solo

H was feeling a little under the weather (sore throat, head cold and not a lot of get-up-and-go), so I did something I don't think I've ever done before: went skiing by myself.  I mean, I'd already gotten all my gear on when he decided he was out - what else was I to do?

Although an inversion has socked in the valley for the last couple of days, the sun was out - way out - up the canyon.  It was warm too: starting at 28 at the base lodge and ending up at about 44 when I left.  Unfortunately, an inversion means that it hasn't snowed for a while (Tuesday) so there was no fresh powder to be found anywhere.  The snow was pretty packed down, and crusty in places since it had been so warm and sunny yesterday, so [Utah snow-snob talking here] it really wasn't very good. 

I skied for three hours: starting at Supreme where even after an hour in the sun, the snow in the trees was some wicked firm; then moving to Sugarloaf (extremely skied off); and ending up doing some runs off Collins in the Ballroom (where the snow was soft enough but dense) and off the low traverse on West Rustler.  My last run wound up being a bumps run under the lift; the moguls were huge and rather firm, but I'm not going to get any better if I don't practice.

One of the better things about skiing by yourself is that you can ride the singles line, which generally gets you to the front of the lift line much faster.  I did that all day today and ended up chatting with some interesting folks, including the captain of the U.S. Forest Service volunteer rangers, who told me that the rangers give guided tours of Alta every weekend day and holiday at 1:30 at the Cecret lift, and a old local guy who cracked open a brewski as soon as the lift took off.  He told me that on the last day of every ski season, a bunch of locals hike to the top of High Rustler and drink some beers; I told him that I was going to go home and put that on my calendar.  If H doesn't feel well again, who knows what kind of tips I'll learn tomorrow!