When Jarem Frye, an accomplished athlete, wanted to try his hand at Telemark skiing, he was told by everyone it was an impossible feat for an amputee. “I took that as a challenge,” he said, “but they were right. A prosthesis is not designed for the bend, twist, lunge, and spring back motions of Telemark skiing.”

That was just over 10 years ago. Since then, Frye made history by being the first above-the-knee amputee Telemark skier in the world. He also snowboards, rock climbs, wakeboards, and pretty much lives his life without limits.

Back in the mid-’90s, Frye could have given up on Telemark, and concentrated on the sport at which he was proficient – competitive three-track alpine skiing. But he preferred to push on to prove to himself, and others, that he could do whatever he wanted. His mission was to develop a device that would provide him advanced knee articulation. The result is the patent-pending, high-activity knee, the XT9©.

The development of the XT9 was a lengthy process, from initial success with a knee that worked, to the refinements needed to take it to the marketplace. “I started by analyzing what was preventing my prosthetic leg from doing what I wanted,” Frye recounted. He then drew up his own design and built the first prototype at a bike shop, using an old knee frame, and a variety of parts including a valve spring from a car engine. “Eventually, I developed a crude knee that would work,” he said.

“It was designed specifically for Telemark skiing. The ski people were amazed I could do it. Then I started on rock climbing. I had pretty much given up on that sport because, with my other prosthesis, I was clumsy and not secure. When I tried it with XT9, I jumped four grades of difference.” (See related story, page 24.)

Frye explored the knee’s capabilities further, and tried snowboarding and wakeboarding. “I got up on the first try and began to realize this knee made it all possible,” he said. “The knee makes it easy. It doesn’t take extra effort. Amputees can do the same things as able-bodied boarders or skiers, but it takes 150 percent more effort. The knee makes it less so.”

After his success with his first makeshift knee, multiple prototypes ensued and Frye’s occupational experience working in machine shops, and later at an aerospace component company and a high tech research and development facility, fueled his knowledge of material and design. He also gives a lot of credit to the help and advice from the highly skilled engineers he worked with.

The XT9 is made of aircraft grade titanium and weighs only 32 oz. All components are anodized aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel, making them 100 percent corrosion-resistant, and standing up to extreme conditions of snow, ice, and water. The XT9 mimics the functions of the quadriceps during intense athletic use, and the knee is adjustable for different uses and weights for aggressive types of sport and terrain.

Frye used the knee at the Extremity Games, and won the rock climbing competition there. “It’s very good for rock climbing,” said Jarem, an activity he excelled at before bone cancer at age 15 resulted in his amputation. “The XT9 is really stable and won’t slip off,” he says. “It really helps with the climbing technique. If you are climbing on any type of face and take a 25-foot fall, the knee helps cushion the impact as you go back into the wall.”

The knee can also be used in water skiing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, roller blading, ice skating, motocross, snowmobiling, and any kind of skiing. “It’s designed for adjustability,” he said. “It works for so many different sports. The key to its maneuverability is that the shock component serves as the amputee’s missing thigh muscle to absorb impact.”

Frye has sold a few of his knees overseas and to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A snowboarder in Utah, Nicole Roundy, who was using it for only a brief time, won a Silver Medal in a USA Snowboard Association’s National Championship.

Frye now manufactures and markets the XT9 through his company, Symbiotechs USA©, based in McMinnville, Ore. He noted the name of his company is a play on words: Symbiosis, where two dissimilar life forms exist in a mutually beneficial relationship; and technology, because amputees have a symbiotic relationship with technology.

“Our philosophy is that we really want to be a part of amputees’ lives to help them accomplish their goals. I have been told hundreds of times I can’t do something, because I am an amputee. We want to be a company that can provide solutions. We can be the life form of technology you need.”

Frye’s dedication to sharing his technology to help others attain their goals meant giving up his Telemark racing career to spend time on the development of the knee. “I was told, when I started racing, that I had the potential to be the best in the world. But I knew that glory would last maybe two or three years. I wanted to do something more lasting, that makes me proud, and that can help others.”

“It makes me very happy when amputees send me videos and pictures of them doing things that I was told would never be possible.”

“My vision is to revolutionize the world of prosthetics,” he said. “I want to design and build prosthetics that will make it possible for amputees to do things like anyone else.”