These free outdoor events will keep you from feeling cooped up this winter

Winter is coming and the first snow is falling in the mountains.

The National Weather Service is predicting near average snow and slightly above warmer than average temperatures for this winter, making for great outdoor recreation opportunities in the region.

The Inter-Mountain Alpine Club (IMAC) is offering a variety of winter activities for beginners to people with moderate experience.

All the activities are free and open to the public. Registration in advance is required.

Here is a list of what’s planned so far:

• Nov. 29: Frog Lake to Drumheller Channels Day Hike DH-1. An easy hike in the Potholes area on Black Friday.
• Dec. 14: Horseshoe Prairie Snowshoe SS-1 or Cross-Country Ski XC-1.
  
  
• Dec. 11 -15: Bozeman Ice Festival. This is a club trip to Bozeman, Mont., for their ice festival. We will coordinate the dates to and from Tri-Cities. The plan is to do some ice climbing, enjoy the festival activities, and the many opportunities to hike, snowshoe, cross-country ski, in Bozeman. Information on the festival https://bozemanicefest.com/home
  
  
• Jan. 1: Annual Hike up Badger Mountain DH-2. This morning hike on New Year’s Day is an annual event for IMAC, which formed in 1948.
  
  
• Jan. 4: Blewett Pass Snowshoe SS-2. This all-day trip will explore the Blewett Pass area, following a road until inspiration leads us through open gentle terrain to follow rabbit trails, followed by a stop at the Little Yellow Church in Ellensburg on the way home for a bite to eat.
  
  
• Jan. 6: Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoe Classroom Lecture, Richland Public Library. This talk will cover the basics of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing: the various equipment, clothing, how to get started, and places to go. This can be very helpful if you have not cross-country skied or snowshoed before, or if you want to get some tips and pointers from some experienced users. Follow up this lecture with the cross-country ski lesson on Jan. 11.
  
  
• Jan. 9: Evening Slide Show Talk Presentation Tri-City adventurers Steve Ghan, John Serkowski, and Bruce Williams will present highlights of their 12-day, 180-mile trek across the North Cascades last summer with uber through-hiker Gerry “Natty”Favret. They’ll share their discovery of Jack Kerouac artifacts, how they dealt with health challenges, and their close encounter with a bear. They will show photos of some of the most spectacular scenery that Washington state has to offer. 7 p.m. Richland Public Library.
  
  
• Jan. 11: Horseshoe Prairie Snowshoe SS-2. A moderate difficulty snowshoeing trip in the Blue Mountains near Tollgate, Ore.
• Jan. 11: Horseshoe Prairie Cross-Country Skiing XC-1. All skier levels are invited, but this is an instructional trip aimed for cross-country ski first-timers and beginners. Others can come along to brush up on your skills or just to get started for the season. We will spend the morning on instructions for the basic techniques for ski touring. After a lunch out in the snow, we will do an easy tour to practice what was learned in the morning. Attendance at the cross-country ski presentation on Jan. 6 is highly recommended.
  
  
• Jan. 18: Deer and Sand Lakes, Snowshoe SS-2. This is a moderate trip on the Pacific Crest Trail going north from White Pass. The hike is about 7 miles round trip with about 800 feet elevation gain. We will head to Deer and Sand Lakes, have lunch at Sand Lake, and head back to the cars the same way.
  
  
• Jan. 25: Horseshoe Prairie Igloo Building CC. This is a car camping trip where we spend the night in an igloo in a winter setting at Andie’s Prairie near Tollgate, Ore. We will spend Saturday building igloos to spend the night in. This is an instructional trip, so even if you haven’t cut snow blocks before, you are welcome to attend. There will be opportunity for either snowshoeing or cross-country skiing on the trails on the other side of the highway, if time allows. Come prepared for cold and snowy weather. A sleeping bag rated for 15°F or lower with a closed foam sleeping pad is required.
  
  
• Feb. 2: Chase Mountain Snowshoe SS-2. A moderate snowshoeing trip in the Blue Mountains near the Bluewood ski area.
  
  
• Feb. 22: Horseshoe Prairie, Snow Cave Building CC. This is a second trip where we spend the night in snow cave in a winter setting at Andies Prairie near Tollgate, Ore.
  
  
• March 7: Red Top Mountain Cross-Country Ski XC-3. We start near the old Mineral Springs Resort and follow a groomed route about 3 miles through thin forest along Blue Creek, and then follow snowmobile tracks up a second road toward, if not to, the summit of Red Top Mountain. The reward for climbing 2,600 feet in 8 miles is expansive views of Table Mountain and the Stuart Range for lunch, followed by a delightful glide down the steady grade to the highway. We’ll stop at the Little Yellow Church Cafe in Ellensburg on the way home for a bite to eat.
• March 14: Spout Springs (Woodland Sno-Park) Snowshoe SS-2. The trek starts in the woods along the Balloon Tree logging road then cuts cross country on a long, open north/south ridge. Views from here, on a clear day, are great including: Mt. Emily and the Elkhorn Crest Mountains to the south, the Eagle Caps, and Seven Devil’s Wilderness to the east, and a Blue Mountain panorama from Bluewood to Pomeroy to the north. The route is a figure 8 loop about 6.6 miles with several gradual climbs totaling about 700 feet.
• March 28: Towell Falls Day Hike DH-2. This is a moderate hike to the falls in the Rock Creek Recreational Area near Sprague. The area is largely an open grazing land, scabbed with basalt outcroppings, mesas, and a river running through it. The terrain was scoured by Ice Age floods leaving scattered lakes and waterfalls. The hike is about 7.0 miles RT with about 700 feet total elevation gain.

Visit the IMAC website calendar learn about the difficulty ratings and to contact the trip leader for each event at https://imacnw.org/event-calendar/

Snow and weather conditions can significantly affect the difficulty of all these events. Some of the trails are open areas, so it can get nasty on a cold, windy day.

Snowshoes can be rented locally at I-MAC and REI.

As always, bring the 10 essentials, as well as lunch, water (at least 2 liters), and dress for the weather.

You must be prepared for blizzards and rainy conditions (that is, bring rain gear). Please no jeans.

The trips are limited to 12 participants. Participants are asked to pay a gas contribution of 10 cents per mile to their driver.