closing day (or, let us be frank)

This has just not been my ski season: I don't know what hit me, but starting Saturday night, I began to come down with a head cold and when the "let's go skiing for Alta's closing day!" alarm went off Sunday morning, I just couldn't do it.  I felt like I'd been flattened by a steamroller.  But H, undaunted, headed off to celebrate Alta's closing day, wherein they don't actually close for the season but they close for midweek operations, reopening on Friday/Saturday/Sunday through the first weekend in May.  Maybe.  If there's enough snow.

Frank!

At 10:30 a.m., he texted me to say that the parking lot is busy - lots of cars and tailgating - but the lifts and trails were not.  Shortly thereafter, he texted me again to say that Martha was disappointed in me for missing closing day.  Believe me, Martha, I was disappointed with myself.  He had lunch at Alf's for the last time this season; the other restaurants on the hill will be open for a while longer yet, and then by 2:15 p.m., Frank was "in full effect," as evidenced by the photo above.  Please refer to these prior posts for a full explanation of what Frank is.

Parking lot party

H skied until closing despite the less-than-ideal conditions - the snow had frozen up overnight and although Sunday daytime temperatures were mild, the cloud cover kept things from softening up - and then listened to the band playing in the Wildcat base parking lot for another hour before coming home.  Thus endeth Alta's official 2017/2018 season, not with a bang but with a bit of a whimper.  We think we'll get back up there for a couple more days, conditions-dependent, but at this point we're ready to move on and put this ski season behind us.