This Veterans Day, we want to start with two simple words: thank you.
Thank you to every veteran who left home and everything familiar to serve. Some of you served in peacetime and some in conflict, but each of you trained to face a crisis at a moment’s notice and was ready to put your life on the line. We’re grateful for it.
For us at Achieve Tahoe, Veterans Day is personal. We exist because of veterans.
Founded by Veterans
In 1967, Jim Winthers, a World War II veteran of the 10th Mountain Division and Director of the Soda Springs Ski School, brought together a group of Vietnam veterans with disabilities. At the time, adaptive sports equipment didn’t exist. So they adapted their equipment themselves, and taught themselves to ski. The experience was so positive that Jim saw how much the wider community could benefit from a formal adaptive sports program, and Achieve Tahoe was born.
One of those early skiers was Doug Pringle. A West Point graduate, Lieutenant Pringle was wounded in Vietnam in 1968 and lost his right leg below the knee. While he was recovering at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco, Jim showed him and his fellow patients a home movie of a man skiing on one leg and told them he wanted to teach them all to ski. Doug was unsure at first, but after linking three turns on his second day on snow, Jim handed Doug a patch and told him he was a skier now.
Doug will tell you skiing was never his passion, but it did change his life, and he went on to change others’ lives. Doug became one of the first amputees to earn full ski instructor certification, helped create the first national adaptive ski instructor exam, helped launch dozens of adaptive programs across the country, and worked to bring Paralympic athletes into the U.S. Olympic Committee. In 2025, he was named to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame. Read Doug’s full story from PSIA-AASI.
Still Serving Those Who Served
Our mission has grown, but our roots haven’t changed. Achieve Tahoe provides year-round outdoor recreation for people with cognitive, sensory, and physical disabilities, with a focus on health, confidence, and independence that carries over into every part of life. Veterans remain a vital part of our community as volunteers and participants in our adaptive sports programs like snowsports, archery, hiking, horsemanship, paddle sports, sailing, waterskiing, and more.
Kathleen Waterman, a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist at Veterans Affairs, regularly brings veterans to take part in Achieve Tahoe’s programs, and she has seen firsthand what a day outdoors can mean for them. In her words:
“Veterans are a unique group of people, and each and every one of them deserves not only the support from places like Achieve Tahoe, but stories that share their journey once they come home.
Every Veteran left home, all that was familiar, to serve their country. Some served during peacetime and others during conflict. Each of them trained to handle crisis in a minute’s notice and put their lives on the line if asked. The dedication to a cause bigger than themselves was a sacrifice they were all ready to make.
Coming home to civilian life is not easy. The wounds they carry are both visible and invisible. Seemingly everyday tasks are no longer easy for many. Involvement in healthy leisure is a large piece of how they begin rebuilding their lives. Achieve Tahoe breaks barriers and levels the playing field, which allows Veterans to feel successful in activities they did not think they would ever do again. They provide the knowledge, support, equipment, and access to recreation that would otherwise be out of reach for many. Veterans deserve our gratitude and the same commitment to excellence that they provided us during their time in service. Thank you Achieve Tahoe, for honoring our Heroes the way you do. They are grateful.”
In addition to our year-round, regularly scheduled programs, Achieve Tahoe volunteers also provide the adaptive lessons for Military to the Mountains at Palisades Tahoe every season. Our friends at the High Fives Foundation host the program, which gives veterans and first responders nine weeks of training before a week on the snow, at no cost to participants. Over 250 veterans and first responders have benefited from the program since it’s 2015 inception, and we look forward to helping more every spring.
Help Us Keep the Promise
The equipment, trained instructors, and access to the outdoors that veterans rely on all take resources. Your gift helps make sure every veteran who comes to Achieve Tahoe finds the support to get back to the activities they love, or to discover new ones.