Blind skier Hester on her quest for Winter Paralympics glory

That’s a modest assessment. At the age of 17, the visually impaired Alpine skier from Bath is one of the rising stars of British Para Sport. This year she’s juggling A-Levels and an intensive training programme that requires her to spend one week per month on ski slopes in Europe.

Luckily, it all feels worthwhile when she pulls on her skis. Hester said, “It’s just utter exhilaration. At first, you’re micro-managing your own fear and thinking ‘I need to do this or that’. Then you think ‘I’m skiing really fast and this is really fun’.”

Hester currently competes in two events: Slalom and Giant Slalom. She’s hoping to add a third event, Super Giant Slalom (aka Super-G), in the near future.

Fortunately, she’s part of UK Sport’s World Class Programme (WCP), a scheme supported by funding made possible by National Lottery players. The WCP helps our top athletes perform at the highest level by giving them access to the coaching and training facilities they need to win medals on the international stage.

It’s early days, but there’s a chance Hester will be part of the ParalympicsGB squad at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy. Hester said, “There have been whispers. There’s a possibility I might go. I’m what you might call a wildcard.”

Her ski journey began at the age of 7 when she was taken to an artificial slope in the Mendips. It was a heart stopping moment for her mother, Sarah, because Hester, who was born with a rare genetic eye disease called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), only has about 10 percent of her vision.

Sarah said, “It looked terrifying to me, but I kept quiet because Hester was enjoying going fast. She just wanted to go fast all the time, everywhere.”

Inspired by Kelly Gallagher’s success at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games (the alpine skier from Northern Ireland won Britain's first ever Winter Paralympic gold medal on the Russian slopes), Hester fell in love with the sport. She said, “I started skiing around the time I realised that some people didn’t think I could do certain things and I was not allowed to do school sports. I thought ‘sweet, this is better than netball!’”

She was 9 when she took part in her first race, an event on an artificial slope in Gloucester. It didn’t end well - “I broke my nose and got a concussion!” - but her ability was evident. Things really took off when she joined a group of visually impaired skiers being coached by Charlotte Evans, Kelly Gallagher’s guide (in Para skiing a guide is a fully sighted athlete who races down the slope a few metres ahead of the visually impaired skier and relays information about turns and hazards via a Bluetooth headset).

Hester’s first guide was her older brother Benjie. He was with her when she won a bronze medal at a European Para skiing event in Poland. She said, “I was 12 at the time, the youngest by about five years. So, I was very chuffed with the bronze. I thought, ‘OK, I can do this’.”

Nowadays, she competes in a Parasport classification called AS3. Skiers in this category are able to see approximately 5 metres in front of them. Her current guide is Ali Hall, a student in his third year at Edinburgh University.

Skiing is a huge part of Hester’s life, but she somehow manages to find time for other activities. In 2024, she and her guide dog Pickle appeared in animated form in The Beano, when it created the first audio comic strip for people with visual impairments.

It’s clear, however, that racing down a ski slope is her happy place. She said, “First and foremost it’s a feeling of freedom and more broadly a sense of ambition and drive. My life is filled with little struggles that I have to navigate and skiing feels like something that’s always been open to me.”

6th March 2025