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Silverton here we come!

Photo by Rob Suminsby

Silverton, CO, has been our New Years trip for the past several years. The snow is great, the town is celebratory, and the wildlife, well, there isn't anything like it. We have close to 50 skiers who will be going on Dec. 31, 2014, all with the solemn goal of skiing every day of 2015. The first three are set. So if you have intentions of going, you better get ahold of Rob at Robert.Sumninsby@gmail.com to get on the list. Rooms range from $79 for double beds on the 3rd floor to $125 for king beds on the 2nd floor. There will also be a $20 charge to cover breakfast served on the 2nd and 3rd of January. Any space left by Dec 11 will be released to guests and friends of members. We also need an enthusiastic volunteer to plan the New Year's Eve party. Past parties have been BYOB events, but if someone wants to coordinate more of a potluck, go for it.Silverton always has good snow. This year we expect to see 1 to 2 feet. Of course, this is often accompanied by some pretty cold weather, so if you go, plan on bringing your genuine cold weather gear. For more up-to-date weather reports, keep your eyes on

http://www.weather.gov/

http://www.snowforecast.com/resorts/4397-silverton-mountain

http://www.keno.org/colorado_web_cams/colorado_cams.htm

We will be visiting locations from Molas Pass to Red Mountain Pass, so we expect to have plenty of opportunities to ski at just about any level. Some of the sites we have visited in the past include

Little Molas Lake and Andrews Lake

Howardsville along the Animas River

South Mineral Creek and Campground

Kendall Mountain

Silverton Mountain

US Basin by Rob Suminsby

US Basin

McMillan Peak

Red Mountain

Ironton Nordic Area

and many others.

Moose by Ray Berg

We have also seen some really cool wildlife, including a small herd of moose, which have started migrating down to southern Colorado in several locations. So this is your chance to see it live.

Don't forget that we will need plenty of tour leaders for this if we don't want to stand around in the hotel lobby in our ski gear looking at each other. You can volunteer to lead a trip at any level from Class 1 to Class 3 or even an Exploratory. The only thing that is out is probably our Class 3 shopping trip due to the lack of any suitable stores and shops.