The 34th annual Ski for Light in Utah

Ski for Light 2006. Norway Times' archive photo.

The 34th annual Ski for Light International Week will take place from Sunday February 1 through Sunday February 8, 2009 in the Wasatch Mountains of Northern Utah. Participants will stay at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Provo, and ski at the Soldier Hollow cross-country ski area in nearby Midway, Utah. Soldier Hollow was the cross-country skiing venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Ski for Light, Inc. is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization founded in 1975. Each year Ski for Light conducts a week-long event where blind and mobility-impaired adults are taught the basics of cross country skiing. The event attracts upwards of 300 participants and guides. During the Ski for Light week each disabled skier is paired for the entire week with an experienced, sighted, cross-country skier who acts as ski instructor and guide.

The blind and mobility-impaired adults who attend each Ski for Light week come from all over the U.S. and from several foreign countries. Many of them come to Ski for Light with a desire to become more physically active and to find recreational opportunities that are lacking at home. Through the process of learning how to cross- country ski, most discover that they can accomplish much more than others have told them, and much more than they themselves believed. They leave Ski for Light with a sense of accomplishment and motivation that carries over to every aspect of their lives.

The volunteer guides who attend Ski for Light are a very special group of people. They pay the same event fees as disabled skiers in order to share a favorite activity with someone who may otherwise not have the opportunity to participate. Most guides discover that in the process of giving of themselves they are getting as much or more back in return. Many return to participate, year after year.

Additional information can be found at www.sfl.org.