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DO GOOD - FEEL GOOD
Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra is successful because of many people and organizations.
Our Vision
We believe the freedom and exhilaration of outdoor challenges changes lives. No one should be left behind simply because of a disability!
Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra is a volunteer-based nonprofit dedicated to changing the lives of children and adults with disabilities and their families by:
DSES has adaptive equipment to fulfill everyone's winter and summer dreams: gliding down a snow-covered mountainside, cruising on a cycle or skimming over a placid lake.
Activities are customized to each individual; one-on-one or in a group. Our goal is for everyone to be active year round!
DSES makes the outdoors accessible and affordable!!
Terry Smutney Memorial Fund
Terry Smutney 1956-2009
Terry Smutney, long-time resident of McGee Creek and prominent volunteer and lover of the Eastern Sierra, passed away on Monday, March 23, 2009 from lung cancer and other complications of Gulf War Syndrome. Terry was a good friend to many people in our community, and he will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.
Terry served as a medic in the Army for many years and in many battles. He was permanently affected by chemical exposure in Desert Storm. Though his body was broken, his enduring spirit persevered. Serving others was his primary occupation over these last years. He was a valued volunteer of Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, the Sunrise Rotary Club and the Mobility Commission.
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Dennis Hampton Scholarship Fund
Dennis Hampton was a long time resident of Mammoth Lakes. He arrived in the 1970's for a fun ski vacation and loved Mammoth and winter sports so much he never left.
In memory of Dennis, his family and friends have established a scholarship fund to sponsor children with disabilities so they can participate in outdoor sports here in the Eastern Sierra. Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, a program that Dennis loved and supported, teaches children of all ages and all disabilities.
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Wounded Warrior Scholarship Fund
Your donations can help bring men and women who have been severely injured in Iraq to Mammoth to learn how to adapt to their newly 'altered' bodies. Help them remember there is STILL FUN TO BE HAD!
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We Support A Tobacco Free Lifestyle
In The News
Coming Events Calendar
Check our Calendar here. Be sure to click on items in the Calendar for event details and contact information.
Good Vibrations Newsletter
Check out the October 2009 Newsletter
Reach The Peak 2009-2010
"Reach the Peak" is our fundraiser where we ask YOU to support us for the upcoming season. This winter we have more students asking for scholarships than ever before. We say, "YES!" to any student in need! Your generosity allows us to teach students that they are full of ABILITIES and not limited by their disabilities.
Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra Needs Your Help! The goal for our campaign is $50,000. Help us "Reach the Peak" and be able to say "YES!" to any student in need. » Read More
Operation Mountain Freedom
February 1-5, 2010
On February 1st through 5th we will be welcoming our Wounded Warriors to Mammoth Mountain for the thrills of Operation Mountain Freedom. Activities will include welcome dinner, ski and snowboard lessons, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, multi-media presentation by athlete and motivational speaker EJ Poplawski and more!
We are so thrilled to help our Wounded Warriors and their families learn that there are no limits to what they can do if they set their minds to it. We are here to help them meet their goals, whether they want to play on a snowboard or become a Parlympic Contender in Biathlon. We firmly believe that no one should be left behind simply because of a disability!
Please join us for EJ Poplawski, on Wednesday, February 3rd at 8:00 PM at The Westin Monache - More information here. You-Tube video of Ej Poplawski, athlete, amputee, X-Games participant and motivational speaker!
Friday-Sunday, February 26-28, 2010
Paralympic Alpine Ski Camp
Learn to ski, improve your skiing, learn to race, improve your racing with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra.
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The Best Western is offering a 25% discount to participants in this camp. This will mean the weekend is $142.50 and weekday is $120.00. Please mention that you are booking for the Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra. This includes standard handicap rooms.
Friday-Sunday, March 12-14, 2010
Mono Ski Madness
Open to mono skiers of all abilities. Improve your skiing and your racing skills with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra and Paralympic Medalist and National Demo Team Coach Bill Bowness.
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Annual Springtacular - April 20-23, 2010
The Annual DSES Springtacular takes place April 20-23, 2010. This special event is designed for participants of all ages with cognitive disabilities. It includes four days of skiing or snowboard instruction, lift tickets, equipment rentals, lunches, a banquet and participation ceremony, a commemorative t-shirt, and LOTS of FUN!
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Paralympic Nordic Camp
January 8-10, 2010
Our First Nordic Camp - A Paralympic Experience - was tons of fun! We had athletes learning to cross country ski both sitting down and standing up!
Volunteers attended clinics led by Paralympic Medalist Candace Cable, Tamarack Instructor Jane Lester and Coach Marc Mast. Our athletes joined us Saturday and Sunday for two gloriously sunny days of cross country skiing around the Lower Lakes Basin. We are all so excited about our new and growing adaptive Nordic program.
Special thanks to all the volunteers and local businesses that helped make this event such a success, especially Ueli and the crew at Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center. » Pictures
Island Extravaganza Raises Thousands
For People With Disabilities
Despite the raging snowstorm outside and the threat of power loss, more than 400 people headed to Canyon Lodge for Island Extravaganza on Saturday, December 12, 2009.
It was the most people ever, according to Disabled Sports Director Kathy Copeland. “I was blown away by the people who came,” she said.
Donors were overwhelmingly generous and Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra auctioned and raffled over 275 items to raise money for its adaptive programs. The grand raffle prize of an island trip for two went to Dennis Linn of Westlake Village. » Read More
Ken Klein-Volunteer of the Year 2009
As our Chair of the Board of Directors and a committed volunteer all year long, Ken has given so much of himself to this program! We honor his dedication, support and strong back.
Ken has been skiing Mammoth Mountain for 20 years since being assigned to the Naval Dental Clinic in Long Beach. He retired from the Navy in 1993 and practiced Periodontics in Los Alamitos until fully retiring from dental practice in 2004. This coincided with his wife, Susie's, retirement from teaching 2nd grade, and they moved from Huntington Beach to Mammoth Lakes that summer.
He has been involved as a volunteer with disabled sports programs since 1994 and is a PSIA Level 1 Certified Adaptive (Bi-ski) instructor. In addition to being a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology, Ken has an MBA (Healthcare) from UC Irvine. He has a passion for outdoor activities and thoroughly enjoys biking, hiking, running and skiing in the beautiful Eastern Sierra.
An Incredible Day with Anthony
by Kathy Copeland
Anthony called Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra numerous times to bug them for a reservation to go skiing. To date this proud adaptive organization had never said "no" to anybody…they'd always found a way to accommodate all the different disabilities out on the snow.
But Anthony was different….much different from their other students. He has a C2 quadriplegic spinal cord injury ~ similar to Christopher Reeve ~ and he uses a ventilator to breathe for him....to keep him alive....like Christopher did. » Read More - Pictures
Ariana Sandoval writes - "I have made new dreams and memories in Mammoth... YOU ALL ROCK!!!!"
Thank you for getting me up on the chair lift. All of the face plants made me feel so strong. I know that sounds strange but the more I fell the more I grew in confidence.
I did not die! I lived. I am not just living anymore. Once I came off the snow, I can say for certain that I am now truly ALIVE. I want to try so many things. I want to climb and ride again. I will drive again. I hope to see all of you every break I get. I look forward to all my winters, springs, falls and summers! I thank you all for your friendships. I feel that I have met people of greatness.
» Read More
Paralyzed Skier Returns to the Slopes
Jenny was sweet 16, with dreams of dancing at her upcoming high school prom. She loved her family's regular ski trips to Mammoth. Like many teenage girls she imagined her wedding day when she would be escorted down the aisle to her waiting prince. But all these dreams came crashing down after a ski accident left her partially paralyzed below the waist.
Fast forward five years. Jenny Priest is 21 and she's sitting in a café at Mammoth's ski lodge. Above her on the wall is a 1955 black and white Sports Illustrated cover photograph that featured the reigning champion and Olympic-hopeful skier Jill Kinmont.
It's a cruel irony that it's the 50th anniversary of Kinmont's career-ending accident when she too was paralyzed from a near-fatal ski accident at Alta, Utah.
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