Ski for Light 2024 – Rhinelander, Wisconsin

President’s Reflections

By Julie Coppens

If you were with us in Rhinelander, you know that our 2024 International Event was an exercise in improvisation. Over the course of a most memorable week in the Wisconsin Northwoods, event chair Marie Huston, vice chair Cara Barnes, our local hosts, countless volunteers, and all 240 attendees gave an absolute master class in the art of “Yes, and…,” a.k.a. Improv 101, because as any theater geek will tell you, nothing kills a good scene like the word “no.”

Was there skiing? Yes, and…there was hiking, cycling, golfing, ax-throwing, sing-alonging, line dancing, aquacizing, Hodag hunting, brewery touring, beepball playing, Giant Jenga-ing, cultural exchanging, cheese curd chowing, and so much more!

Did the week culminate in shared triumph? Yes, and… not just for the trophy winners of our 2024 Olav Pedersen Memorial Race/Rally—wait, make that our 2024 “No-Snow Olympics of Desperation”—but also for Lucas Rice, visually impaired skier from West Allis, Wisconsin and recipient of the Jan Haug Award (“Rookie of the Year”), along with his outstanding guide, Greg Cox. Also honored on that Saturday night: Mike Evelo of Rhinelander, whose tireless efforts turning his hometown into our hometown earned him the 2024 Bjarne Eikevik President’s Award.

Does Ski for Light really and truly change lives? Yes, and… you don’t have to take my word for it. Filmmaker John Thain of Nunaka Pictures spent the whole week with us in Rhinelander, and capturing some participant stories that say it all. Check out “SFL 2024: If we can do this, we can do anything,” now playing on our
Ski for Light International YouTube channel, tell us what you think, and stay tuned for more.

Other Rhinelander Reflections

Compiled by Andrea Goddard, SFL Bulletin Editor

From Guide Chris Gaumer

The week started with training new guides in icy conditions; it was challenging and demanded athleticism for balance and quick recovery from falls. As we watched the snow disappear by the hour, we remained creative in finding areas to ski/ train the new guides, imparting the SFL ethos of flexibility and creativity.

Walking around Rhinelander, we found nature trails and quickly decided to share that with other SFL participants. I love spreading the joy of the great outdoors, so leading experiential nature hikes made for a fun time. Cara Barnes and Marie Huston helped organize transportation to Hanson Lake for those. I was thankful there were participants who knew about the plants and trees of the area and enthusiastically shared their knowledge. The first group heartily endured the uneven terrain/walking conditions around the lake, and we ended up in the U-Haul parking lot, where the office staff were kind enough to let us warm up in their conference room while the bus found us. The second group we led had a more civilized walk. On these hikes we spent time going off trail to feel tree bark, bushes, plants, rocks. We learned about the terrain from glacial formation. (Where’s that snow now?) We walked in silence for part of the time, listening, smelling, hearing, and touching the surrounding nature. Many thanks to Guy Hansen and Tim Powers for teaching us about trees and the other flora and fauna of the Rhinelander area.

The Rhinelander experience was completed at Mel’s Trading Post, where I contributed to the financial stability of the town by purchasing a set of skate skis. It was fun to see so many SFL’ers there doing the same! The highlights of my week were seeing so many old friends, the nightly singing circle, seeing Marilyn Gerhard’s smile in the bouncy room at the sports dome, and the finale No-Snow Olympics of Desperation. To all my SFL friends, see you in Provo in 2025!

From VIP Audrey Farnum

When I took off for Rhinelander, I was not sure what to expect. I knew there was low snow and the skiing opportunities would be limited, but I had no idea what the overall atmosphere would be. How were we going to keep ourselves entertained for a week with little or no skiing? Was everyone going to be bummed out and grumpy? Was it going to be boring? Thanks to a lot of creativity, improvisation and SFL Spirit, it was a week of laughter, adventure and definitely no boredom. Due to the incredible efforts of the groomers at the Northwoods Golf Club, we did manage to get two and a half days of something that resembled skiing. It wasn’t pretty and the conditions were challenging but at least I got a little time in on skis. In all honesty, I’m pretty sure I spent more time on the ground than on my skis, but at least I tried and had a great time with my wonderful guide, Joan Holcombe.

After the snow dried up, I spent the week roaming the town of Rhinelander and discovered a delightful community with friendly people and interesting history. I loved learning about the legendary Hodag and roaming around downtown, taking pictures with the various Hodag statues. I spent a couple of hours and several hundred dollars in Mel’s Trading Post, where I found a huge selection, great prices and knowledgeable staff. I ticked off my Wisconsin to-do list by having cheese curds, a bratwurst and beer. I had a wonderful time and appreciated the chance to get to know the fantastic local community.

From VIP Cara Barnes

What’s to remember, you may say, it didn’t snow. While the lack of new snow was evident, this long-time SFL participant had a week of fun, friendship and self-discovery.

Scott Bertrand and I have wanted to ski together for some years, so we were delighted and excited to be matched up. On Monday I picked up a pair of skin skis to try out and we headed for the trails. Whenever we hit a junction, we picked the tracks that looked best and off we’d ski in whatever direction they took us. Soon it became clear that we were both directionally challenged and asked no fewer than three other pairs how to get back to the clubhouse. The next day, all trails seemed to take us by Hodag Rock, no matter which way we turned. Could the rock have been following us?

Self-discovery No. 2 came at Nick’s Hodag Lanes. My one and only bowling experience was on a double date in college some 40 plus years ago (need I say more?). While Scotty won every game, I somehow managed to get a strike and have a new found appreciation for bumpers.

Roaming the Hodag Dome and participating in the rather unusual Olympic style games taught me that like bowling, rolling, throwing or tossing anything at a target (beeping or not), is not one of my better skill sets. The joy was in laughing a lot and learning that the effort was more important than the outcome.

From guide Mike Evelo

The volunteers who helped with the Hodag Dome Night of sports and tivities were rather awed by how willing the SFL group was at trying things they had never participated in before! The level of talent and can-do attitude shown was galvanizing. From learning a golf swing, to hitting the beep baseball, sinking the bag through the corn hole, shooting the basketball through the hoop, axe throwing, and the tense excitement of building a giant Jenga tower. Other groups of volunteers I heard a lot from were the Knights of Columbus, the Rhinelander Lions Club, and the YMCA Senior Volunteers. The caterers were having a hard time finding help to hire for the event, so these service organizations pitched in to help serve the food. All commented about how positive and energetic the SFL group was despite the snow conditions.

When I go into the local small businesses and area attractions, I still get positive comments from people about their interactions with Ski for Light. Businesses such as Mel’s Trading Post, Trigs and the Hodag Dome, to name just a few, echo what others have said about how great it was to experience an organization like ours. I will never forget how Mitch and Brian’s faces were beaming as they described how the entire staff at Mel’s truly enjoyed the week.

A First-Time VIP’s Rhinelander Experience

By Jacob Carsting

My name is Jacob Carsting and I am a visually impaired skier from Copenhagen, Denmark. I heard about SFL a couple of years ago, while skiing at the Ridderrennet event in Norway. I was born with Glaucoma and have been visually impaired my entire life. I was a bit skeptical about the trip; an 18 to 19 hour journey with three different airplanes, just to ski for one week, It would be a long journey, but on the other hand, it would be a great experience.

I got an e-mail from a friend who was going with two other Danes, Sven and his wife, Kirsten. Life is about grabbing the opportunities that present themselves, so after thinking about it for 30 seconds, and convincing my manager at work that the best thing for me to do in January would be to give me a week off and let me ski in the U.S. Working for an insurance company, my manager was a bit worried that I would end up in an accident, but at the end, I managed to convince her.

I was a bit nervous when we arrived in Wisconsin, but I soon met so many great people, especially my two guides for the week, an amazing couple named Betsy and Scott, from Alaska. They helped me all week and were a huge factor in making it great. I had a cool roommate, too, his name was Eric, and we had some good times together, including at the local bar; just remember, never drink with a Dane!

The ski trails were not what we had hoped for, but I have to say, the groomers’ never-give-up attitude was a huge inspiration. They truly did a fantastic job, and actually managed to find snow in places where there should not be any snow. I have to say, the most important thing for me, was not only skiing, but also to meet other visually impaired people from the U.S. I have always been interested in how people from different countries work and live with their visual impairment, so I was curious to meet some visually impaired Americans, and hear about their lives and how they cope with things.

Funny enough, you can travel across the Atlantic Ocean, fly domestic in the U.S., drive one hour by cab, go to the bar at your hotel, drink a beer, and meet another visually impaired person, the same age as you, and with the exact same issues. Wow, our world truly is a wonderful place, and at the same time, a very small place. Meeting so many amazing people at Ski For Light has meant a lot to me, and I have to thank everyone, not only the participants, but also all the volunteers whom have created this event, which is worth travelling across an ocean for.

No snow meant a lot of time walking around downtown Rhinelander. A very different place from where I have grown up and where I live today in Copenhagen, Denmark. Everything, from the cars, beers, shops, culture, food, sidewalks and the friendly attitude from the local community, was a great experience. In Denmark, we have a lot of electric cars, which, of course, is great for the environment, but they are very difficult to hear. In Rhinelander, there were not electric cars, but a lot of big trucks, and they were, at least, easy to hear.

Instead of the annual competition, the Ski For Light created a lot of funny competitions, I have to say, it was not why I signed up for the event, but it was a lot of fun, anyway.

The trip home to Europe was horrible with a couple of crying babies on the cross-Atlantic plane, and my baggage was not on board the same plane as I was, of course. But I managed to get it later on.

I had such a great time, and I will tell my friends about the Ski for Light, and if time and life allow it, I plan on attending for many, many years to come.

Thank you so much everyone at SFL. You have made one more friend, even though I am pretty far away. Your organization and the great people in it are one of the best things I have tried as a visually impaired person, thank you so much, and I hope to see all of you again next year.