STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Enjoy homemade chili, a poker run and plenty of good skiing against the backdrop of the Sawtooth Mountains this weekend at the 21st annual Sawtooth Ski Festival.
The Sawtooth Ski Club will host a Chili Feed and Poker Run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 4, on the Park Creek trails a few miles west of Stanley. Members of the Sawtooth Ski Club will serve up a variety of cookies and homemade chilis made out of an array of goodies like chicken and venison with various degrees of heat.
Skiers and snowshoers will have the opportunity to draw a poker hand as they cruise the trails with the winning hand winning a prize.
The Soup Kitchen Social will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 5, on the Alturas Trails just north of Smiley Creek. Make a donation and enjoy a variety of homemade soups, including tortellini, minestrone and lentil, along with focaccia bread, cookies and brownies, mimosas, wine and beer.
The Soup Kitchen Social is located on a hill about a mile from the highway. Skiers are invited to ski out to Alturas Lake, enjoying the fact that the ski trails were spared by the Ross Fork Fire this past summer.
Both events are organized to raise funds to help groom the trails in the Alturas Lake and Park Creek areas. The Ski Club purchased two new ATVs to work alongside the snowmachines this year. Coupled with an abundance of snow, trails are in better shape than ever.