#SnowStories: Zach Williams and his heart-led pursuit of freedom through movement and reinvention

Zach Williams has never been defined by the ground beneath him, but by the ways he has learned to move across it. These days, though, he is navigating the quieter terrain of a new apartment in Utah after an end to 2025 that kept shifting in unexpected ways.

When he joined an online interview last December, the 46-year-old calmly recounted how his apartment flooded because of an upstairs fire. Scrambling to deal with the aftermath made him late for a training camp, only to be involved in a crash days later that left him with a broken neck.

He flew back to Utah for surgery, setting him on the road to recovery as he eased into a new space at a pace much slower than he had been used to. But, such is the nature of Zach, there is no time for dwelling. Instead, he dives into movement and his desire to chase freedom rather than fight limitations.

“I’ve been an amputee pretty much my whole life,” the sit skier said. “I had surgery at 18 months old, and I’ve been wearing prostheses since I was two.”

Skateboarding, wrestling, gymnastics, softball, basketball, surfing: you name it, Zach has likely tried it. He particularly resonated with sports that took his “legs out of the equation”, giving him complete freedom.

“ATVs were my first love in that sense, because I could get around the woods and see so much terrain without the struggle of my legs or how I’d get over the rocks and stumps.”

Surfing offered a similar release, relying on upper-body strength to ride waves for a decade. Upon his return to grad school, where he pursued a secondary career as a prosthetist-orthotist, Zach spotted a flyer for free adaptive ski lessons.

For the man who has tried most sports, it was a no-brainer to add another to his repertoire. In doing so, the sit ski has given Williams more freedom of movement than anything else he has ever experienced.

Spurred on by the possibility of competing at the Winter Paralympics – a dream now painfully uncertain – he fell in love with skiing.

It is why he’s here, in this Utah apartment, facing a long road to recovery. Not because the journey has been plain sailing, but because the feeling being on the snow gives him has always been worth chasing.

Zach Williams: Reinventing the sit ski, his way

Where many elite athletes carve out their paths early on in life, some from childhood, Zach found himself a latecomer to skiing. It came to him at a time when he was reinventing his career and, perhaps without even realizing it, reshaping his future.

For someone who had spent his life chasing movement, it was an invitation he didn’t know he’d been waiting for.

“Pretty early on [into skiing], I asked my instructor: I’m 39 years old, doing this sport for the first time in my life, are the Paralympics a pipe dream or a possibility?” Zach explained.

“He said: It’s going to take a lot of work, but it’s possible.”

That was all he needed to hear to go all in on this. By his own admission, he doesn’t do things in halves – and he wasn’t about to start now.

After being laid off from his job in 2022, Zach saw it as an opportunity. With the help of his own personal catchphrase – “I did some math, made some choices, and took a leap” – he sold his house in California and used the money to fund life as a full-time athlete.

What he lacked in experience, he would make up for on the technical side of things. A self-proclaimed tinkerer and handyman, Zach took it upon himself to begin fine-tuning what the sit ski looked like for him.

“I think one of my biggest strengths and what has helped my ascent as an athlete is just my body awareness,” he explained. “I’ve been walking on stilts my whole life. I’m very tuned into my body and my body position.”

Becoming attuned to his needs has only aided it, he adds: “I spend a lot of time with my diet, hydration, sleeping and habits. So far, my body has held out and I’m putting a lot of attention on giving myself every advantage to be able to do that and keep going.”

Using his background, he turned to making his own seats, shaping foam, thermoforming plastics, doing composite lamination, fiberglass layups – things he recognizes as a major benefit to him.

Onto his fifth iteration of a design, the newcomer is sharing his knowledge with teammates and fellow skiers, his way of paying back the kindness extended to him when he was emerging onto the World Cup scene.

“Every day, every race, every training camp, [they’re] helping me with technique, with nerves, any of it,” Zach recalled.

“One of my teammates told me something that has stuck: don’t say you’re nervous today, say you’re excited.

"That helped mentally shift my focus and my attitude for race days.”

Every move, every decision made from those free lessons until this point turned his late start into a fast ascent. Injury may have slowed things down, but Zach is still firmly set on representing the U.S. on the world’s biggest stage when the time comes.

Zach Williams: Listen to your heart

For all of his relentless energy, desire to compete at the very top, and leaps of faith, there is one thing that binds Zach’s story together: his willingness to follow his heart.

It takes undeniable courage to completely pivot, yet it comes as second nature to the sit skier. This is, after all, the man who one day decided to up his life and book a one-way ticket to Peru.

Some soul-searching in South America and Europe later, he returned reinvigorated and determined to lay down roots, unbeknown to him that those would turn into tracks on the snow.

All of it and more, because he has never been afraid to listen to his heart.

“My life has been so rich because I listened to my heart and followed my dreams,” he professed. “I’m more than happy to be an inspiration for other people to make those same choices in their lives.”

That is why, when asked about advice he would give to age-mates who may be considering a change of career, or wanting to try something new, he doesn’t skip a beat when urging them to lean into their instincts.

Zach recognizes his fortune, in that he wasn’t tied down by any major commitments but insists: “If you’re wondering can or should I do it, I think if the heart’s desire is there, then you should just start.”

Referencing the phrase that led him here, he concludes: “Start doing the math, make some choices, and take a leap.”

With #SnowStories, FIS sheds a light on the thousands of characters, across all levels and around the whole world, that are the true beating heart of snow sports.