better than expected

We decided to go skiing on Saturday (ooh - there's a surprise), despite it not having snowed since last Sunday.  And you know what?  It was still really pretty good.  There was next to no one there - the parking lot was two-thirds full by the time we left at 12:30, but I don't know where all those people were - we never waited in line for the chair and once we got off the groomers, we hardly ever saw other skiers on the trails.

I'm starting to get my confidence back, thank goodness.  We did a bunch of groomed runs at first, letting the ungroomed surfaces soften a little.  Then, working our way back across the mountain, from Sugarloaf back to Wildcat, we did a couple of runs through the Ballroom, a little bowl off the Collins lift.  The snow was settled and tracked out but still soft, and I had good enough runs there to want to go ski off the Wildcat lift. 

There is still a TON of soft, deep snow over there.  We did several runs on Wildcat Face, Wildcat Bowl and Westward Ho, including some really steep stuff where I wasn't nervous about the steep, I was nervous about stopping short in a heavy clump and tumbling headfirst down the hill.  I didn't, and I did have a lot of fun, and I think H was relieved to see me starting to get my ski legs under me.  We'll be back at it again tomorrow - yay!

Wildlife sighting: from the Wildcat lift, a dear little ermine racing across the ski trails, darting from tree to tree.  So cute!  And a gold star to H for spotting him in the first place - a tiny white critter scurrying across white snow is tough to see!