The best bets this weekend in and around Durango will include an afternoon retreat about using compassion to ease suffering and the Backcountry Film Festival on Saturday and a fun ski and snowboard competition on Sunday at Purgatory Resort.
Author, counselor and mindfulness teacher John Bruna will lead an afternoon retreat about relieving suffering through compassion from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday in the Quaker Fellowship Hall at Durango Friends Meeting, 803 County Road 233.
Bruna will teach participants about using compassion to build resiliency and ease suffering during difficult times. There will be presentations, discussions and meditation. Breaks for tea, coffee and light snacks will be provided.
Registration is required, and a donation of any amount is requested.
To register, email welcome@mindfullifeprogram.org or visit ameaningfullife.us/durango-afternoon-retreat.
For more information, email john@ameaningfullife.us.
Durango Nature Studies will present the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival at 7 p.m. Saturday at Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.
Films, which focus on winter and the backcountry, include: “The Space Within,” “Ruth Gorge,” “Adventure Not War,” “Below 0,” “Follow Through,” “End of Snow,” “Idaho 12vers Project” and “Genesis.”
Showings will be from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 at Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave., and Backcountry Experience, 1205 Camino del Rio. Tickets at the door are $12 for Nature Studies members and $15 for nonmembers.
For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2sPESUS.
A fundraising event for the Environmental Center at Fort Lewis College – “Ski for the EC” – will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Purgatory Resort, 1 Skier Place.
Registered participants will compete to rack up the highest number of laps from the top of Lift 1 to the base. Those at the mountain not competing, or people at home, can sponsor an athlete for $1, $5 or $20 per lap.
Discounted lift tickets will be on sale for $45, and anyone who sponsors four participants for $5 per lap or one participant for $20 per lap will receive a lift ticket for the day. At the end of the competition, each participant’s laps will be tallied, and the winner will receive a trophy and two lift tickets to Telluride Ski Resort.
The day will also feature hot cocoa, chili and music at the base of the mountain.
Proceeds will go to the Environmental Center at FLC.
To register, visit http://bit.ly/2sHNw7G.
To sponsor an athlete, visit http://bit.ly/2EM2Rd6.
For more information, call or email Rachel Landis at 247-7091 or rllandis@fortlewis.edu.
Winter Bike to Work Day celebration, 7 a.m., Studio & Gallery, 1027 Main Ave.
Dave Spencer Ski Classic, 9 a.m., Purgatory Resort, 1 Skier Place.
Henry Stoy piano, 11 a.m., Jean-Pierre Bakery and Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave., 247-7700.
Henry Stoy piano, 11 a.m., Jean-Pierre Bakery and Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave., 247-7700.
Free tax help, 1:30 p.m., Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Drive, Bayfield, 884-2222.
