It takes immense ability, skill, dedication and courage to be an elite vision-impaired alpine skier, attributes that Melissa Perrine certainly has no shortage of.

From the Southern Highlands region of NSW, Melissa is the newest member of the Australian Winter Paralympic Team after earning national selection for the first time in 2009.

Melissa and fellow vision-impaired athlete Jessica Gallagher are the female representatives in the 2010 Australian Team, and join 2006 Paralympian Emily Jansen as the three women who have represented Australia at Paralympic Winter Games.

Melissa skis with the assistance of her sighted guide Andrew Bor, and is confident that their relatively new partnership is developing into one capable of Paralympic success.

In their very first international competition as skier and guide - the 2009 IPC North American Cup in Colorado - Melissa won a silver medal in the Super G discipline in what was an outstanding performance.

With the Vancouver Paralympic Games opening ceremony now less than 100 days away, the pair will use the upcoming World Cup circuit to finetune their preparations before putting themselves to the ultimate test against the best in the world on the slopes of Whistler.