struggles

Let's just come right out and admit it: Saturday was not my best day ever at Alta.  It was a struggle for me right from the get-go.  But no one got hurt and we were out skiing, so it's still better than what could have been.  Weather-wise, it was cold (14 at the summit and warming up to 24 at the base) and extremely windy (gusts into the 50 m.p.h. range) and snowing (in the morning).  The light was flat and visibility was tough.  There were a couple of fluffy new inches on top of the wind-buffed snow underneath, so that was nice, except what little wax is remaining on my skis did not like the cold new snow and I had a tough time getting any glide. I'm slow anyway and when my skis are also slow ... H was very patient.

Despite the day, that's a smile and not a grimace

(in Catherine's Area)

It was also quite busy so we hightailed it to Supreme as soon as we could, not bothering with the hordes skiing Sugarloaf.  As we had done on Monday, we kept to Catherine's Area as much as possible to escape the crowds and to poach what freshies we could find.  I was skiing terribly for some reason, so I alternated runs on groomers with runs in Catherine's while H stuck mostly to Catherine's.

The high point (or low point, depending on how you look at it) of my day came when I managed to tangle my skis together and fall over in the lift line.  Luckily, I didn't knock into anyone else and I was able to get back on my feet without too much flailing; the only thing hurt was my pride and I don't bother much with that anyway.  By 2:30ish I couldn't take any more and we skied out.  The snow had stopped and the light had brightened a little, and I got back to the truck without further mishap.  The forecast for the next day was for sunny skies - hopefully my day would be sunnier too.