When Ryan “Brody” Broderick sustained a spinal cord injury at Eagle Point Resort in 2016, his life changed forever. Ski Utah recently collaborated with Brody and filmmaker Tim Jones to tell his story in full. As you’ll see in Turning Points, Brody’s unique positivity, resolve, and spirit have turned a traumatic accident into a catalyst to become the best skier, husband, father, and man he can be – showcasing an uncommon joy and zest for life along the way. Since his accident, Brody has become an elite big mountain freeride monoskier, a Snowbird and Stio athlete, a college graduate, and a father, while sharing his experiences and mentoring those who have come to the sport after him through similar circumstances.
I have skied with Brody many times over the years in my time with Snowbird-based nonprofit Wasatch Adaptive Sports, and had the privilege of speaking with him and filmmaker, Tim Jones, about what it was like to create this film, the new realizations that came to light as part of the process, and how telling your story can be its own form of therapy. I should add…we also talked about pointing the monoski downhill plenty. It wouldn’t be a conversation with Brody if we didn’t!
These conversations are best enjoyed as an accompaniment to the film. If you are moved by this project and my interviews with Brody and Tim, consider a donation to Wasatch Adaptive Sports or to your local adaptive sports nonprofit so that the next generation of adaptive skiers can access the beautiful mountain spaces we all know and love because skiing The Greatest Snow on Earth® is for everyone!
Turning Points was accepted into and shown at the 2024 Winter Park Film Festival!
Filmed by - Tim Jones
Produced by - Hailey Klotz
Assist - Martha Howe
Thank you - Brody, Kendra, the entire Broderick Family, Snowbird and Sundance Mountain Resort
A Conversation with Brody: Adventure, Adversity, and New Beginnings
Q: What was it like to work with Tim and Ski Utah on this project?
A: I think the main thing was just that they listened to me and they wanted it to be just, you know, about my story. And how it is I see this and that I remember it, instead of having, like, a, I guess, a preset dialog, because, you know, I’ve done projects before with brands, it was more like, oh, here's Brody story and why he’s connected with this or that brand. And I appreciate every opportunity that has come my way, but Ski Utah really just listened to me and wanted it to be just explicitly about, yeah, me and my story and that they did a great job at putting a perspective on the way that I remembered it.
Q: What was it like to watch the film for the first time?
A: I was talking to Tim and Hailey . I think it was when we went to one of the screenings, and it was Kendra said, you know, that was awesome for me to be able to talk about it and do all that. I said it was kind of like a therapy session. Honestly, when we got there and just started naturally talking and opening up. It really was like therapy. It helped all of us to process a lot of things, all these years later.
Q: Did creating and watching the film give you any new perspectives on the story of your own life?
A: When I went through the accident, I was just dealing with me and myself and my own pain and my mental state and all of that stuff. But then coming back and watching the film, seeing my wife Kendra tell her side of the story, and seeing my dad talk about seeing his son hurting and, you know, just realizing that there's these other perspectives of pain that are happening, and trial and growth that are happening on the sidelines too. You know, it's not necessarily just me that's going through the pain – it’s the family as well, my sisters, my mom as well. it just gave me that new perspective of the outside trial.
Q: Do you remember your first ski lesson with Wasatch Adaptive Sports? What was that like, and how did it go?
A: It was exciting. It was one year and one day, actually, after my accident, I couldn't go on the one year mark because I had school that day, so I went the day after. I totally remember getting up there and meeting Peter and seeing everybody. This is when you guys were up at the Snowbird Center in that little corner room, and just seeing the gear and just feeling the hype of Wasatch Adaptive Sports and the instructors and the team members over there, it was a really cool feeling. I was just super stoked to be back out on the snow, just knowing what the capabilities were of the sit ski.
Q: In the film, it was clear that you progressed as a monskier very quickly. What would you say are the most difficult aspects of learning to monoski?
A: The most difficult aspect of the mono is probably loading the lift. Loading the lift was a little bit of a weird one to get, and I still don't always do it right. And definitely can get plowed over sometimes, but then falling over after I fall over either on a flat zone or in deep powder. It's just terribly difficult, and some of it's still impossible, actually, to even just get up, yeah, but those are probably some of the most difficult parts, and then also holding back and thinking about just a little bit more of the technique behind it and what's going on, what's happening with the ski, versus just like, let's go, you know, let's just point the point, the tip, and go. Sit skiing requires a bit more consideration of terrain.
Q: Are there elements of stand-up skiing that translate to monoskiing? What were the toughest aspects of making the switch to the sit ski?
A: Definitely. Yeah, I don't think that I would have been able to progress as fast as I did if I didn't actually have the skills as an upright skier, as it relates to pitch and snow conditions, the way your edges work, you know, the way that you won't have your zipper down the fall line. There's just a lot that actually translated exactly to the mono ski, yep. So, yeah, definitely there's a lot that's similar and a lot that added to my quick progression.
Q: You’ve been pushing boundaries as a skier for years now. What do you think is next for the sport of sit skiing as a whole? Where do you see it going?
A: I think that they’ve pretty well dialed in the racing, you know, because that's what whenever anybody asks me, ‘are you going to go to the Paralympics?’ I think about what's available. Okay, it's only just running some gates, you know, they've got the downhill, they got the GS, they've got slalom you got all those typical Olympic sports, but just like the Olympics is pushed in a sense of, like, let's get into the park to do some of that. I don't know, I think that sit skiing is starting to push outside of the box. And there's a lot of people that are really good at it, and they kind of, everybody just tends to gravitate towards the things that they're interested in. You know, if you think about Trevor Kennison, he's always been, seems like he's always been kind of those park guys, you know, just sending and so that's what he's still wanted to do in a sit ski, and I feel the same way about myself. I've always been a big mountain skier, and so I just want to keep pushing it in that aspect, but I think pushing towards big mountain skiing is probably one of the next milestones I would think that are out there for sit skiing.
Q: You’ve been a mentor to many new sit skiers who have had a spinal cord injury and are new to skiing with WAS. What are your biggest pieces of advice for them as they enter the sport?
A: I’d say to take the sport to whatever level you want to be at, you know, you don't necessarily have to push and go hard. You don't necessarily have to be the next guy to send it off a cliff, you know, that sort of thing. If you want to just get out there and recreate and just be a casual Sunday blue bird skier. Then, you know, then just make it to that point and just go out and enjoy it. But there's, there's just a whole level of independence that sit skiing has brought to my life, which is why I always push it to anybody I see in a wheelchair, anybody that's got kids in wheelchairs, like that, I feel like that's probably where I've been. I try to be just the biggest advocate for the sport and just get the information out there.
Q: You’re a new dad, which is so exciting! Someday, your son will watch this film and get a chance to learn more about you. How does that make you feel?
A: It's amazing, honestly, like just being able to have a little bit of, a little bit of a visual representation, you know, and emotional representation of my story in my life and the things that I've been through. It's really cool. And the first time I saw that video like it was, it was awesome and epic. But the one part that made me cry in the very beginning was when my dad says I have found new blessings. And right when he says blessings, Tim must have cued that on purpose, obviously he did, but he said: blessings. And my dad is so right, like I do have new blessings, you know, and there are new opportunities. And it's really cool to be able to share this. I just shared it with my brother-in-law and my sister over the weekend, and they, you know, they just cried, and everybody's just kind of got this, this memory. Now, there's something that they can share, something that we can kind of reminisce on, but see where, see where things have gone. And that's awesome.
Q: For anyone watching this film: what do you want them to know about the power of adaptive sports? Why is it so important that adaptive sports programs exist and are funded to welcome new participants?
A: There’s the community aspect that is just awesome, but really it's just the personal triumph that you can come through. My motto for myself has always been adversity to adventure. I remember the first interview I gave was actually while I was at Wasatch Adaptive Sports, and it just kind of rolled off my tongue. I said, I turned my ‘adversity into my adventure.’ And it's just like, what does that mean for anybody that's going through their own trials? You know, even if you do have, even if they're physical, they could be emotional struggles. We all have this low point in our lives. And we can't necessarily control, but you absolutely can't control the cards that you're dealt, but you can control the way that you play them, you know. And you can control what you learn from it, how you move forward.
Q: What’s it like being a new dad? Are you and Kendra excited to teach your son to ski?
A: I feel like he might be able to be a ‘lap pack’ baby, you know, instead of a backpack baby! I can ski with him on my lap. Yeah, I can probably make that happen. Recently I took him out on my for the first time. It wasn't like a typical Bowhead bike session. He was just sitting on my lap and going down to the park and back. But yeah, yeah, just, it's awesome. Just be able to get out there and share it with him.
The one thing is, like my skiing, though, I mean, I'm still probably gonna ski hard and take some risks and stuff, but right after I was a new dad, I was skiing and I took a pretty good, pretty good kick where I went off, this jump landed, and, like, it definitely bugged me, because I know I gotta go be a dad. I gotta go take care of somebody, yeah, and so, I mean, my perspective has totally changed, but I'm just excited to get him out there, because, I mean, we've already got plans to get him into ski school just get them on the progression of being out and experiencing the mountain life like Kendra and I have. So we’re excited!
A Conversation with Tim Jones on the making of Turning Points
Q: Have you ever worked on a film project like Turning Points?
A: I would say this was kind of a first for me, like, really diving into kind of a tragic story, but when you get to know Brody, you realize that it's still tragic what happened, but he's just so positive that it’s the only way you can tell the story. Through the lens of positivity and all the good that has come of it.
Q: How did you approach this project?
A: So you can't really come in with too much of a plan with something like this. After that initial interview day, things kind of took a dramatic turn, and then at that point, I wanted to keep Brody involved as much as I could throughout the process to make sure that he was approving of the way that his story was beig told. It's like if you're telling such a personal story about someone you need I think it's important to make sure that it's the story that they want to be told. And so I tried to just keep Brody in the loop as we were putting drafts together and making sure that it was on a track that he approved of. And, you know, luckily, he was on board throughout, so it was a pretty seamless process. I have to give props to Ski Utah for giving us the creative bandwidth to just tell this story and not having to cater to any branding or outside storylines. Hailey was just like, just tell this story as well as you can. That’s a pretty special thing to get to do.
Q: What stood out to you about Brody as you worked together on the film?
A: Just his positivity about life in general, you know, like he's just a very outgoing person who lights up a room with his positivity. And it was interesting getting to know him more through the film. You know, he gets emotional in the film, and just like once you actually get to know him and sit down with him, you can tell that it's not always rainbows and sunshine in his life, like his life can be hard, but I really respect the way that he tries to always have that positive outlook. He’ll say: “I’m doing okay, this kind of sucks sometimes. But we’re dealing with it.”
Q: What is it like to watch Brody ski?
A: He’s super stoked on it. He always wants to, like, push it a little bit, which is, which is fun as a filmer, and just getting to watch him ski like he and I know that it's gotten him into some trouble too, he's gotten some other injuries, and he's had to learn to tone that back a bit. But it's amazing what he can do on the sit ski and so much fun to watch.
Q: Skiing and the outdoors are always associated positively with mental health – but did this project expand your understanding of just how powerful the sport can be as a force of healing and positivity?
A: Clearly for someone like Brody, the outdoors were such an important part of his life before his accident, it just makes sense that they would be an equally important part of his recovery. So for him to be able to have access to the things he had access to, to be able to do that again, I think was huge for the mental aspect of his recovery.
Q: Did you know much about adaptive sports and disability communities prior to this project? What did you learn while working on it? Maybe a few things that surprised you?
A: The main thing I learned, and that I'm still learning, and I'm talking about sit skiing specifically because that's what I've been learning about. I think this is true across, like, all aspects of life in a wheelchair, but it's not as simple as you might think it is, like when something breaks. You can't just go to the ski store and buy the replacement part, and the replacement part that you do find probably costs, like, $1,000. Sit skiing and adaptive sports are just more complicated, and there are more layers to it than upright skiing, which makes it even cooler that programs like Wasatch Adaptive Sports and people like Brody are helping to get it to be more mainstream, because it's not a super simple thing to start doing.
Q: Can you tell us about talking with Kendra and Chad as well – what stood out to you in your discussions with them throughout the project?
A: So the day we filmed with them was a really, really interesting day, because I don't think any of them had any idea what was about to happen in terms of how vulnerable they were going to get, and we got really lucky, from a filmmaking perspective, that I think some of the questions that were asked of them caught them off guard, and it sort of forced them to relive that day and those months and years since the accident. And like, all three of them, just like, fully cracked open. And like it was, like we were in a therapy room, you know, for a couple of hours. And like it all spilled out. when you're interviewing people, that doesn't happen very often, especially like I had, I had met Kendra once or twice before that, I had never met Chad. So the fact that they were willing to do that on camera. Really like that, that interview session, like, made the whole film just because they were all in the room together talking about it. They were kind of feeding off each other's energy of that vulnerability and, like I said, it was kind of like they were having a group therapy session and we were just capturing it. It was pretty amazing. The initial scope of this project was, like a 2-4 minute, kind of just quick, light-hearted video, sort of telling Brody's story, but more just, like featuring him, like as a character. And then when Hailey and I walked out of that interview, we were kind of like, I think we just might have started creating something totally different than that.
Q: What do you hope this film provides for people with and without disabilities?
A: It's so cool to see how far Brody has come, just by having a positive attitude and being willing to try new things, and, you know, meet the right people, and just like kind of start a new life. And then for people without disabilities, I hope that people can learn more about this whole world and be curious to learn even more about it.
Q: How does it make you feel to know that Brody and Kendra’s son will get to watch this someday and learn more about his dad?
A: Oh, man, that's a heavy question as a dad myself. I mean, so to give you a little backstory, I first met Brody when I was filming a separate Ski Utah project at Eagle Point, like three ski seasons ago, and he was down there for the anniversary of his accident, and we interviewed him. The video is about Eagle Point, what makes it a special ski resort, not really focused on any individual person. But when we interviewed Brody, he kind of told us his story of what happened. And I was like, man, this is so interesting, but I can't include this in this video. It's not gonna fit what this video is, you know. But I was like, I would love to be able to fully tell this story someday. So it was really satisfying for me to be able to reconnect with Brody and really just tell his whole story because it was personal to me at that point. When we started filming, Kendra was pregnant. By the time we were done with everything, Dalton was four months old, you know, so seeing him come into the world, and seeing Brody go from not being a dad to being a dad like I think it'll be really cool for his son to be able to see this when he's a little older.
