In early March at the pre-dawn hour of 6 a.m., my friends Matt, Bill, Guy and I picked up this year’s group of blind skiers at the Sacramento Society for the Blind for the fourth annual Blind Ski Day. By some miracle, there was a break in the continual blizzards that had blanketed the Sierras with record snowfall and we needed an early start to reach our destination, Achieve Tahoe, located at Alpine Meadows ski area. Achieve Tahoe has been helping folks with disabilities experience the outdoors for nearly 50 years.
The traffic was light early Thursday morning but as we approached Donner Pass, the snow drifts towered 10 to 15 feet above the roadway. Getting off I-80 in Truckee and heading south on 89, the road turned to snow covered ice but our experienced drivers got us there safely. After getting everyone fitted with boots and skis at Alpine, we trekked down to the Achieve Tahoe building to meet their instructors. Achieve has nearly 200 volunteer ski instructors who specialize in skiing with people of all types of disabilities such as blindness, autism and paraplegia.
After meeting our instructors, it was off to the slopes for a morning and afternoon session, between which we all met for lunch. Achieve has their own lift and runs adjacent to Alpine Meadows. Their lodge contains all sorts of ski equipment needed to get disabled folks on the mountain. A sign at the entrance boldly exclaims, “If I can do this, I can do anything!”
As lifelong skiers, the best part for us is seeing how much they enjoy the slopes. One of our skiers had never been in the snow! Achieve Tahoe has helped us bring blind skiers to Sierra for the past decade.
Blindness comes in different degrees of severity. Legal blindness is vision of 20/200 or worse. Loss of central vision occurs with diseases such as macular degeneration. Retinitis pigmentosa causes loss of peripheral vision that eventually spreads to loss of central vision. Strokes can cause loss hemianopsia, the loss of peripheral vision in each eye. Diabetic retinopathy is still a leading cause of complete visual loss in America and congenital visual loss still occurs from retinopathy of prematurity. Each of our participants this year came from one of these categories of blindness.
During the afternoon lesson, a blizzard set in. Fearing closure of I-80, we said goodbye and thanks to our instructors and hosts at Achieve Tahoe and set off down the mountain. The usual two-hour ride turned into a four-hour trip as we slowly made our way past jackknifed big rigs and assorted other crashes as the snow reduced visibility and traction. After an unforgettable experience on the ski slopes, several of the blind skiers fell into a contented sleep as our expert drivers delivered us home.
