spring skiing is here

I don't think that our Eastern friends who are coming out in a few days to ski want to hear this, but spring skiing has arrived and is, I think, settling in for the long haul.  While we've got potential precipitation for Friday - Saturday - Sunday, the weather pattern is really looking like what we had this weekend: bright sun and warm temperatures. (The watchword is sunscreen.)

Adjacent to the Castle Apron

Spring skiing requires a slightly different mindset.  You don't need to get right up on the mountain for the first chair because it'll take at least an hour for the snow to soften up from its overnight freeze.  We got up to Alta by about 10 a.m. on Saturday; there was no traffic to speak of and we still got to park in the nearest third of the lot.  We went to the Supreme lift and did a couple of runs there on sun-hit trails - Catherine's was soft at the top but still frozen at the bottom.  We also traversed under East Castle towards the Castle Apron for the first time all season: that area never gets any direct sun so the snow remained soft and fairly fluffy, plus the Castle had been only recently opened so it wasn't all tracked out.  I of course took a big ol' tumble (a somersault and and f-bomb) but luckily my back didn't seize up, so all's well.

Seriously, could the sky be any bluer?

We went back and did runs on Sugarloaf until lunchtime, and then did more there after lunch, including traversing into East Greeley.  The wide bowl was nice and soft and there weren't many people in there; apparently it was just awful that morning and folks didn't realize that it had improved.  We didn't mind having it to ourselves.  We went back to Supreme and tried Catherine's again: it was soft all the way down now, including too soft in places, heavy and slushy.  After that H declared that he was getting too overheated to hike in there anymore (it really was so hot) so we contented ourselves with a number of bumps-runs until it was time to go.  Another thing about spring skiing - H can go for a road ride when we get home because it's both warm and light outside.  Sure we prefer full-winter powder skiing, but spring's awful nice too.

H in the sun on East Greeley