GAMMA LAMBDA FAMILY SKI TRIP

Gamma Lambda Chapter Holds 4^th Annual Ski Trip
Jim Moylan (1969)
[View the photos]

More than 250 inches of “Champagne Powder” greeted 27 Gamma Lambda Chapter Brothers, their families, and friends as they arrived in “Ski Town USA,” Steamboat Springs, Colorado for the Fourth Annual Family Ski Trip.

The skiers started arriving on Wednesday, January 18, 2006. We were able to hit the slopes on Thursday morning, which turned into another snowy day, but it did not damper anyone’s enthusiasm. After all, when more than 20 feet of snow falls just this far into the season, you have to expect it to be snowing a lot.  After skiing and the obligatory dips in the hot tubs to soothe those aching muscles, it was off the LaMontana, a restaurant at the base of the mountain, specializing in gourmet southwestern cuisine. The pleasure of the evening was enhanced when the participants learned that LaMontana is owned by Tom and “Sunny” Garrett. Tom is a Theta Chi brother from Epsilon Tau Chapter at Steven F. Austin State University.

Fortified by the excellent dinner and the evening’s camaraderie, we rolled into Friday. The snow from the preceding day was groomed overnight, leading to excellent skiing all day under fairly sunny skies. Friday night found us in the clubhouse at the Timber Run Condominiums, (our gracious hosts for the past four years) where Tim and Suki Schroeder prepared a chili dinner for the ravished horde. After dinner we enjoyed watching the video of the 1989 and 1994 Gamma Lambda Chapter Reunions. Some of those kids in the video now have their own kids, making some of us grandparents! The age group in this year’s ski trip ranged from 5 ½ months, (Sam Murphy, Jim and Joyce Murphy’s grandson), to 80 years, (Hank Kroeger, Randy Tuttle’s father-in-law, and father of Randy’s wife, Bonnie.)

Saturday was our best ski day yet, and everyone hit it hard knowing it would be the last day on the slopes. After a full day of skiing, we held a little après ski, “Slopeside.” Then, it was into the hot tubs again, followed by dinner at Riggio’s Restaurant in downtown Steamboat Springs. Owner/hosts Richard and Stacy Most gave us the upstairs banquet room and a family-style Italian dinner that was out of this world.

We capped the weekend off at Lucille’s for Sunday morning brunch before everyone departed to their respective homes in New York, Vermont, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, and Colorado.

The Fifth Annual Gamma Lambda Chapter Family Ski Trip (and you do not have to be a member of Gamma Lambda Chapter to join us) will be held January 17-21, 2007 in Steamboat, Springs, Colorado. Please contact Jim Moylan for details.

(Photography by P. Randall Tuttle, Gamma Lambda/ University of Denver ’71)