Sierra Regional Ski for Light

After a short illness, Sierra Regional Ski for Light has lost one of its pillars.  Vicki was hospitalized on Friday May 2^nd with multiple strokes and a heart attack.  She lost her battle for life on Monday, May 12^th.  She was 71 years old.  Her involvement with SRSFL goes back more than 25 years.  She served the group in many ways including more than one term as Board President. For many years we worked together to train new guides.  It will be difficult to train new guides without her!  She was a brilliant teacher, a peacemaker, a counselor and a musician with an amazing voice.  Vicki met the many challenges she faced in life with optimistic hopefulness.

Perhaps the best way to describe Vicki is with her own words taken from her Spirit Alive website, “Now who am I really? I love the outdoors; hiking, cross country skiing, climbing mountains and taking long walks with my guide dog. I’m a radio news junky; I love to sing and play guitar; I’ll talk for hours over tea, coffee or wine; I love being stirred to the depths of my soul by good books, movies and music; and I love dark chocolate. I am a happily married, hopelessly independent, flaming idealist who believes there is still hope for this planet.”

It is hard to imagine SRSFL without her. You will be greatly missed dear friend!

Edie Lott, SRSFL Board President

Join us for another fun filled SRSFL hiking weekend in the Truckee area:  Saturday, June 14th- Monday June 16, 2025. Make sure you mark your calendars and sign up early.  We will be staying at the Best Western Hotel.  A Sacramento area day hike is also planned at the Cosumnes River Preserve walk on Saturday, May 10th.   If you are planning to attend this day hike, make sure your application is in by May 1st. Applications for  VIP Hikers is found here:  VIP Hiker Application   Applications for guides and volunteers is found here:  Guide and Volunteer Application.    Get your applications in now!

We just finished a great 3 Day Event with Sierra Regional Ski for Light. Our guides, volunteers and blind skiers were amazing! The young man in this video is blind and had never even touched snow before our event! Watching him ski with ease made all the hard work organizing for the weekend more than worth it!  Watch this short video to the end.

Fall is in the air!  It is time to start thinking of winter ski events!  Our Day Trip and new Guide Training  set for Saturday, February 8th is cancelled. Our annual Three Day Event will be March 8th -10th.  Let’s make it the best  event ever. Mark your calendars!  It will be held at Tahoe Donner Adventure Center.  Go to the Skier Page to access the Skier Application and information. You can also go to the Guide or Volunteers pages to access the Guide and Volunteer Application.

Join us for another fun filled SRSFL hiking weekend in the Truckee area:  Saturday, June 22 – Monday June24, 2024. Make sure you mark your calendars and sign up early.  We will be staying at the Best Western Hotel in Truckee for two nights, with dinners at the Glenshire Clubhouse, a short drive away from the hotel. We are sure the hiking weekend will fill up fast for VIP Hikers and will be dependent on the number of guides available. There is no fee for guides unless they are staying at the hotel or joining us for dinner.  To secure your space, your application and trip fee must be received before the sign-up deadline of June 10, 2024.  Your application, and trip fee for VIP hikers of $230.00 double occupancy, (an additional charge of $190.00 for a single room) will secure your space at the Best Western.  We are looking forward to seeing all of you.  VIP Hiker Applications are available on the VIP Hiker Page.  For the Guide and Volunteer application go to the Hiker Guides and Volunteers page.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of our Sierra Regional Ski for Light 2024 3 Day event that was to be held on March 2^nd-4^th.  We do not make this decision without great sadness!  We must err on the side of safety! For days we have consulted multiple weather sources and the manager of Tahoe Donner Cross Country.  Here is what one weather forecaster stated, “Snow amounts will be so much and difficult to accurately measure due to strong winds producing prolonged periods of near zero visibility, and blowing/drifting snow capable of burying vehicles and making it difficult to locate roads,” the weather service’s Reno office, which provides the forecast for the Lake Tahoe Basin, wrote in its forecast. “Even walking outside would not be advised during this storm as a person could quickly become lost or disoriented.”  Here is what Sally Jones, Manager of Tahoe Donner Cross Country wrote to me last evening, “Yes we are watching the weather and we would suggest you either reschedule or cancel. I think Sunday will be a dig out day, if we are lucky.  Monday could be ok – but we would have to keep watching the storm and how dug out the town is.

We did briefly discuss rescheduling, but with hotels, food and transportation scheduled months ahead of time, rescheduling before the end of the ski season will not be possible.

The sun was shining and the snow was perfect!  We trained 4 new guides and 4 of our VIP Skiers had a great time.   Much thanks to Carol Harrington, Cathy Masters and Rich Holcomb for the great job they did training new guides.  Also, thanks go to our great guides and drivers!

Fall is in the air!  It is time to start thinking of winter ski events!  Our Day Trip is set for Saturday, February 10th and our annual Three Day Event will be March 2nd-4th.  Both are planned to be held at Tahoe Donner Adventure Center.  Go to the Skier Page to access the Skier Application.  Go to the Guide or Volunteers pages to access the Guide and Volunteer Application.

This is the biggest SRSFL Event in many years!  It was a fantastic 3 days!

A lot of work has gone into this newsletter!  Please take the time to read it.

SRSFL 2023 Summer Newsletter