some sun for sunday

Sunday brought some sunshine and mild temperatures and, even though only a scant inch or two of new snow had fallen, we went skiing - what else are you going to do?  Surprisingly, Alta was more crowded than it had been on Saturday; the sun brings people out, I think.  Still no lift lines, though.

We spent a fair amount of time skiing off the Sugarloaf lift: the slopes there had gotten more direct sunshine than the other side of the resort and the snow was pretty soft.  When the traverse to Devil's Castle was opened, H did a couple of runs up there where the snow was largely untracked except for where they'd set off some avalanche-control charges.  While he was doing that, I did some confidence-building runs a little lower down, practicing my technique on a black diamond trail under the lift.

Working our way back across the resort, we did a couple of easy runs in the Ballroom, while watching the crazy skiers who had hiked all the way up to the top of Mt. Baldy come down the steep, narrow Main Chute, which had also just been opened.  We talked to some folks on the lift who'd done it: despite the 45 minute hike up, they said it was well-worth it, getting that 800 (or so) feet of vertical in the chute.

Not for me, however, so H and I went back over to our new favorite spot, skiing off the Wildcat chair.  The snow was not quite as good as it had  been on Saturday, however, since it had frozen up a bit overnight and wasn't quite so soft.  We did a couple of runs in there until I decided to do a somersault and tweaked my back a little.  It was all good, though: we'd gotten in 3+ hours and my skiing is improving, so no complaints here.

Well, one: we'd like some more snow, please!