Alpenglow Winter Speaker Series with Jim & John Morrison

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, January 4th, 2024
• Time: 6pm
• Guest Speaker: Jim and John Morrison
• Location: Olympic Village Event Center
• Address: 1901 Chamonix Place, Olympic Valley, CA 96146

Skiing the High Sierra and Beyond
In 1993, brothers Jim and John Morrison embarked on their first backcountry ski mountaineering adventure together. Their goal was to climb and ski the Palisade Crest, a coveted and daunting set of high-altitude peaks in California’s famed Sierra Nevada mountains. The brothers were armed with mountain knowledge gleaned from backpacking and climbing forays into the “High Sierra” as teenagers. Supplemented with extreme ski technique honed on the slopes of Palisade Tahoe, the two brothers set out on an epic adventure, complete with too much gear and not enough food. They spent a week climbing and skiing the couloirs that they had read about as children and were encouraged to tackle by other established Tahoe locals. Step by step, couloir by couloir, peak by peak, they learned their lessons, strengthened their skills, and achieved their goals.

The Morrison brothers returned to Tahoe with expanded dreams and dove into the mountain community, seeking mentors. The next winter was spent chasing Glen Poulsen, Jim Zellars, Otto Hub around the Tahoe basin. After many trips to the Eastern Sierra, the Alps, and the Tetons, they began to explore Alaska, first by ski plane & helicopter and then on foot. Balancing family and local business endeavors, the brother's sheer strength will lead them across the globe in search of the perfect turn.

In Skiing the High Sierra and Beyond, you’ll join Jim & John on a walk & ski through iconic peaks and destinations, including Lake Tahoe, the High Sierra, and the remote mountain regions of the world. From the old growth trees of Rubicon Peak to the steeps of Red Slate couloir, from the ruggedness of the Matterhorn to the intensity of the Messner, from sunrises in Emerald Bay to sunsets over Mt. Everest, the Morrison brothers epitomize how the ski dream is meant to be chased. This event will benefit the Send It Foundation.


About the Send It Foundation
The Send It Foundation was created by Jamie Schou, a long-time Truckee resident, when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Synovial Sarcoma at the age of 33. Through his two-year battle, he fought with a smile on his face and a deep conviction to truly live each day to the fullest. For Jamie, ‘someday’ became ‘today’ and with every break in treatment he skied The Fingers, biked the Tahoe Rim Trail, paddled out of Commons Beach, and hiked all the local trails of the Sierras. It was these adventures that kept him happy, positive, and fighting hard for his life. Jamie’s mission was to bring these experiences to other young adults in the cancer fight. In 2014, the last year of his life, he formed the Send It Foundation, a non-profit organization to do just that. Today, the Send It Foundation provides free outdoor adventure programs for young adults (ages 21-40) facing a cancer journey. We organize 10 multi-day adventure programs per year designed around activities such as skiing, surfing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and backpacking: creating a vital community through shared experience. Since the inaugural Tahoe program in 2015, Send It has provided over 70 multi-day adventures, building a robust community of cancer patients and survivors. Currently, our waitlist exceeds 700+ patients nationwide.