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Bus Trips: Weekend bus trips (usually 2½ or 3½ days) to various places in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Lodging in motels or condos. Club members only.

Hut Trips: Multi-day in-and-out and hut-to-hut trips to various parts of the Colorado hut system. Transportation by carpooling. Club members only.

Overnight Car Trips: Multi-day, usually extended-weekend, trips to various places in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Transportation by carpooling. Lodging in motels or condos. Club members only

Local Day Trips: Single-day trips to the Sandias, the Santa Fe/Pecos Wilderness area, the Jemez Mountains, or other nearby areas. Transportation by carpooling. Open to both members and prospective members. Non-members please be sure to call the trip leader before the trip.

Bus Trips
Let someone else do the driving! Enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow skiers and the refreshments at the back of the bus!

The Club sponsors usually three bus trips each year. These typically depart on a Thursday or Friday afternoon and return the following Sunday or Monday night. Either or both of the Martin Luther King and Presidents' Day 3-day weekends is likely to be a bus trip. Each trip can accommodate about 50 skiers. Sign-ups are taken at the October and November meetings, and at later meetings if space remains on the trips. A drawing is held after the November meeting for any trips which are oversubscribed.

The ski days on the bus trips are planned for all ability levels, except raw beginner.

Lodging is in either motel rooms or condos. The trip leader will help pair up singles of the same gender, two per room.

Bus Trips for 2007-08
— Bus trips leave Albuquerque at either 2:00pm or 5:00pm on Thursday or Friday, and return Sunday or Monday evening. —

Frisco/Breckenridge, Colorado
     January 11-14     2:00pm Friday departure
     $280. per person
     includes Friday and Saturday night group dinners and two cocktail parties
We will be staying at the Cross Creek Condominiums in Frisco. We have reserved (6) 2-bedroom condos with 2 baths, (4) 3-bedroom condos with 2½ baths, and (1) 4-bedroom condo. The condominium complex has a community room we will utilize on Saturday and Sunday nights for our après ski parties. There are two hot tubs and an indoor pool. All the condos have full kitchens so you can bring food for any meals not planned by the club. Cross Creek Condominiums are located only a few blocks from Main Street where most of the restaurants in Frisco are located. It is a couple of blocks from the Summit County Shuttle stop. The Shuttle is free and runs all day and night taking skiers to all the surrounding downhill ski areas and three Nordic Centers (making this a very good trip for Beginner and Class I skiers).

There are many back-country ski options. For Class II skiers - the Peru Creek trail is a gentle 7 mile round trip to the old Pennsylvania mine. Peaks Trail starts in Breckenridge and descends 800 vertical feet to Frisco, 9 miles, fun! McCullough Gulch a 6 mile round trip past lots of old mines and then up into a narrow canyon. Ten Mile Creek is a challenging trail that begins as a narrow uphill climb and then opens into a much wider canyon. For Class III skiers - Meadow Creek is 9 miles, 2700' elevation gain to wind-swept Eccles pass.

Crested Butte, Colorado
     January 31 - February 3     2:00pm Thursday departure
     $240. per person
     includes Friday night group dinner and three breakfasts
We will be staying at the Old Town Inn where we will have all double rooms. We will provide an enhanced continental breakfast each morning in the hotel lobby. The Nordic center is an easy walk from the hotel, and there is a shuttle to the alpine ski area. There are many back country skiing options as well. For Class I skiers, the Gothic Trail is an easy ski to the ghost town of Gothic, 10 miles roundtrip but only 300' of elevation gain. Beautiful views of the mountains in the Gothic area. Another option would be Brush Creek which has great views of the Elk Mountains, 6 miles round trip and 800' of gain. For Class II skiers the options include Washington Gulch - 10 miles with 1100' feet of gain with spectacular views of the Gothic Peak and Crested Butte. Pittsburgh - ski along rolling Slate Creek to the ghost town of Pittsburgh, 11 miles roundtrip with 600' of elevation gain. The Class III options include Pearl Pass and Baxter Basin. Pearl Pass is one of the premier backcountry skis in Colorado. The pass is 12 miles and 4000' feet of gain; we'll go as far as we can get. Baxter Basin is 16 miles round trip to a high lake at almost 12000'. This is 3000' feet of gain - not for the faint of heart.

Silverton, Colorado
     February 15-18 (Presidents' Day weekend)     5:00pm Friday departure
     $210. per person
     includes three full breakfasts and one dinner
The Silverton trip provides a great skiing experience for a bargain price. We will be staying at the Grand Imperial Victorian Hotel. The hotel is an historic building in every sense, from the original grand saloon to the historic plumbing. The hotel has a hot tub and we will do some creative scheduling to assure everyone gets a shower. Some of the singles on this trip will not be sharing a room. Everyone will have a private entrance to their bathroom. We have arranged for a late check-out of 2:00pm for the entire group. We will depart Silverton at 2:30pm. There will be a very short stop in Cuba on the way home.

There will be no planned dinner stop on the way to Silverton on Thursday evening. You should eat in advance or bring your dinner on the bus with you. The dining options in Silverton are limited and the shopping is nearly non-existent. [Note to husbands: Silverton has the best shopping environment of any bus trip ever run! - editor] The trip includes full breakfast buffet every morning and a group dinner on Sunday evening.

The Silverton area has a fair amount of avalanche activity and people should use caution before going on trails. There are some beginner ski trails right from the hotel in safe areas. Silverton is at 9300 feet elevation and has snow in town most years. If there is not ample snow in the town of Silverton, the options for Beginner and Class I skiers will be somewhat limited. If the snow level is below 9000 feet, there will be lots of ski options for all levels of skiers. There are several options to ski from town. One is a Nordic trail that circles the town. Kendall Mountain, the municipal downhill ski area, has a small warming hut that is utilized by the Nordic skiers as well as the skating rink. There is another beginner level cross country ski trail that can be accessed from the Visitor Center about 8 blocks from the hotel. The local snowmobile club grooms 125 miles of multi-use trails. A tentative ski option will be to Molas Pass and on to the Durango Mountain ski area and Nordic Center.

Hut Trips
Several hut trips, either in-and-out or hut-to-hut, are run each winter. These involve typically 2-3 overnights in the same or different huts. Advance planning is needed for these, due to the schedule for reserving the huts. You should coordinate with the trip leader at the end of the prior ski season. However, some openings may still be available at the beginning of the season.

These trips require at least a moderate level of experience and fitness, but the skiing itself is not highly technical. Each participant must be known to the trip leader and have individual approval for the trip.

The hut trips are open to Club members only.

Trip Report  on the Francie's Hut trip, 6-7 January 2003

Overnight Car Trips
Overnight car trips vary widely. Some are weekend trips planned just weeks ahead of time, occasionally inspired by a good snow year! Others are planned a year ahead. Lodging is generally in motels or condos.

You will need to consult each trip description for the level of fitness and level of technical ability required for the trip, or talk with the trip leader.

Overnight trips are open to Club members only.

Trip Report  on the Winter Park trip, 27 February - 03 March 2003