so brave

On Saturday, at the top of Collins before our very first run, H looked me up and down and said, "You're not wearing your boot warmers.  You're so brave."  I was feeling a little brave (or foolhardy, perhaps) with neither boot warmers nor hand warmers, but it was already 33F at the base at 9:30 a.m. and I felt like I could handle it.  In fact I was way overdressed for the middle of the day: I had read the weather reports and dressed for partly sunny and March conditions when in fact I should have gone with full sun and mid-April conditions - because that's what we got.

We did four runs off Collins and then moved to Sugarloaf, whereupon I immediately suggested that we give East Greeley a try (this despite the fact that we had just been standing at the gate into East Greeley and now would have to go all the way around the EBT to get back there).  When we got out there, the first bit was very crusty and I regretted my suggestion.  Once we got around the corner, however, it was really quite good, wind-buffed and compacted but soft and easily skiable.  It was even good enough that we went right back to the Sugarloaf chair and then right back around the EBT to do it again. 

Overdressed in East Greeley

After a couple of flyers, we then went in for lunch, finding Alf's pretty busy but almost all tourists, with lots of people pulling tables together for big groups.  When we went to Supreme for the afternoon, the crowds were hit or miss: sometimes we rode together, sometimes we rode singles.  One singles ride I had was with a ski instructor ("40 years of teaching skiing full-time") who, once he found out that I was originally from Maine, told "Bert and I" stories for the remainder of the lift ride. We did two hikes into Catherine's Area which were good: wind-buffed on top and soft, mashed potatoes bumps on the run-out.

We stayed at Supreme until 3 p.m., then skied out.  For some reason, H decided to ski behind me, mimicking my line, all the way out.  When we got back to Collins base, he exclaimed, "You turn a LOT.  That was exhausting!"  I do turn a lot - I would think that my legs would be a lot stronger than they are because of it - but I like turning: it keeps my speed down so I don't have to be too brave.