From avalanche safety to the Paralympic Movement: Dani Aravich on raising awareness

Two months since the Closing Ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, athletes have taken time to celebrate the wins and successes of their competition and begin building goals for the future. For Team USA Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing athlete Danielle Aravich, her aims for the Games were always focused on awareness-raising.

“Most of my expectations and hope for Milano Cortina actually didn't have anything to do with the result you will see on the paper,” Aravich said.

“For me the bigger picture is getting more eyeballs on the Paralympics, and none of my athletic career or anything I do on the field of play really matters to me unless that's happening in the background.”

Competing at her second Winter Games, Aravich competed in five events at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium. She finished sixth in both Para biathlon women's individual standing and Para cross-country skiing women's sprint classic standing.

It was her third Paralympic appearance, after making her debut in Para athletics at Tokyo 2020, just six months before competing at Beijing 2022. 

Raising awareness

With Milano Cortina being the biggest Paralympic Winter Games yet, with the most National Paralympic Committees competing, 55, and the most athletes, 611, with the most female athletes yet; the Games represented a unique opportunity for raising awareness of the Paralympic Movement.

Aravich cofounded her own media collective to help raise awareness of Para sport. The venture called Culxtured, was founded alongside fellow Paralympians Chuck Aoki, Brenna Huckaby and Ryan Neiswender. 

Aravich believes that awareness is key with Para sport, saying that her purpose is now to share Para sport with the world.

“The most interesting thing I find about myself is what I do try to do for the Paralympic Movement, rather than what I'm doing athletically. So, my biggest goals are really more associated with that: the viewership numbers, the interest online in the Paralympics, and hopefully the growth of it.”

“Para sport has changed my life more than I could probably ever describe. It has given me a purpose that I didn't know I would ever find, and that purpose is to grow the Movement to teach the world what Para sport is and how competitive it is and how interesting it is,” Aravich said.

She is confident that when sports fans watch Para sports, they will realise how good it is and appreciate it.

“People say they're sports fans, and they might not think they're Para sports fans, and it's probably just because they haven't watched it yet,” she said. 

“If they watch it, they will learn to appreciate it, they'll learn to love it, and they'll become fans of it.” 

A lifelong downhill skier, Aravich has also taken her passion and purpose around raising awareness into the USA ‘backcountry’. In April 2023, she partnered with the Inclusive Outdoors Project to host the first-ever Adaptive Avalanche Clinic, where eight athletes with disabilities earned their Level 1 Recreation avalanche certification.

“There are so many athletes, even some Paralympians, who, when they're not training, would love to spend time in the backcountry, and so we decided to try to create an avalanche awareness course for specifically backcountry for people with disabilities. And we've hosted two courses so far, and hopefully we'll do more,” she explained.

Aravich volunteers to help host events and organise programmes with the aim of removing barriers to access for people with disabilities in trail running, ice climbing, and backcountry skiing.

“I love the outdoor sports space outside of Paralympic sport. I really enjoy backcountry skiing now that I'm not running track. I got more into trail running as well. I got to compete as part of an adaptive group at Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in Chamonix last year, which is the largest trail race in the world. And I think we had, like, over 4,550 athletes with disabilities sign up for the races and conquer really treacherous mountains and trails,” she said.

For Aravich, making outdoor and backcountry sport safer and more accessible is also about awareness raising, and extending the ethos of Paralympic Movement into every area of culture.

“People (with disabilities) already exist everywhere, they just haven't been given a spotlight everywhere. The Paralympics is probably one of the few places where it shows the most, and we're very lucky and appreciative. But if it doesn't have a trickle-down effect then we're not doing a good enough job. It needs to filter into the rest of society.” 

Read more stories from the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games