2022) in Giant Slalom - NORAM

2020/21

2nd: Hopfgarten, Austria (March 2021) in Slalom - WPAS
3rd: Malbun, Liechenstein (March 2021) in Giant Slalom - Europa Cup Finals
3rd: Hopfgarten, Austria (March 2021) in Giant Slalom - WPAS

2018/19

3rd: Tignes, France (April 2019) in Slalom - British National Championships race
3rd (out of classified / classifiable males): Tignes, France in Giant Slalom - British NC race
3rd: Horni Domky, Czech Republic (March 2019) in Super-G 1 - NC race

2017/18 - guided by Ross Patterson

3rd place: Tignes, France (March 2018) in Slalom - NC race
4th place: Landgraaf, Holland (November 2017) in Slalom - EC race

2016/17

1st place: British Championships, Tignes, France (April 2017) in Slalom
1st place: British Championships, Tignes, France (March 2017) in Giant Slalom
1st place: Rinn, Austria (January 2017) in Slalom - IPCAS race

From the blog

Featured

What they don’t tell you about disabled ski racing…

What they don’t tell you about being a disabled ski racer… … is how traumatising the process of classification can be. Every person needs to be ‘classified’ as being eligible to take part in para-alpine ski races, and are categorised on their level of disability. Here we share James’ experience of classification yesterday and the challenges around it.

How to train as an unfunded British visually impaired ski racer

Ski race training as a British ski racer is difficult, but particularly when completely unfunded and without a team. This is how we’ve crafted a programme of development that’s currently working well for us.

Why is visually impaired ski racing so hard?

Visually impaired ski racing is tough. Not only do you have to learn how to ski race, but there’s a whole other level of work that needs to happen. Some people think disabled sport is somehow ‘less than’ able bodied sport. I think that disabled sport is more extreme than able bodied sport. It takes huge courage to even start and the below are some of the reasons why it' I just so challenging.

Our journey to reclassification and racing

We didn’t know whether James would be reclassified, despite having ample evidence that he was eligible to be classified with medical tests, genetic tests and eye tests. We didn’t trust the system which had so spectacularly failed us. We didn’t know when James would get the opportunity to be reclassified. And we didn’t know whether it was worth hemorrhaging tens of thousands of pounds to pay for said ski training without a guarantee we could ever race again.

Disabled ski racing: how it works

Many people ask how the para alpine ski races work. To be honest, until a couple of years ago I had no idea myself! The following is a beginner’s guide to the para alpine racing world, with no previous experience necessary. Racers who compete in World Para Alpine Ski races have to undergo a rigorous classification process by the International Paralympic Committee. There are three types of skiers; visually impaired; standing and sitting.

Sculpting my life: combining ski racing with my data analysis career

I’m often asked how I’ve managed to do it all. Pursuing my dream (ski racing with my sight impaired husband for Great Britain) while also holding down a data analysis day job was extremely difficult until very recently. I was working full time, yet also expected to spend 100 days on snow training with the British Parasnowsport team. It just wasn’t possible. However, after making some — quite radical — changes, I’ve managed to sculpt my life into a version which is the best of both worlds, without sacrificing anything.

Guiding a visually impaired ski racer: daily life in the mountains

The alarm goes off at 6am and I snooze until James hollers that breakfast is on the table. I’m not a morning person and my first thought is how much I hate having to get up. I love ski racing but hate the early starts! I mentally run through all the other sports I could have done that don’t require early starts so much, but within a couple of minutes I acknowledge that nothing can beat spending time in the mountains. And getting up early means we catch the best snow of the day. As much as I hate to admit it, getting up before the sun is worth it.

What do you say to a visually impaired ski racer?

James and I started ski racing together in November 2016. I ski in front of James, leading him down the race course both verbally and with him following my bright yellow bib. When we first started racing together, our coach told us that visually impaired ski racers are notoriously secretive about the words they use as they don’t want to give their competitors an advantage. Indeed, when trying to search for information about potential guide words myself last summer, I struggled to find any information online. We don’t believe this philosophy. We would rather share what we’re currently using to support our friends and competitors on the race circuit, and to also give ideas and inspiration to newer athletes.

What happens when the International Paralympic Committee takes away your race license

I wish I didn’t know about this. I truly don’t. But unfortunately, last November, the seemingly impossible happened. The International Paralympic Committee stripped my severely sight impaired husband (the new term for technically ‘blind’ in the UK) of his para alpine ski racing licence, stating that he could suddenly ‘see’ too well.

Reflections on a season (2018/19)

It was March 2018, and James had just finished his 2017/18 winter season ski racing for Great Britain as part of the British Parasnowsport Development Team. While there had been benefits whilst being with the team - and he and I both had learnt a hell of a lot while working with them - for various reasons that I won’t go into here, we decided to go independent for the foreseeable future. What does ‘going independent’ mean in reality when para alpine ski racing for GB?

A visually impaired ski racers’ kit list

As newer ski racers, we understand how daunting the ski racing world can be. There are so many options for racing equipment and everyone has an opinion about what to use. The following is a list of the kit we currently use because, well, we just think it’s the best! Do let us know if you have any more ideas or other pieces to try.