Which Accessibility for Mountain Natural Environments? The Ski-Ability Project

The growing desire to live experiences in naturalistic environments that are also opportunities for psycho-physical well-being has meant that the issue of accessibility is now involving environmental contexts that by their nature are often almost inaccessible due to both the morphology of the places and the meteorological-geographical conditions. It is evident that in such contexts the degree of accessibility cannot be fully satisfied by acting on the environment, it is, therefore, necessary to refer to notions such as reasonable accommodation or equivalent accessibility. In this sense, the degree of accessibility achievable involves more organizational aspects and the provision of special aids, reducing the number and scope of interventions in the physical environment. From this point of view, the sense of limitation inherent in the definition of Universal Design (which considers the greatest number of people possible) emerges avowedly, emphasizing even more specifically the difference between accessibility and usability. This paper aims to analyze how accessibility can be declined for places that by their nature are poorly accessible, what scope this has for the local population, and to propose an initial focus on the ongoing Ski-Ability Project research.