next to last

What outstanding spring skiing we had for Alta's final weekend of the season!  We took our time getting up there on Saturday, to allow the snow to soften up.  Even with our 10:30 a.m. arrival, there was still hardly anyone there; the parking lot never got more than a quarter full despite the cloudless, sunny skies and warm temperatures (low 40s at the top and mid 50s at the base).  The snow was firm for the first run but got creamy-soft soon after that and never got bumped up through the course of the day - perfect!

Helpful Ski Patrol upselling cheeseburgers

We did three runs through the gates into Sugarloaf where we pretty much had the place to ourselves:  the run-around to Supreme (just to say hi), down Extrovert and a cruiser down Devil's Elbow.  We hit the Ballroom, which was very nice, and even ventured out into Sunspot.  As the day wore on, I stuck to the groomed runs more and more, trying to save my legs which tire easily in the heavy spring conditions.

Atop Collins, Superior in the background

For our entertainment, there were guys hitting a jump off the bottom of Nina's Curve/Schuss Gully, in full view of the chairlift and the patio.  It was pretty impressive - under flips, mute grabs, tail grabs, 270s, 360s and back flips - and most of them stuck their landings.  Lots of fun to watch.

Gorgeous day out over Devil's Castle

We skied until 4 p.m., getting a lot of runs since we never had to wait in line for the lift, then had a beer on the patio, soaking up more of that great spring sunshine.  Skiing powder is great ... but spring skiing is really a lot of fun too and we'd just had a very good day of it.

Smiles for spring skiing