Stanford Sierra Conference Center

Specialties

In the summer we run a family camp for Stanford alumni. During the spring and fall we provide all-​inclusive meetings and retreat for groups of 30 — 180. We house guests in 52 cabins and 12 single rooms in our main lodge, our chef and his staff prepare delicious meals served in our dining room, we have four meeting rooms totaling 5,000 square feet of event space and we have a boat dock with stand up paddle boards, kayaks and peddle boats for guests to use on beautiful Fallen Leaf Lake. We are located at the entrance to Desolation Wilderness giving guests great access to a variety of hiking trails. Our comfortable center with a number of meeting rooms and common areas with fireplaces and our beautiful setting on Fallen Leaf Lake surrounded by soaring mountain peaks help guests relax and promotes networking and idea sharing among attendees.

History

Established in 1953.

In 1951, a Stanford Alumni Association committee began looking at sites for a Stanford alumni camp. Mrs. Harriet Craven (’23), was operating the Fallen Leaf Lodge at that time. Mrs. Craven set aside a portion of her summer bookings as «camp» time for Stanford alumni beginning in the summer of 1953. Stanford Summer Camp at Fallen Leaf Lodge quickly became popular – with about 1,300 alumni attending each year.

After operating under this arrangement for six years, the camp became a permanent asset of the Stanford family in 1959 when the Stanford Camp Association was organized with the cooperation of the Stanford Alumni Association. Today summer is dedicated to family camp for Stanford alumni and the spring and fall are «conference seasons» with no Stanford affiliation required for groups who hold events during this time.

Meet the Manager

Dave B.

Manager

Dave has been the Director at SSCC since 1995, but he began at the bottom. He was a Stanford University student and summer family camp counselor in the early 80s. Feeling at home on the lake, Dave stayed on and began working his way up through the ranks. «I can still remember the day I drove onto Fallen Leaf Road for the first time,» Dave recalls, «I was coming to work and I drove in on the road and I looked around and I just said, ‘Wow, this is pretty incredible! I have to figure out how to stay around here.» After Dave worked as a counselor responsible for supervising children, cleaning dishes and making beds, Dave was promoted to DOPO, department of plant operations, where he handled maintenance of Stanford Sierra’s buildings and grounds. Then Dave traded his work belt for a telephone when he assumed the position of assistant camp director. Seven years later he was made the camp director, a position which he has held for nearly two decades.