Invitation to the
Ninth Annual International WVD/NSVI Vasectomy
Ski Seminar
January 26-31, 2025; Frisco, Colorado
attendees
program highlights
travel
accommodations
what to bring
My family owns two condos (photos HERE) in the town of Frisco, a lovely western community with a delightful Main Street in the heart of Summit County, Colorado. It is surrounded by 4 world-class ski resorts: Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, and Arapahoe Basin. The condo complex, one block from Main Street, is called Bears Den and we own Units A7 and A8. When we haven't reserved it for family or friends, we rent A8 through VRBO. The address is:
Frisco, Colorado 80443
(at the corner of 6th Avenue and Granite Street)
There is no mail delivery by US Postal Service in Frisco (everyone has a post-office box).
Use UPS or FedEx if you would like something shipped here before or during your visit.
The First Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in March 2015.
The Second Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2016.
The Third Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2017.
The Fourth Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2018.
The Fifth Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2019.
The Sixth Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2020.
The International Vasectomy Ski Seminar, planned for January 2021 was thwarted by COVID.
The Seventh Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2022.
The Eighth Annual International Vasectomy Ski Seminar (click for highlights) took place in January 2023.
These are the vasectomy supporters and providers who attended in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and many have expressed a desire to return:
In 2025, there will be more formal didactic audiovisual presentations, as well as numerous break-out sessions over breakfast, on ski lifts, on hiking trails, and in pubs and restaurants.
TOPICS:
Evaluation of the vasectomy candidate: age, childless men, prior surgery, hydroceles, hernias, obesity, the thin vas, medications
Anesthesia techniques
Vasectomy techniques
Post-vasectomy semen analysis
Complications: hematomas, infections, PVPS, definition and management of failure: early and late
Improving Insurance Coverage for Vasectomy Under the ACA (USA); OK to bill beyond "Single-Payer" payments? (AUS and Canada)
Obstacles to vasectomy worldwide: the World Vasectomy Day and NSVI mission experiences.
Highlights of World Vasectomy Day 2020 and plans for WVD 2021.
Office-based vasectomy reversal ... and many more
Our Formal Session Schedule proposed by Program Chair Dr. Michelle Shelly.
Sunday, January 26
7:00 - 10:00 PM Evening Session - Welcome, Introductions, Videos or Our Offices and How We Manage Patient Registration and Billing
Monday, January 27
8:00 - 9:00 AM Breakfast Session - Informal exchanges: Selecting and Counseling Patients: When is it OK to Refuse a Patient's Request for Vasectomy?
7:00 - 10:00 PM Evening Session - International Endeavors: WVD and NSVI Updates. Review of Surgical Technique Part I: Is the No Needle-No Scalpel Approach the "Best" or Just an Option? Procedural Complications: Vasovagal Syncope, Bleeding
Tuesday, January 28
8:00 - 9:00 AM Breakfast Session - Informal exchanges
6:00 - 10:00 PM Evening Session with Pizza - Review of Surgical Technique Part II: Occlusion Techniques; Clips Vs Suture; Vas"ectomy" vs Vas"otomy"; Thermal vs Electrical Cautery. Challenging Cases Part I, Uncommon Post-Op Complications. Post Vasectomy Semen Analysis - Review of AUA Guidelines.
Wednesday, January 29
8:00 - 9:00 AM Breakfast Session - Informal exchanges
4:00 - 6:30 PM Afternoon Session - Challenging Cases Part II
6:30 - 8:00 PM Wine tasting. Group photos.
8:00 - 10:00 PM Fun and dinner in town
Thursday, January 30
8:00 - 9:00 AM Breakfast Session - Informal exchanges
7:00 - 10:00 PM Evening Session - Post Vasectomy Pain Syndrome. Vasectomy Reversal: Talking Points and Stats for Discussion Prior to Vasectomy and Prior to Consideration for Reversal
Friday, January 31
8:00 - 9:00 AM Breakfast Session - Informal exchanges.
7:00 - 10:00 PM Evening Session: Vasectomy Training and Assessment of Competance; Q&A; Wrap Up
ADDITIONAL POSSIBLE HIGHLIGHTS: (most just a 5-minute walk from Bears Den)
1. Special wine tasting on Wednesday Jan 29 by Frisco's own sommelier Susanne Johnston, as well as our own wine-identifying contests.
2. Glassblowing with John Hudnut at Gatherhouse just off Main Street. Tuesday and Thursday.
3. Open mike night at Ein Prosit, where the best German beers are on tap. Tuesday.
4. Near-nightly live music at the 10-Mile Music Hall.
5. The Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships Sculpting Week: TBA; Viewing Week: TBA.
6. Tour-the-world slide shows of NSVI missions ...
... and much more.
WHERE: Frisco is 96 miles west of Denver International Airport on Interstate 70, highway all the way.
Summit Express, Epic Mountain Express, Fresh Tracks, and Peak1 Express offer non-stop shuttle service from DIA to the Frisco Transportation Center for about $100 per person. From there you can take the Free Summit Stage to Main and Sixth, one block from Bears Den. For about $40 more per person, the shuttles will take you directly to our condos at 117 South 6th Avenue. The ride takes about 90 minutes. (Our personal favorite is Summit Express, owned by long-term Summit County residents Bob & Jackie Ropell. They own a fleet of thirty five 2021 and 2022 Ford vans with 6-cylinder 10-speed Echostar Turbo engines, All Wheel Drive, and dual rear wheels. Each cost $95,000 and they are impeccably maintained. During ski season, they transport 55,000 skiers. Reservationists are in Summit County and in Denver, and employee satisfaction is high.) For families, a rental car or van can be a good investment and you would have wheels during your visit, but small sedans can be suboptimal on mountain roads in bad winter weather. For individuals, there is no need for a car in Frisco, as the FREE Summit Stage transports vacationers to all ski areas from a stop less than 50 meters from Bears Den. Uber drivers are available for grocery shopping, getting to hiking trail heads, or outings to places like the Silverthorne Outlet Mall, a 10-minute drive from Frisco. Uber drivers usually don't like to make the trip from Denver to Frisco for fear of traffic and weather, but travelers who have found a rare willing driver have usually paid about $140. Maryann & I will arrive at DEN on Thursday January 18 to prepare, acclimate, and strengthen my skinny legs so that I can keep up with the better skiers and hikers. We usually make reservations on Summit Express. We keep an old Honda CRV in Frisco.
ACUTE MOUNTAIN SICKNESS: Denver's altitude is 5280 feet (1609 m). Frisco's altitude is 9075 feet (2766 m). The incidence of acute mountain sickness (often just a bothersome headache) may be as high as 70% among Colorado skiers. I usually take 1/4 of a 250-mg acetazolamide tablet on the evening before the day of travel and on the morning and evening of the day of travel.
VENUE: The Great Room of Bears Den A8 is large enough to host at least 30 seminar participants. A 65-inch TV screen will suit the audio-visual needs of anyone wanting to show some slides easily fed into the wide-screen TV via thumb drives or from your computer via HDMI cable. Our adjacent A7 condo has a big TV where kids can watch movies or play games during our evening sessions.
ACCOMMODATIONS: I rent condos in Bears Den and offer rooms to guests, but juggling people gets complicated, and some attendees prefer to arrange their own accommodations. Many guests know each other and can pre-arrange to share condos. This is an educational Seminar, so your practice should cover lodging. There are many accommodations within the Bears Den complex and in walking distance of Bears Den. Within Bears Den, Units B1, B3, B4, B5, and C1 are available for rent through Airbnb and VRBO. Here are the links and status as of October 8, 2023:
B1: I reserved this for the Seminar week starting Sunday Jan 21, because it always rents early and I did not want our group to lose it.
B3: Not available.
B4: Not available.
B5: I reserved this for the Seminar week starting Saturday Jan 20.
C1: I reserved this for the Seminar week starting Saturday Jan 20.
HERE is a large house directly across Granite Street from Bears Den if your family is large or you know who you want to stay with.
Many other condos outside Bears Den are available through VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) and AirBNB.
For those who want more complete privacy of bedroom and bathroom, the Hotel Frisco on Main Street is a 5-minute walk from Bears Den, very cozy, and owner Josh knows about our meeting. The Snowshoe Motel is even closer but a little less fancy. Another good choice, just off Main street but 7 blocks away, is the Frisco Inn on Galena Street. January is not the height of ski season (March is), so in January, visiting families can pick from plenty of available condos and hotels.
SKIING: Ski and snowboard rentals are available at many locations in Frisco. If you reserve rental skis and boots online, you may save about 30%. The second most convenient location is Rebel Sports, about 4 blocks from Bears Den. The MOST convenient location is Podium Sports, only 1 block from Bears Den. Podium does not offer an online reservation system, but they never run out of rental unventory during the last week in January. Lift Tickets can be bought any day at each resort, but multi-day passes are often less expensive on a per-day basis. Season Pass options and day passes for Breckenridge and Keystone are HERE. Copper Mountain has even better deals, even during ski season. Again, even if you do not ski or snowboard, the hiking is fantastic.
WHAT TO BRING:
1. Weather in January can vary from -10F (-20C) to 40F (5C). We have plenty of extra layers of clothing accumulated over the years, so don't buy anything extra for this trip.
2. Yaktrax, worn over hiking boots are great for winter hiking on well-packed trails. Fresh snow demands snowshoes, but the trails get packed down so quickly that I rarely need snowshoes.
3. Ski goggles if you have them. Ski rentals come with ski boots and helmets.
4. Closed-front Crocs with wool socks are excellent for walking around Main Street or taking down the garbage. They slip on and off easily, don't slip on the ice, and are surprisingly warm.
5. Lip balm: High SPF for the day and low or no SPF for use at night. Lips ALWAYS get chapped in the dry high country.
I'll add to this list as I think of things.
6. Output adapters for your computer. In case you give a talk, be sure you have an adapter to convert your computer's output to HDMI. and don't forget your computer charger as I have done one or twice. North American plug adapter if you are coming from overseas.
7. Bar soap for showers if you prefer it over liquid soap, as some condos stock only the latter.
8. Extra phone battery. Cell phones die very quickly in the cold air. An extra external battery may come in handy when you have skied into the woods and need help with your broken leg.
9. Vasectomy instruments that need sharpening.
10. Your practice's brochures and promotional materials so that we can share good ideas.
If you have questions, feel free to call me anytime on my cell phone: 813-390-3032. If you think you WILL or MIGHT join us, please let me know via Reply to this email, or better still Reply All if you would like everyone else to know you're coming. I will add you to the list of attendees above and keep you updated as the date draws near. So if you would like to spend a fun-filled week with those who like the winter outdoors as much as performing vasectomies, please join us.
Below are a few photos from a trip in March 2014 when Nick and I came up with the idea of an International Vasectomy Ski Seminar.
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| A snowy day in Keystone ... | ... and a sunny day in Breckenridge. |
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| High speed lifts ... | ... and often-empty well-groomed slopes. |
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| Glorious! | Invigorating. |
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| For non-sliers, there are miles of hiking trails ... | ... into spectacular back-country. |
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| Fine dining on Main Street one block from our condos. | Fiery winter sunrises over 14,000 foot peaks. |