News Archives

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  June Lake Triathlon - DSES Benefits

June Lake Triathlon Logo

Saturday, July 12, 2008
with pre-event festivities on Friday, July 11.

DSES will benefit from this fund raising event. Volunteers are needed. Call or email Christine for more information 760 934-0791

» Read Triathlon Details Here


  End Of Season Party & Awards - May 3rd

End-of-Season Party & Awards (even though we're still open until the end!), Saturday, May 3rd @ 3pm. We're all going for a run or two together and coming back in to DSES for a pre-Cinco de Mayo Fiesta. Come and celebrate our best season ever! Let's have at least 40 of us in DSES jackets out on the hill that afternoon--please come!


  3rd Annual Springtacular Huge Success!!

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The 2008 Springtacular may be over, but we'll all cherish great memories from this amazing event. 70 star athletes spent four days on beautiful Mammoth Mountain and exceeded all of their goals. Cold temperatures and breezy days didn't stop these stars from taking run after run. A big thank you to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area for supporting this life-changing event for all of the students and more than 100 volunteers. We're already looking forward to next year's event-the 34th year of magic on the slopes with special athletes.
» Check out these pictures


  3rd Annual Springtacular

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The 3rd Annual DSES Springtacular takes place April 21-24, 2008. This event provides opportunities for students to learn and improve their skiing or snowboarding skills. The valuable social aspects of the event help students develop their personal skills.
» Read More


  Life in The Lodges - Make Your Bid!

Life in The Lodges

Beautiful 3 Bedroom, 3-1/2 Bath, Townhouse available for four nights.
Make an offer on this rental or tell your friends!!
DSES gets to keep the cash!
Normally renting for $1500.00

Valid the following dates:
Wednesday-Sunday, April 9-13 or April 23-27
» Read More


  2nd Annual Mammoth Mono Ski Madness

2nd Annual Mammoth Mono Ski Madness

Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra hosted the 2nd Annual Mammoth Mono Ski Madness Camp on March 17-19, 2008. This two and a half day event brought skiers with disabilities who ski in sit-down mono skis to Mammoth. Two local skiers, Terry Smutney and Jeremy McGee, and a recent Wounded Warrior, Travis Strong, joined in the fun. Allan Grimsby traveled from Tahoe and Nahu Gebreegziabher came from Long Beach for some sliding. Bill Bowness, coach and Professional Ski Instructors of America National Tech Team Member, challenged them with new skills and adventures. Disabled Sports instructors taught and assisted as the skiers enjoyed the spring-like weather all over the mountain.
» Read More - Pictures


  Camp del Corazon

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March 8-9 - These heart patients love Mammoth and DSES. 36 students total, 9 at a time. Call the office to volunteer your help.


  Casa Colina

March 2-3 - We have got lots of old friends and some new ones too coming up from LA. Nine students digned up: six skiers, two snowboarders and one bi-skier. Call the office to volunteer your help.

  Operation Mountain Freedom

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Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra hosted their biggest Wounded Warrior Project yet, with 10 participants plus numerous family members. All of these service members have sustained severe injuries, and they are healing through the freedom and exhilaration of skiing and snowboarding. As usual, the whole town of Mammoth Lakes generously supported this program, as did DSUSA!
» Read More - Pictures
» More Pictures


  50 New Volunteers call DSES Home

The 2007-2008 ski and snowboard season is in full swing, and Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra is training dozens of new volunteers, so we can say, "YES!" to 1,600 lessons this year.

New Volunteers learn about adaptive equipment, disabilities and the American Teaching System in order to better serve their students. Thank you to all of our new volunteers this season!
» Read More


  Island Extravaganza a Huge Success!

Island Extravaganza

The 2007 Island Extravaganza will go down in history as one of the best parties in Mammoth! Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra raised $57,000 in a fun evening of dancing, fantastic food and charitable giving.

More than 300 guests passed through tiki torches and entered into a fully transformed ski lodge complete with tropical flowers and hula skirted tables, overflowing with silent auction gifts and raffle giveaways. One lucky couple, Jim and Liz Cox, even won a trip to Hawaii!
» Read More


  DSES Volunteer Kick Off a Huge Success!

John and Loretta Arnold and Jack Copeland enjoy meeting new people.

More than 75 new and returning volunteers kicked off the 2007-2008 season with a fantastic dinner and a lot of fun. Kathy Copeland, Executive Director, gave a moving talk about what it is to volunteer for this worthy organization and how it really does change the lives of those with disabilities.
» Read More


  2nd Annual DSES Pedal-Paddle

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The 2nd Annual Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra Pedal~Paddle, August 27 & 28, 2007 surpassed all expectations. This two-day event is designed for participants with physical disabilities. Four participants spent the two days enjoying the perfect weather while kayaking, fishing and hand cycling.
» Read More


  Sierra Cycle Challenge: Something for Everyone!

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The first annual Sierra Cycle Challenge had something for every type of cyclist. There was 8,000 feet of climbing, cycling through beautiful forests and banding together for an incredible cause. The fun on the bike was only rivaled by the good times off the bike.

The three-day ride, July 29-31, raised funds for Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, and it also raised awareness in our community about serving those with disabilities. First, a huge thank you goes out to our riders who committed their time, energy and fundraising efforts for DSES: Kathy Copeland, Ken Klein, Terry Smutney, Nick Souza, Allegra Stevens, Greg Hadfield, Anne Ganse, Alicia Kuppens, Mark Jankowski, and missing from the ride but with us in spirit, Mary Walker. These riders had amazing SAG support from Susie Klein and Anita Haenni, who were at the ready with water, snacks, a smile and cold towels at the end of the day!
» Read More


  June Lake Triathlon - July 6-7 - Benefits DSES

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2007 welcomes the return of the June Lake Triathlon. Originally started in the late 1980's the race has a history of ingenuity and success, Mountain Fitness and the High Sierra Triathlon Club bring back this unique event to the Eastern Sierra. In our inaugural year, we have invited Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra to be our beneficiary.
» Read More


  Summer Fun In The Eastern Sierra

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Our summer programs are better than ever this year! We're creating custom packages for groups and individuals to make sure you experience the best that the Eastern Sierra has to offer. Students will use all of their abilities to get outside and live the adventure!
» Read More


  Boeing Grant Supports Teen Program

DSES Staff; Kathy Copeland, Executive Director and Christine Souza, Volunteer Coordinator celebrate funds from Boeing!

DSES is thrilled to announce a grant of $5,000 from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California. This grant is helping to fund the Teen Volunteer Program, Students Helping Students, which trains our local teens to become "volunteers for life!" We are hiking, biking, climbing, zipping, boating, fishing and loving life in the Eastern Sierra! If you'd like to get involved please contact us at 760.934.0791


  Cooper Terrell Senior Graduation Award

Laurel Martin and Kathy Copeland present Cooper Terrell with DSES's first Graduation Award

Laurel Martin and Kathy Copeland present Cooper Terrell with Disabled Sports’ very first Graduation Award.

The Special Disney Gift Package features all sorts of Pirates of the Caribbean fun stuff that really made Cooper SMILE! We also presented him with “Learning Life Skills” gifts. Congrats to Cooper!


  Volunteer of the Year 2007 - Terry Smutney

2007 Volunteer of the Year - Terry Smutney

We're thrilled to announce this year's Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra Volunteer of the Year, Terry Smutney!

Terry has become an incredible asset to our program! We just can't imagine the program without him! Terry first came to Disabled Sports with the goal of learning how to mono ski. He returned from the first Gulf War with serious injuries, was dealing with severe pain, and he was on many medications. Not surprisingly, he didn't have a big smile on his face.

Now, none of us can imagine that person. Terry's guts and determination have inspired us all. He has become an amazing mono skier passing his PSIA Level 1 mono ski certification this past season and he is an outstanding hand cyclist too!
» Read More


  Operation Mountain Sports - June 4-8

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Wounded Warriors Head To Mammoth For Summer Fun - Through the cooperation of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, the Disabled Sports USA Wounded Warrior Project and generous donations from the Mammoth Lakes community, disabled soldiers from four different forces including the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines will be spending time trying their hand at various summer activities in the Eastern Sierra for Operation Mountain Sports.
» Read More
» Schedule of Activities
» Wrap Up and Thank You Mammoth


  Mammoth Community Foundation Donation

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On May 16, 2007, Dawn Vereuck and Brooke McKenna presented Kathy Copeland and Terry Smutney a check for $1500 from the Mammoth Community Foundation.
» Read More



  Cure Autism Now at the Rose Bowl

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In one incredible Saturday under blue Southern California skies on April 22, 2007, the folks at Cure Autism Now and Autism Speaks led over 10,000 people on a fundraising walk that brought in $1.2 MILLION dollars! Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra was there to help and meet new people.
» Read More


  Congratulations Newly Certificated Volunteers

Congratulations to our volunteers who have successfully completed the following certifications through the Professional Ski Instructors of America!

Amanda Linson: Level 1 Snowboard
Doug Baysore: Level 1 Adaptive Skiing
Jenn Long: Level 1 Cognitive Disabilites and Visually Impaired
Scott Kantor: Level 3 Alpine Skiing
Terry Smutney: Level 1 Adaptive Skiing
Wally Hofmann: Level 1 Adaptive Skiing & Level 1 Teaching and Technical

Thank you for making our program even more professional with your certifications!


  2nd Annual Springtacular Huge Success

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Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra would like to extend a Huge Thanks to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area and all the volunteers and instructors who helped to make the 2007 Springtacular such a huge success. It was an amazing week of outstanding skiing and snowboarding, with all of our 60 "stars" making incredible progress on the hill.
» Read More


  Mammoth Mono Ski Madness - March 21-23, 2007

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Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra hosted its first ever mono-ski camp in March at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. "Mammoth Mono-ski Madness" hosted a strong group of adaptive sit-down skiers from March 21-23, ranging in age from 11 to 59. This camp was made possible by a Quality of Life grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation. (Please see related story here.)

A group of five mono-skiers were led by a dozen volunteer instructors from DSES and Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) clinician and demo team member, Bill Bowness. The group covered the slopes for three fun-filled days with thrills, skills, drills and even some spills.
» Read More - Pictures


  DSES Receives Quality Of Life Grant

Reeve Foundation Logo

The Christopher Reeve Foundation (CRF) announced March 7, 2007 that Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra has been awarded a $2500 Quality of Life grant. The CRF awarded a total of $717,404 in Quality of Life grants to 90 nonprofit organizations around the world. Since 1999, when the Quality of Life program was conceived by the late Dana Reeve as a way for the CRF to help improve the day-to-day health and well-being of those living with paralysis, 1,163 grants totaling $9,220,980 have been awarded.
» Read More


  Wounded Warriors Come To Mammoth

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January 29-February 2, 2007, Mammoth Mountain and Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra hosted six service members who have recently returned from Iraq to three full days of adaptive sports here at Mammoth! Working in conjunction with the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra's Executive Director, Kathy Copeland, rolled out the red carpet to five military personnel who have sustained various injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan ~ to show them there definitely is still lots of fun to be had! Skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling were the main activities for the event.
» Wrap Up and Thanks.
» News Story and Pictures
» Rotary Luncheon Speech by Colonel Dave Hall
» Friendship, courtesy and compassion by Ken Yegan
» It Takes A Village by Diane Eagle.


  Island Extravaganza Huge Success!!

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The 4th Annual Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra Island Extravaganza on December 10, 2006 was a HUGE success!!! This year the event was held at a new venue, Little Eagle. It was spacious but quickly filled with all the wonderful supporters of Disabled Sports (DSES). The island décor and everyone's tropical attire really made the night. Soul Reason played great music and the Little Keiki Hula Dancers danced their fun hula presentation. The island buffet presented by Chef Manny Limon was scrumptious with roast pork loin, mahi mahi and plenty of side dishes to please everyone's tastes.

The night was filled with many wonderful silent auction items to bid on, live auction action to keep things lively, a costume contest, a hula contest, dancing and raffles. DSES friends truly came out for our event with over 300 people partying and enjoying the evening's festivities. Paws 4 Healing came with ten therapy dogs fully decked out in Hawaiian attire! Congratulations to Susan Minor for winning the grand raffle prize….the Hawaiian vacation for two. » Pictures Here.

THANK YOU to everyone who supported the event ~ by attending and by contributing to make this event so fun and profitable. Rick and Shelley Taylor and Andrew Gillespie hosted the banquet so that ALL the money brought in went directly to the adaptive program and getting students with disabilities out on the slopes. We are flattered by everyone's support and happily deposited $47,000 in the bank! A special thank you to Mammoth Mountain for their continued generous support. » Read The Donor List


  Peak To Peak To Peak

Ken Klein

Our one and only Ken Klein successfully tackled a huge undertaking: the Peak to Peak to Peak! Creating his own bike-athon, he rode 700 miles and raised $5000 to split between his two favorite adaptive sports programs. Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra and the U.S. Adaptive Recreation Center in Big Bear will divide the money that was donated in honor of Ken’s crazy stamina by people from all over the country.
» Read More


  A Word From The Executive Director

Kathy Copeland

This has been a summer full of new experiences and explorations for Disabled Sports! Thanks to Diana Proemm, our Summer Program Manager, we have tried out many new venues and made some great connections with local outfits who have helped us expand our horizons. It feels like Stu and Sue at Caldera Kayaks have adopted us and it's great to be part of their family! Barrett's Outfitters generously let us use their pontoon boat for fishing and just having fun cruising around Lake Mary. The kids loved going to play with the dogs and puppies from Jim Ouimet's Mammoth Dog Team. Our rock climbing experience graduated from the "Rock" at Mammoth Mountain to real rock with the expert guidance of Doug Nidever's Sierra Mountain Guides. We also added therapeutic horse back riding to our menu with the help of Carol and Freedom in Motion.

We had a great turn out of volunteers and many of them were new to the program ....WELCOME to all of you newbie's and thank you all of our loyal volunteers for making the summer program happen so flawlessly.


  All Smiles For The Fall High Sierra Century

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The High Sierra Fall Century on September 9th has come and gone, but the memory of this awesome ride still sticks in my mind. The Eastern Sierra is a road bikers’ mecca. I had never road cycled before I moved here over a year ago. I bought a cycle and made myself a goal of riding my first century.
» Read More


  Paddle & Pedal Event - August 28-29, 2006

Terry  and Bill riding along

DSES’ first annual Paddle and Pedal was a successful event and Terry Smutney came up with this fun idea. The goal of the camp was to introduce people with disabilities, in particular people with physical impairments to new adventures. The two day event included hand-cycling, kayaking, camping and fishing.
» Read More - Pictures


  Sierra Cycle Challenge

Sierra Cycle Challenge Crew

On August 13th five cyclists pedaled from Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra at the Mammoth Mountain Main Lodge and headed for Grant Lake on the first leg of the inaugural Sierra Cycle Challenge. Riders included DSES Intern, Kari Shoemake, EL and Pat Smoogen, Ken Klein, and Terry Smutney on a Quickie hand-cycle.
» Read More


  Welcome New Board Of Directors Members

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DSES would like to welcome Karilyn Myers, Allegra Stevens and E.L. Smoogen to the Board of Directors. Karliyn is a Physical Therapist and manages the Rehabilitation Department at Mammoth Hospital. Allegra, is a CPA, an avid cyclist and helped Kathy with DSES's first budget...Her enthusiastic attention to detail will keep us running lean and mean. E.L., our 2005 Volunteer of the Year continues to overwhelm us with his commitment to our program. There is nothing that E.L. doesn't do! Welcome aboard to all! Thanks to all former board members, Phil Cardan, Robin Conners, Racheal Georgeson and Jeremy McGhee. We'll miss you!
» Read More about our Board


  Disabled Sports On A Roll

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Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) announced at the end of July, 2006 that Eastside Velo Cycling Club recently donated $500 towards the DSES Adaptive Cycling Program. Last year the Eastside Velo Cycling Club along with the Sierra Cycling Foundation donated a Quickie Shark hand-cycle to the program. This spring Fred Liebel from Athletes Helping Athletes donated four additional hand-cycles to the Cycling Program.
» Read More


  2006 Fourth of July Parade Pictures

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» 2006 Fourth of July Parade Pictures


  Successful and Record Breaking Season!

DSES, along with Mammoth Mountain Ski Area has broken many records. DSES served 1342 students this winter season.

WOW!! What a year! This year DSES had 22 volunteers and staff pass instructor certification exams with the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA).

» Read More In Our June Newsletter (PDF)


  Cinco De Mayo End of the Season Party!

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DSES volunteers gathered May 5, 2006 at Woollywood to celebrate the tremendously successful 2005-2006 season with fellowship and awards.

Anita Haenni walked away with the Volunteer of Year Award. Other awards given out were Ken Yegan; Instructor of the Year, Thalia Hanson and Garth Collings as MVPs; Rookies of the Year went to Joe Hatch and Tim Haverly; Ken Klein received Most Adaptable; E.L. Smoogen received Mr. Fix It; Cert Queen went to Maggie Palchak; Moover and Groover went to Greg Hadfield ...
» Read More


  2006 Springtacular Great Success

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There were 55 "Stars" with butterflies of excitement getting ready to shine brightly during their four day skiing event at the Main Lodge beginning on April 24. Mammoth Mountain and Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra hosted the first annual event designed specifically for people with special needs. Participants traveled from all over California to attend this event, which was started 31 years ago by Mary Cahill.
» Read More


  DSES-spreading like wildfire

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The word about Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) is out. The nonprofit organization has doubled its number of students every year since it began three years ago, and now the program is bursting at the seams, according to Volunteer Coordinator Diana Proemm.

DSES's April newsletter, Good Vibrations, said it best: "DSES is experiencing some major growing pains!" Their numbers have doubled from last year, with more than 200 lessons in January, and now there are as many people on the waiting list as there are going out on lessons, Proemm said.
» Read More


  Volunteer Appreciation Party at Sledz

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Volunteers and family gathered at Sledz on April 17, 2006 to have a day of fun.
» Read More


  Athletes Helping Athletes and Road Runner Sports
  Donate 4 Handcycles

Road Runner Sports Employees Donation

Disable Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) is excited to be offering a multitude of summer activities for people with disabilities. With the addition of cycling to our program, DSES was concerned about not being adequately equipped for people who have limited use of their legs.

When a gentleman by the name of Fred Liebel of Athletes Helping Athletes and Road Runner Sports came into the DSES office and donated four handcycles for the upcoming summer activities, all our dreams came true! The weekly rides in July and August will surely be successful with these handcycles.

A huge THANKS to Fred Liebel for assisting the Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra Summer Program off to a smooth "rolling" start!
» Read More


  Grand Dewey Ski-A-Thon Success

Grant Dewey Ski-A-Thon Success

Grant Dewey completed 30 Successful Runs to raise money for DSES on March 31-April 1, 2007 as he once again participated in a Ski-A-Thon fundraiser for The Spina Bifida Foundation & the Disabled Sports USA Eastern Sierra (DSES) at Mammoth Mountain. Many of you generously pledged to support his efforts.

The DSES is the incredible organization that provided Grant the opportunity to learn to ski on a bi-ski two years ago after his doctors told us that regular skiing or snowboarding could completely blow his knee out due to the lack of sensation from his spina bifida. Grant is ecstatic to have a sport where he can be a daredevil without too much risk of injuring his leg.
» Read More


  Fleece Contest Successful Fundraiser

DSES just finished off our most recent fundraising event on March 16, and we were able to raise a whopping $8,000!!!! We would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of our fabulous volunteers who participated in the contest. Each person who raised $1,000 in donations received a free personalized 1/4 zip orange micro fleece. And the winners are: E.L. Smoogen, Jes Schwartzkopf, Garth Collings, Dot & Don Beck, Ken & Susie Klein, and one anonymous donation. In addition, the person who sold the most logo wear earned 2 free lift passes to Kirkwood in Lake Tahoe. Congratulations Garth! Thanks for selling that logo wear and have a great time at Kirkwood!


  Camp del Corazon Weekend Makes Hearts Soar

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Thirty kids, ages eight to 13, all with heart ailments, including heart transplants and pacemakers and various other heart defects, attended Camp del Corazon March 11, 2006 on Mammoth Mountain.

Camp del Corazon provided outstanding medical support including a pediatric cardiologist, who was on hand at all times, as well as nurses and nurse practitionser.
» Read More


  Blind Clinic

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"The thrill of guiding a blind or visually impaired skier comes from opening a door for them to experience freedom." Over the weekend of the 6th-8th January, 2006, Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) hosted a vision impairment (VI) ski clinic. The VI clinic was attended by six volunteers over the course of the weekend. They learned the necessary skills to better teach and guide the blind and visually impaired to ski and enjoy this sport we all love so much.
» Read More


  Rotary Sponsors Training For DSES Volunteers

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Rotary continues to generously support Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra. They are sponsoring 3 volunteers, E.L., Terry and Jeremy to go to the “18th Annual Hartford Ski Spectacular” in Breckenridge, CO, December 4-11, 2005. They will attend clinics on the latest technology and methodology on adaptive skiing and snowboarding and come back and share their experiences with the rest of the crew at DSES. Keep up the great work Rotarians!
» Read More


  Island Extravaganza Huge Success

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This event on December 10, 2005 was extremely fun and successful and we raised our goal of $35,000!!! Lots of local businesses supported the event and donated a bunch of wonderful prizes. Air Tahiti Nui donated the grand raffle prize of a trip to Tahiti that one of our volunteers, Randy O’Connell, won. Our volunteers also donated a lot of time to help get the fundraiser up and running!! Thanks to everyone that helped out in any way -- your gracious support is always appreciated!
» Read More


  High Sierra Fall Century Ride - September 2005

Fall Century Ride

The High Sierra Fall Century Ride attracts many of the finest cycling athletes from around the state, and locally, the draw of resident riders is huge. This year is no exception, except for the single-handed efforts of Terry Smutney, the Team Captain of the Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra program. His entry in the Fall Century Ride is unique and unprecedented in the race's history: Smutney will enter on a Quickie-Shark hand cycle with pedals.
» Read More


  The Bear Facts - Valentine Reserve Hosts First Event
  of the 2005 Summer Program!

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On July 13, 2005, DSES ventured out of Main Lodge and Mammoth Mountain Ski Area for its first summer event in history! Kathy Copeland, Robin Conners, and Dave Owings met with 5 Volunteers and 4 students to take a hike around Valentine Reserve’s 150 acres of protected natural habitat and learn about the California Black Bear from host Leslie Dawson.
» Read More


  Rope Tow on Mt. Thalia Float Wins First Place
  in 4th of July Parade

On Sunday, July, 3, 2005 we decorated a float along with ”Paws 4 Healing” and all jumped on to ride in the 4th of July Parade. We had a pile of REAL snow, Mt. Thalia, on Gary McCoy’s “Happy Trails” truck with Dorie Bourelle donning old ski clothes and demonstrating how to ride up an antique rope tow.

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Students in bi and mono skis, lots more students and families and therapy dogs and owners filled the float. Kathy Copeland, our Director, was the leader of the group as we all waved and wished everyone a Happy 4th.

We were all very exited to be on a REAL float in the parade and we won 1st prize in the motorized category. Thanks go to all the volunteers who helped to make the yard sale and the parade so fun and successful !!!!
» Read More


  Wowie Zowie!!! - Yard Sale Grand Success!!!

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What is more rewarding, then raising money for a wonderful program!?!?! Every year on the first weekend in July Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) holds their annual yard sale. This year (2005) was our 5th Annual Sale.

We received donations from all over – furniture, appliances, ski equipment, bikes, clothes, electronics, books and the list goes on.

We had a great crew of volunteers helping to set up on Friday ‘til late into the night. Special thanks go to Fran and Adrienne who worked hard to organize things and did a wonderful job directing the set up. Thanks to all the volunteers who pitched in and helped to make the event a huge success.

The next day, Saturday July, 2nd, was a glorious sunny day. We had a lot of customers buying and supporting this fundraising event. By the end of the day, we topped last year’s proceeds of $ 5000.00 by over 25% -- we made an overwhelming, $ 6,300.00. Yippee!!!!!
» Read More


  DSES Volunteer End of Season Awards

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Cinco de Mayo means more than just celebrating the fifth of May, eating Mexican food, and drinking margaritas. This year (2005), more than 45 volunteers, staff and friends of Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) got together at the home of Dr. Phil Cardan and Adriene Alpert to acknowledge everyone's hard work in making the 2004-2005 season so successful.
» Read More


  DSES hosts Moonlight BBQ at the Minaret Vista!

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On Saturday, April 23, 2005, about 25 people braved the cold to hike from DSES up to the Minaret Vista, for hotdogs and kielbasas. After a presentation from Kathy, where she explained some of the visions for the future, one of our own students, Terry Smutney, told how coming to DSES has given him a new lease on life.
» Read More


  Sunrise Rotary Club Makes Donation

Sunrise Rotary Club Donation

President of the Sunrise Rotary Club, Mike Aguirre, presents Kathy Copland, Director of Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra with a check for $750. DSES is currently teaching twice as many lessons as last year and having more than twice as much fun!


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  2005 Camp del Corazon

"Making a difference in the lives of children with heart disease." This is our first group that we taught!! There were 16 'campers'...all with a wide variety of heart diseases! We had a blast; they had a blast...and we can't wait to do it again next year!
» Read More


  DSES Receives Quality of Life Grant

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The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (CRPF) announced today that Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra has been awarded a $6,000 Quality of Life grant. CRPF awarded over $928,417 in Quality of Life grants to 117 nonprofit organizations nationwide as part of its Quality of Life program.
» Read More


  Eastern Sierra Community Bank Donation

Eastern Sierra Community Bank Donation

Doug Angelo, Senior Vice President of Eastern Sierra Community Bank presenting Kathy Copeland, Director of Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra with a generous donation. This contribution is earmarked to help our local children with disabilities to participate in snow sports. DSES is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to empower their students to maximize both their abilities and opportunities!


  Anna Allen's Story

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I will never forget the day the doctor told me that he was going to amputate my lower right leg. Six weeks earlier on March 31, 1982, I, Anna Conrad Allen, was buried in a horrific avalanche at Alpine Meadows Ski Area near Lake Tahoe. For five days I was entombed in snow and the debris of the building that was home to most of the employee lockers.

Outside my tomb, rescuers from the Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol, search and rescue and members of the WOOF dog team were frantically searching for any survivors while doing their best to avoid being injured from the additional snowfall that was accumulating. Their searches were successful only in finding victims; seven people ...
» Read More