Headway Systems: Golden New Years

ROGERS PASS Roy and Carol joined a few of the Ramblers for a trip up Balu Pass.
Looking down the valley towards Mt. MacDonald.	Roy reaches the top of Balu Pass.

Looking east from the top of the pass towards Cheops.
Carol in a winter wonderland.	Roy looks like he's enjoying his lunch. There's a couple of guys behind him that are heading over to Ursa Major to ski down 8812.

We had a couple amazing runs down Balu. It was getting late and too cold to stay for another run. And too cold (-21C) to take pictures. Icicles hanging off the Best Western at Rogers Pass.
We stayed at the Goldenwood Lodge, just west of Golden with some of the Hostelling Outdoor Group (HOGs). Goldenwood Lodge is along the Blaeberry River and the views from our cabins were amazing. It's a quiet retreat with great cabins and wonderful hosts. A perfect place to stay.
Roy and I stayed in the cabin on the right. The other HOGs stayed in three other cabins and we used the biggest cabin to congregate for meals.	Roy and Carol headed out for a cross country ski along the river while the others were out snowshoeing.



	We had to take our skis off for a couple of creek crossings.




Creek Crossing number two.


Preparation for the New Years Bonfire
Andy, our host, got the chain saw out and cut down the dead standing trees	Elizabeth, Lynn, Ursula, Carol, Mike and Roy dragged the logs out and loaded the truck.

The girls are making the frame that will hold the remaining logs	Roy unloading the truck.

Once the frame was made we piled the logs around the outside and filled in the middle as well.	Andy chopped up some dry cedar to use as a starter in the middle of the teepee of logs

Just one more log......	..... and now it's complete.
Meanwhile the pasta chef (Vic) and sous chef (Rick) were busy making home made pasta. Nothing but the best for this group.

We had 15 for a fabulous meal of homemade pasta and sauce complete with salads and garlic bread. And of course the wine. We had time to play a trivia food game and digest before heading out to light the fire.
One peice of birch bark and dry cedar was all it took to get the fire going.	We had to get a group photo while we could still get close enough to the fire.

Roy and Carol	Vic and Polar

	Now it's starting to cook.

	It wasn't long before we had to stand well back from the fire.


It only took 22 minutes before the fire collapsed.

3, 2, 1, Happy New Years. Big cheers and hugs all around. Once the fire started to die down we headed inside to toast the new year with a couple bottles of bubbly.