"DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair" is a documentary film by Outback Film that's making its debut Friday, March 22, 2024, evening at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, Oregon. The 48-minute documentary features the story of Bend adventurer, entrepreneur, and disability advocate Geoff Babb and the effort that led to the creation of the AdvenChair. KTVZ interviews Babb and Outback Film Director Marcia Volk a few days prior to the event.
This year once again, the resort and Sunriver Nature Center are hosting the 2023 Christmas Bird Count, a nationwide Audubon Society tradition dating back 124 years. The birding event is a citizen science activity where participants count as many of the birds as they can find in a local 15-mile diameter circle. The AdvenChair joined in the count.
Read MoreThank you Visit Central Oregon for including AdvenChair in the Central Oregon Makers series. We are proud to help make the beauty of the region accessible to those with mobility challenges
Read MoreGrowing up in White Salmon, Geoff Babb had always been a huge lover of nature and spending time outside. Between his work as a fire ecologist and his love for outdoor activities like skiing and backpacking, his active lifestyle had always been really important to him. Then, in November 2005, he had a stroke that changed everything. It could’ve killed him, and it almost did. It left him in a wheelchair, with only limited use of one of his hands. However, Babb wasn’t ready to give up the outdoors and all of the things he loved, despite the limitations of his chair.
Read MoreIn 1869, when John Wesley Powell led the first crew of explorers down the Colorado River into what is now known as the Grand Canyon, he had no idea what kind of destructive forces lay ahead. In fact, shortly after beginning the journey, one of their wooden boats overturned in a rock-filled cataract and almost instantly split apart into kindling, destroying a full third of the group’s provisions. It only got worse from there.
Similarly, when Geoff Babb took a team of adventurers down the Bright Angel Trail in 2016, attempting to reach the Colorado River in a modified human-powered wheelchair, he was not prepared for the destructive forces lay ahead either.
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