Yesterday was a beautiful day for the 17th Annual Gourmet Asado and Fund Raiser for the Lake Tahoe Ski Club Foundation.  This year’s event was held on the Sun Deck at Squaw Valley.  (The usual lake front property was occupied with a family member’s wedding.)  The event came off great with a beautiful sunny afternoon surrounded by some of the area’s most impressive peaks.  The ski community came together including young local athletes from the surroundind ski areas, coaches, former athletes, former Olympians and ski racing enthusiasts in general.  It’s fun to be surrounded by that crowd where you can catch up and celebrate ski racing with so many people you know.  The local race kids were doing the serving, both passing appetizers and serving dinner to the tables.  I coached quite a few of the kids in their Mighty Mite years and it was fun to see them as young adults.  One in particular reminded me of “the day we skiied corkscrew”.  It just reminds me how much a coach can impact an athlete. 

Squaw Valley has a long history of coaching and athlete success.  In fact many of the athletes come back to Squaw Valley to give back to the program.  Among the attendess yesterday were 4 of my past coaches from Squaw Valley Ski Team, about 10 to 15 athletes that I coached during my years as a Mighty Might coach and at least 5 friends (or the parent’s of friends) that I raced with in my ski racing days.  Wow, what a ski community all pulling together to support the current athletes.  Squaw Valley… it’s an amazing history to be a part of and a great place to be.