Students from the Department of Adapted Physical Activities (APA) at the Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, and their guests with disabilities have recently completed an intensive week full of experiences and overcoming obstacles as part of the Expedition over Barriers ("Expedition PřesBar" in Czech language). They ventured into the Austrian and Italian Alps, where they cycled through mountainous landscapes, climbed rocks, and navigated rivers, all while discovering more about themselves and pushing their limits.
This unusual expedition included participants in wheelchairs, as well as those with visual or intellectual disabilities. The group travelled around the Austrian towns of Villach and Schladming, and the Italian town of Toblach, though not always according to plan. “On the very first day, we had to improvise due to a cycling race and had to find alternative routes for our rides. Even though they were longer than we had planned, we all made it through without injury. But to be honest, we didn’t really expect everything to go exactly as planned anyway,” admitted Jana Hrubá, one of the student organizers of the expedition.
After starting in Villach, where the group tackled a steep climb to Landskron Castle, they headed to Italy. There, they biked and hand-cycled to the mountain lake Lago di Braies and successfully completed a via ferrata along a canyon with several waterfalls. More ferratas and rafting on the Enns River were on the agenda back in Austria near Schladming. “For most of the expedition, we had fairly good weather, but in Italy, it was unbearably hot—especially for those helping others up the hill to Lago di Braies, where there were also crowds of people. But later we definitely cooled off, and not just on the water. A surprise for our guests, which we hadn’t talked much about, was a visit to Dachstein. Up there, it was only three degrees Celsius, with snow everywhere,” said Hrubá.
However, she added that many still worked up a sweat in the snow. “We caused quite a stir—five wheelchair users in the snow is definitely not something you see every day. But it wasn’t easy. By the end of the week, we were all quite tired, and although we used sleds, we decided to shorten the originally planned two-kilometre route.”
Although Jana Hrubá was one of the organizers of the expedition and took on the task of contacting potential financial sponsors for the costly trip, she herself uses a wheelchair. “I knew that I couldn’t be as helpful in the field as I was in preparing for the trip. On the other hand, I think I was closer to our guests with disabilities and could help them in ways my classmates might not have immediately thought of. But even I needed help at times, like when my handbike’s battery ran out on the way back to the camp,” she noted.
One of the expedition’s guests, Kateřina Sasáková, who suffers from the rare autoimmune disease Myasthenia gravis, characterized by muscle weakness and fatigue, described the work of the student team as indispensable. “Without the students, I wouldn’t have even made it onto the bus and wouldn’t have had so many experiences,” said the wheelchair user, who learned about the Expedition over Barriers from a friend who had previously travelled with APA students.
“The biggest highlight for me was the via ferrata. I had no prior experience with it, and we didn’t think it would work out. But the opposite was true—it was incredible. The entire expedition was an experience, and I sincerely hope to go again. It showed me that nothing is truly impossible. I tried to live by this motto before, but it didn’t always work out as well as it does now. Now, I’m chasing experiences even ‘through thick and thin.’ People sometimes look at me like I’m crazy, but then they understand,” Sasáková added.
Another guest, Marek Müller, who has visual and hearing impairments, also enjoyed the via ferrata the most. “I was able to let my emotions run free—fear, tension, and joy, with joy always prevailing. When I was climbing rocks, hanging from ropes, and feeling safe, I experienced a sense of freedom and release,” he said, expressing his wish to do it again.
Expedition over Barriers is an educational project of the APA department at the Faculty of Physical Culture, where students in the master’s program focused on physical activity for individuals with disabilities or disadvantages gain valuable experience and skills for their future careers. At the same time, they show the public that a disability does not have to be a barrier to engaging in sports. This year’s so-called Alpine Triangle, as the expedition was nicknamed, was the twelfth journey organized by APA students. Previous expeditions have visited countries such as Norway, Germany, Slovenia, and Corsica, as well as the Czech Republic and Slovakia. More about the expedition can be found on Facebook.
