President's Message

We still have snow at 4th of July and more is on the way. Hopefully it, and future additions, will be enough so that it sticks around through March.

As you may already be aware Rock Soup is planned for this coming weekend (Saturday, January 28th). For those that can make it, here is the plan:
Cooking (inside the warming hut) will begin around 11:00 AM. As in the past, the idea is for folks to bring vegetables (canned or fresh), pasta, or whatever (as long as it is edible) along with you to the event. Meat is okay, but if you choose to bring that up please have it cook before bringing it up. Those involved with stirring the pots, so to speak, will add the contributions to the pots. In the past one has ended up being like a Mulligan Stew; the other will be a vegetable soup without meat.
Before or between, the start of the soup cooking and the serving, everyone is encouraged to go skiing or snowshoeing to work up an appetite.
Serving will begin around 1-2:00 PM and go until at least 4 PM or when we run out of soup. To avoid creating large crowds inside the warming hut there will be a table set up outside to serve up the concoction of your choice. There will be some bowls and plastic spoons available, but everyone is encouraged to bring your own. There will also be a fire burning in the outside pit, to help warm up the lower extremities while the soup does the upper.
If you want, contributions to the menu are always welcome. If you’d like something to go along with the soup, feel free to bring rolls; chips or other snacks. There should be hot chocolate available, but feel free to BYOB!

As far as other activities go, January’s events went really well. If you hadn’t heard Best Hand event brought in $931 to help cover grooming costs. Eight folks turned out for the Round Lake snowshoe trek, and it didn’t rain on us. Nancy’s Farragut day was a great success. She had more participation than she expected. But she was able to do some quick logistical coordination and everything work out fine.
For future reference, Nancy wanted it reiterated that it is very important for safety and travel coordination that folks who want to participate in an event make sure to inform the leader in advance. For folks that are new to the club, this usually involves getting your name on the sign-up sheet at club meetings. The other options include contacting the leader by phone or message, or checking in with the leader at the designated meeting place before traveling to the event.
For February there are three events coming up. The date for the Palouse Divide, being led by Dwight and Marty McCain is coming up on the weekend of February 17th. If you are interested, but haven’t contact McCain’s to let them know, you might want to do it real soon.