Well, another year is just about to wrap up. Time flies, doesn't it? I hope that you all had as good a time over the past 12 months as I have, fitting in fun and challenging events as well as interesting and exciting travel. I've already got my 2008 calendar up on the wall and am working on marking it with plenty of great activities and adventures.

 

Some of those are from our list of 20 Must-Dos on page 22. At the top of my list is to organize a trip with friends to one of the 10th Mountain Huts as it's been a few years since I've ventured to a hut in winter. When I first moved to Colorado, a group of us spent New Year's 2000 in a cozy yurt in the Never Summer Wilderness. It was my first experience ever skiing in to accommodations, and I learned the hard way that it's pretty darn difficult trying to ski uphill on waxless skis (sans skins) with a huge pack on my back. Needless to say, my next few winter trips I snowshoed in to ease the approach.

Crested Butte is host to a few of the events on our list including the Progressive Bonfire Dinner. My husband and I enjoyed this unique event so much this past March that we're hoping to return to it in 2008. It's a unique evening dining experience where you cross-country ski or snowshoe from bonfire to bonfire and enjoy part of a four-course meal at each stop. One of my favorite things about the event, besides the great food and drink, was the people that we met. Everyone was having a fabulous time, laughing and chatting and enjoying a beautiful night out under the stars.

Over the years in my job, I have met and continue to meet great people. I guess it's to be expected since I write about fun, positive, healthy topics so it makes sense that the people I talk with are of that same mind. With all of the craziness and negativity in the daily news, it's nice to be able to work with wonderful people on stories that hopefully always have a positive impact and message.

This coming year, I plan to continue that trend. We've got some great topics already lined up in 2008, and my folder of stories to consider is overflowing. That's another good thing about my job: I'm never lacking for fun ideas, and I'm always coming across new and interesting things. I just wish I had endless print pages to share them all with you.

But that's where our website comes in handy. This coming year, we'll be launching a better, more user-friendly site that will be chock full of reading, both from the magazine as well as Web only. Because this issue is a combined December/January one, and then February is our big Keeper of events, I'll be working hard to keep our website updated with fresh edit. So even though you may not have a print version of Rocky to read for awhile, know that there will continue to be great stories and headlines at our website, www.rockymountainsports.com. Here's to a wonderful 2007, and looking forward to an even better 2008.