Winter sports enthusiasts on San Juan and Orcas have joined forces to revive and reinvent each island’s participation in the Mount Baker Ski Resort shuttle bus program in 2013. The six-week program, Saturdays, begins Jan. 12.

This year, unlike in the past, the program, sponsored by Mount Baker, is run by Orcas Island Park and Recreation District, not by the school districts, and features a chartered bus, boarded in Anacortes. Bus riders will walk on respective ferries, rather than board a local bus, and the chartered bus, provided by Triangle Charters, will be waiting; scheduled departure from Anacortes is 9:15 a.m. Rides are available to all ages, from any island. Half-day lift tickets are provided; arrival is expected at 11:30 a.m., about an hour earlier than the resort’s normal half-day starting time.

Cost for the six-ride program (ride only) is $180; single roundtrip is $50. Scheduled Saturdays: Jan. 12, Jan. 19, Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 9, March 2. With 35 registered, roughly 10 seats remain available for each trip, first-come, first-served. Post ski-trip stops may include Bellis Fair Mall or bowling in Anacortes (costs not included). Sign up at orcasparkandrec.org., or visit www.mtbaker.us, or San Juan Island Fitness, Island Body, Lopez Village, or the Orcas Island Park and Recreation District office, for information; or call coordinators Marcia West (376-7275), or John Pachuta (378-0886).