SKI-ABLE TERRAIN : DISABLED TURNED ON TO JOYS OF THE SNOW.

Byline: BRETT PAULY

As he was zipped into the sled and fought for balance over the two skis that supported it, Benedicto Reyes imagined himself in a much loftier perch.

``I feel like a pilot, like flying a fighter jet. I'm getting strapped up, ready to eject,'' he said.

In reality, he was less than two feet off the snow, gliding down a gently sloping ski-school hill at the slowest possible pace. But it was a thrill Reyes had longed to experience ever since dislocating his spine and losing the use of legs when his car was hit by a drunk driver and collided with two other vehicles and a power pole. And one he won't soon forget.

``Since I had an accident, I saw the snow and I wished that I could ski, and right now it's a dream coming true. I feel like I'm somebody,'' said the 30-year-old business administration student from Van Nuys with the dark glasses and infectious smile.

``When I do something like this and I thought before I couldn't do it and then I'm doing it, it's amazing. My mind gets free. My esteem goes higher than normal. It is a sense of empowerment.''

On this special day at Mountain High Ski Area, Reyes and 10 other people with disabilities became able skiers with a little guidance from volunteers in the Pierce College Adaptive Ski School.

Paraplegics schussed atop skis in the sled-like vehicles using outriggers - ski tips attached to poles - for control. Instructors followed behind them to guard against quicker skiers and used tethers to slow the crafts.

Those able to walk with the aid of crutches, including stroke victims, a man with cerebral palsy and two other participants with some paralysis due to brain injuries, used skis equipped with spreader bars that kept them in snowplow position.

Amputees slalomed with single boards and blind skiers received direction from guides who mirrored their every carve.

``She is my eyes,'' Gordon Chan of Alhambra said of his guide Monique Stins. Glaucoma claimed his sight eight years ago. ``She instills confidence in me, so that if I have trust in her, we can make a good team.''

Since 1974, the disabled ski program at Pierce College has been providing such opportunities, the only facility of its kind in the Los Angeles area. ``This experience is so important to them,'' said director Lynne Haile, a professor of physical education at the college and the party responsible for organizing the dozen or so ski trips a year and raising the donations that fuel them.

Students are charged a $10 registration for the season and $20 per trip - less, or nothing at all, if that isn't affordable.

``Adaptive'' has been used in the Pierce College program's title in more recent years to reflect the specialized instruction and modified equipment geared to disabled skiers.

``You see big smiles. You see people build a lot of confidence and really change their life,'' said Jack Walter, a program volunteer and supporter who arranged for the sit-skis and bi-skis (the sleds on skis) to be donated by a resort in Utah. ``They don't get illusions that they will get up and walk, but they can do a sport that is adapted to them and makes them feel much more mainstream, much more a part of society, instead of being `the other person that is in a wheelchair' that everybody shuns away from.''

``Good turn, you kept your center of balance that time,'' he shouted to student Robert Mena, 31, of South Pasadena, who, in a case of mistaken identity, was paralyzed in a drive-by shooting while walking home 13 years ago.

``It's just phenomenal the amount of people who have really basically come out of the closet to participate in the adaptive sports,'' Walter said.

There are at least 45 established adaptive ski programs across the nation, according to the National Sports Center for the Disabled at Colorado's Winter Park Ski Area. Included are two full-time programs at ski resorts in the state - the California Adaptive Ski School at Bear Mountain and the Tahoe Adaptive Ski School at Alpine Meadows.

NSCD director Hal O'Leary credits the initiation of many of the newer facilities to the 1991 passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act. ``It required recreation facilities to become accessible to disabled people,'' he said.

Participating in the Pierce ski program has been a godsend to Bob Kari, 52, of Woodland Hills, once a ski instructor himself who was paralyzed on his left side by a stroke a year and a half ago.

``This program was probably the best thing that ever happened in my life,'' said Kari, a former elementary school teacher who now sells insurance. ``These guys (volunteer instructors) really work hard, because I'm a real load to take down the mountain. I can't feel my left side, so turning to my right is extremely hard because I can't push my knee forward. These guys work in conjunction; they do a good job for me.''

Chan gave up surfing, skateboarding and skiing when he lost his sight. ``I felt very bitter,'' he said. ``I asked the same questions, `God, why me?' ''

Then he discovered the Pierce ski program.

``It's given back a lot of self-confidence. It's very therapeutic. I used to love to ski. It's a fragile link to the past. Mainly, for me, it's being able to do it, being in the game, so to say; being stuck at home is no fun.''

Reyes summed up his experience at the end of his first run:

``It is a beautiful day. I don't think I'll forget it the rest of my life. I am ready to take charge.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1-2-3--color) Falling is part of learning to ski, as Robert Mena, at top, discovers on his first attempt at the sit-ski. At left, Gordon Chan maneuvers down a run at Mountain High. Above, Benedicto Reyes adjusts to the bi-ski as volunteer instructor Dan Baker runs alongside.

David Crane/Daily News