back at alta

We had another little storm later in the week that brought the resorts another eight or so inches.  By Saturday it was clear and sunny, with dry roads and little chance of finding much untracked snow so I left my powder skis at home and strapped on my trusty and beloved Volkls.  Straightaway we headed over to the Supreme chair and then, seeing that Catherine's Area was open, charged right in.  Catherine's has been open occasionally this season (although the chutes of the Supreme Bowl have not) but never when I've been up there - I was looking forward to getting back in there.

In the trees by No. 9 Express

Of course since I've been basically skiing groomers all year and not hiking and traversing, I was ridiculously out of shape for the short boot pack up to the traverse into Catherine's, and then the uphill traverse way in.  By the time H got us to where we were going, I was puffed and blowing and sweating and my poor legs were shaking.  For the record, I'd also like to blame some of this on the head cold I've been battling, but in all honesty a lot is due to just not having done any hiking in my skis so far this year.  Regardless, Catherine's was pretty darn good, soft snow, deep in spots, and not entirely tracked out.  I skied it like a total spaz - floundering on my short skis and gasping for air all the way down.  Needless to say, I only made one hike into Catherine's on Saturday.

In the sun in the Yellow Trail Area

The rest of the day was quite nice.  They've opened the White Squaw Area off the Supreme chair and we found some deep stuff by the Elephant's Butt; No. 9 Express and the Erosion Gullies were pretty good too, although everything was getting bumped up big time.  We ate a quickie lunch at Alf's - H had actually packed our lunches but then we forgot the backpack on the kitchen counter - so I had a mocha and a Snickers bar (best lunch ever!) and H had an Italian sausage and some fries.  We also spent a fair amount of time on the Sugarloaf lift.  I went around EBT and into the Backside to the Yellow Trail/East Greeley area with H once - really nice conditions - and then he did it several more times while I bumped along in the moguls on Extrovert.

By about 2:00 p.m. my legs were shot so we moved over to the front side.  H did a couple of runs off the Wildcat chair (reporting good snow in the trees there) while I sat in the sun on the deck and watched all the people.  H joined me there for a PBR (still $3 at Goldminer's Daughter) and then we went home and bottled his latest homebrew, a Sam Adams clone.  A pretty darn good Saturday, all told.