Albany youth ski in New Mexico

By Sandy Morris

Sixteen local youth, three families, and two adult volunteers traveled to Taos, New Mexico during the Albany Youth Ministry Winter Ski Trip and Christian Adventure last week. 

This year, the group left Albany early on Tuesday, Dec. 29 and checked in at Snakedance Condos at the base of Taos Ski Valley later that same afternoon, and skied and snowboarded on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before returning home on Saturday, Jan. 2.

The group faced several obstacles in preparing for the trip, not only in planning activities that could be done with social distancing, but also with the sudden local spike in COVID. 

Right before the trip, two of the adult sponsors tested positive for COVID, leaving the group wondering if they would even be able to make the journey.

Campbell Terry and Michala Huckabay stepped in and it was decided the trip was a ‘go.’

“Matthews Memorial Presbyterian youth minister Spencer Newsom had everything laid out for us,” said Terry. “He did a great job of putting this trip together for the group and made it easy for us to follow his plan.”

Terry said Taos had received a large snowfall the day before the group arrived and it was still snowing when they reached their destination.

“It was pretty crazy because it was snowing in Taos, but also snowing back home in Albany,” said Terry. 

One student suffered a fracture and there were lots of bumps and bruises, but the trip was still deemed a success. 

The Christmas break ski trip has been a tradition for several years, and gives local youth a chance to ski while spending time with God and Christian friends.

According to Terry, the group’s typical daily schedule had to be modified to comply with the ski resort’s regulations on the number of people who could gather in a group. 

Instead of morning devotionals and quiet time followed by skiing, the group was only able to meet for a daily evening devotional. 

“This was a smaller group this year and we had to change up how we normally minister to the youth,” Terry said. “We had a lot more one-on-one conversations, and you could see God working during this trip.”

Accompanying the youth on the ski trip were the Ceder, Peterson, and Trail families along with Terry and Huckabay.

“We had a beautiful week of snowboarding and skiing and diving into the Word of God,” concluded Terry.