more bluebird skies

Day #3 of the long weekend and we were back up at Alta, H on his teles and me on my Salomons because the bluebird skies stuck around (up in the mountains anyway - it was yucky and inversion-y down in the valley) with no new snow.  Although the Supreme lift line seemed pretty long late morning, the trails were never too busy and the place thinned out for the afternoon; both the up- and down-canyon bus rides were sparsely populated as well.

It was a little bit colder, starting out at 13F, which spurred me to leave shady Collins for the sunnier Sugarloaf side after just one run.  H stuck around on the front side around, preferring to get some longer runs in before working his way east across Alta.  To warm up, I headed for the bumps, doing a couple of runs each on Razorback and Chartreuse Nose.  I didn't have to share the runs with anyone, which was fantastic, but only skied them medium-well, which was less fantastic.  The snow was holding up okay: the bumps were getting big but they were staying fairly soft, the snow chalky and not too firm.

Nobody in So Long but me

I did have to go into Alf's for ten minutes to try to warm up my toes.  After that, I scooted over to Supreme for a couple of Catherine's Area runs.  My legs are definitely getting stronger as I was able to pass several people on the hike in and once I got out a bit on the traverse, I had the place to myself.  Except for that porcupine.  He was still in the same tree and was doing a number on it - good eats, I guess.

After lunch, H and I stuck to Supreme, even getting to ride a couple chairs together as the crowd dispersed.  East Castle was open and I was tempted but ultimately decided to take a pass this time: on the third of three days, my legs had some fatigue in them and I know from experience that the side-step up East Castle is murder.  We skied until 3 p.m., then booked it down Supreme, out through Sunnyside and across the rope tow, with enough time for a PBR before catching the 3:30 bus.  It was a very good weekend with very good ski conditions ... and now we'd like some fresh snow in the mountains again.