One of the great things about living in Tahoe is that world class athletes are so inspired by the opportunities and beauty available here that they want to live at the lake. We saw that recently with the lengthy list of Winter Olympic athletes that are stoked to call Tahoe, Truckee and Reno their home. Another super athlete who has become a part of Tahoe is climber Emily Harrington, who now resides in Squaw Valley. Here she has discovered a new passion that nicely compliments her climbing. It’s a popular sport around these parts called skiing.
Emily Harrington has won five national championships and numerous world cup podiums in sport climbing and ice climbing, but she also enjoys getting out there and exploring the world’s mountains. She has successfully summated a number of the worlds most challenging peaks, including Mt. Everest.
As part of the Alpenglow Winter Film Series, Harrington will give a presentation on one of her recent adventures, conquering a 3000 foot wall in the harsh Atlas Mountains. Join Harringon at the Squaw Valley Olympic Village Lodge at 7 PM on March 13, 2014, for her presentation, “Big Wall climbing in Morocco, ” Admission is free, but there will be raffle tickets available for purchase to win an incredible variety of prizes provided by her sponsors, North Face, Petzl and La Sportiva. Raffle ticket sale proceeds go to the Sierra Watershed Education Partnership (SWEP), which provides environmental education to Tahoe area students.
Harrington speaks at high schools throughout the United States, with a focus on inspiring young people to get outside and enjoy what nature has to offer. This has always been one of my important messages as well. It is in getting outside, that we discover ourselves, and what we are capable of accomplishing. Even if we cannot conquer those mountains ourselves, we can be inspired by the efforts of those, like Harrington, who do.