Taos Wine Festival
The 20th Annual Taos Wine Festival runs through Jan. 29. Drawing more than 3,000 wine enthusiasts, the festival features wine and food events throughout Taos Ski Valley and the town of Taos. More than 40 wineries and more than 200 varieties of wine from around the world are represented. A Grand Tasting event will takes place Friday. As part of the event, the festival hosts a silent auction that benefits the Nature Conservancy of New Mexico and the Taos Community Foundation. For wine festival tickets and lodging information, call the Taos Valley Resort Association, 800-776-1111, or Southern Rockies Reservations, 866-250-7313.
Ski-lesson special
The Ernie Blake Ski School in Taos Ski Valley offers “The Ski Week” program this month. Beginning Sundays or Mondays during any week in January, you can purchase a Ski Week (five or six morning lessons) for $50. Every morning you get two hours of training on the slopes. The rest of the day, you can practice what you have learned. The regular season price is $200. For information, visit skitaos.org/SKI_SCHOOL/adult_lessons.php, or call 800-347-7414.
Mountaineering films
The Wheeler Opera House, 320 E. Hyman Ave., Aspen, is hosting a free showing of two films, “Natural Progression,” by Mike Marolt, and “The Death Zone,” by Fritz Stammberger, at 7 p.m. Feb. 2. “Natural Progression,” chronicles the lifelong adventures of a collection of Marolt’s friends and features mountain adventures from the peaks of Asia and South America to Colorado and Aspen. “The Death Zone” is a 1974 film about Stammberger’s effort to climb a monstrous, unconquered Himalayan face on the fourth-highest peak in the world. For information, call 970-920-5770.
Pianist Hong to perform
Pianist Alpin Hong, 2001 Concert Artists Guild First Prize winner, will perform at 5 p.m. March 5 at the home of Linda Hamlet, nestled in the aspens along Fish Creek in Steamboat Springs. Hong has performed more than 95 concerts and 70 outreach events. Tickets are $125 and are available at the Strings in the Mountains Box Office at Music Festival Park, 900 Strings Road, by calling 970-879-5056, or by visiting stringsinthemountains.com.
Women’s ski clinic
She Skis – a women-only ski testing clinic for intermediate to advanced skiers organized by Krista Crabtree, Ski magazine’s former women’s ski test director – will be held March 9-12 in Vail. The clinic offers a chance to test new gear and improve skiing techniques. The clinic includes a three-day lift ticket, ski demos, ski test cards, meals and tech talks on gear. Cost is $1,100. To register, visit sheskis.net.
Canyonlands tour
The Women’s Education Society of Colorado College is offering a guided tour of the canyonlands and prehistoric sites of western Colorado and southeastern Utah May 4-9. The tour, guided by Marianne Stoller, professor emerita of anthropology, will visit the Anasazi Heritage Center and Hovenweep National Monument. In Bluff, Utah, geologist and photographer Gary Ladd will join the group for visits to the Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Newspaper Rock, Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park. Also on the agenda are Colorado National Monument, the Ute Museum and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. The six-day, five-night tour leaves from and returns to Colorado Springs. The estimated fee of $750 per person includes a $100 tax-deductible contribution to the WES Scholarship Fund. Transportation in a commercial highway coach is included in the estimated fee, as are lodging, entrance and guide fees. Meals are not included. A deposit of $150 is due by Feb. 25. For information or reservations, contact Stoller at 719-634-4278 or mstoller@coloradocollege.edu; or Linda Crissey at 719-639-7999 or mlcrissy@aol.com.
Italy, Costa Rica trips
Community College of Aurora faculty members are leading two trips abroad in May. A two-week trip to Italy is scheduled May 11-24. The instructors have used their experience in European travel to build an itinerary including Venice, Ravenna, Florence, Siena, Sorrento, Pompeii, Capri and Rome. For information, call Geoff Hunt at 303-360-4825. Field Studies in Costa Rica is scheduled May 20-30. Participants will study endangered leatherback sea turtles on the Caribbean coast and scarlet macaws on the Pacific coast. For information, call Sheridan Samano at 303-340-7299.
