one day off is enough

In keeping with our newly acquired ski-snobdom, when we checked the conditions first thing Sunday morning and saw that it was cloudy and -1F at the peaks, we were all, no way.  So we dithered around for about an hour, drinking coffee, refreshing the snow reports, pacing, until a look out the front windows showed it clearing up the canyon.  Figuring that if we didn't go up there and at least take a couple of runs we'd regret it, and we threw on our gear and were up on Alta's Collins lift by 10 a.m.

It was colder than seasonally normal to start, no doubt: 9F at the base and about 1F up top, although it wasn't windy and the skies were totally clear, the sun getting stronger by the minute.  The 3-4" of new snow was definitely weird.  It was quite squeaky from the cold but it was also heavy and sticky - you couldn't get any sort of glide on the flats.  We headed over to the Supreme chair, per usual, and took the low traverse in to Catherine's Area.  Even though the snow was pretty soft in there, the traverse was a total slog because of how sticky it was and we only hiked in there once.  Skiing in the trees was fairly successful, though, soft and deep(-ish).

In the sunshine on East Greeley

H's hands got cold (also weird because that never happens) so when I bought a mocha to go with my Snickers bar for lunch, he took advantage of the free hot beverage refill.  After the break, things were warming up outside too, the bright sunshine bringing it to a comfortable 18-22F range that felt even warmer.  We skied off the Sugarloaf chair all afternoon: traversing around to East Greeley, where it was soft but very heavy - people were hitting clumps of snow and launching themselves out of their skis all over the place; down into Glory Gulch; into Running Dog Nose and Keyhole Gulch (or thereabouts); and my new favorite spot, Cabin Hill, which isn't that challenging but sure is pretty.

We called it a day around 3 p.m., my back starting to twinge a little from struggling against the heavy snow.  The parking lot was pretty much full and there were a fair number of cars parking along the roadside as well - people looking to get out and enjoy the beautiful day.  As we drove home, we were glad we'd decided to do that too.