next to last, 2013/2014

On Saturday it felt like it had been ages since we'd gone skiing.  With the weather behaving a little better and this being Alta's final weekend of the season, there was no question that we would be going up and hitting the slopes.  We pulled into the sparsely populated Goldminer's Daughter parking lot at 10:30 a.m. (just like last year); unlike last year, it was already 60 with high, thin clouds.  This meant the snow was very soft already and would just get stickier as the day wore on.

We did our usual lap for the first run, cruising through "backcountry access only" Sugarloaf (no ski patrol over there this time of year) and making our way past the bottom of the Supreme lift.  The mashed potatoes snow was very grabby already, making for challenging skiing.  We had to do a lot of poling since our skis would scarcely glide, and once we dragged ourselves back to Collins via the tow-rope, we knew we wouldn't do that run again.

Aggie's Alley

For the rest of the day, we took slow laps on the front side, trying out the Ballroom, Main Street, Mambo, Strawberry, Aggie's Alley, searching for runs with as little sun-bake as possible.  It wasn't really possible.  The snow was heavy and sticky, exhausting to push through.  But it was soft and there weren't enough people around to bump it up.

Maybe it'll be sunnier tomorrow

After lunch at Watson's Shelter, we did a few more runs before calling it quits around 2 p.m.  We sat on the tailgate and had a couple of beers, letting our winter-pale legs soak in what sun there was.  Sunday, Alta's second closing day and the last day of the 2013/2014 season, would be much busier and crazier, with costumes and tailgating and all kinds of Alta weirdness.  It was kind of nice to sit there, in the quiet, to reflect on the ski season.  Even though we've been doing nothing but skiing since November, it's hard to believe it's almost over for another season.