As he usually does, H took off the week between Christmas and New Year; for once, however, he didn't get a whole lot of skiing in. A multiday storm system moved in, bringing a lot of much needed snow but also snarling traffic in the canyons. It also brought very cold temperatures: on New Year's Day, the high at Alta was 3 F. I hadn't planned to ski until Sunday anyway, hoping for warmer weather and smaller crowds, and that actually worked out well.
On Friday, while H shoveled our driveway and sidewalks for hours, Milton and I took a snowy walk, and then I did a bunch of cooking. On Saturday, when it barely got up to 20 F down in the Salt Lake Valley, Milton and I took a shorter walk (and I made him wear his booties, which he did not like), and then I did a bunch of cooking. Cooking and baking is giving me a lot of satisfaction these pandemic-days, despite the fact that I'm not a good baker. I'm decent at cookies and okay with cakes, but I'm really bad at yeasted bread. That weekend I made a pan of scratch brownies, soda bread with raisins (that you could have used as a doorstop), pumpkin-cranberry-walnut muffis and ginger-tahini cookies. I also made chickpea-miso stew for the freezer and a batch of vegan "parmesan" (walnuts, herbs and nutritional yeast), and dinners were rice/beans/tofu/greens, Korean yachaejeon (veggie pancakes), BBQ tofu with collard greens and rice pilaf, and homemade pizza. Finally, I learned that you can make Manhattans with tequila - if tequila is the booze you have on hand.
When Sunday rolled around, it was time to play in the mountains. We got up at 6:30, out the door at 7:15 and, since the 7:25 bus was a no-show, were on the ski bus at 7:40. It was sunny and clear, cold to start but warming to around 25 F by noon. The fact that it had been so cold really worked in our favor because there was lots of deep, soft, untracked snow to be found - the temperatures had kept the people away. It was also surprisingly uncrowded for the last day of vacation week.
We went straight to Supreme from the Sunnyside lift and did four runs there, including going all the way into Catherine's Area. The snow was very nice and light enough that I could (awkwardly) ski the deep stuff on my non-powder skis. At one point, while we were on the Supreme lift, we witnessed a massive patrol-triggered avalanche, where the whole Backside slid down into the creek. Patrol had been shooting at it sporadically all morning and it took a barrage of about five explosions to knock it loose. Afterwards, it left a nine foot crown and video showed that two patrollers got carried (but not buried) by the slide.
I had to step into Alf's for fifteen minutes or so to thaw my toes while H skied Sugarloaf. When I came back out, we moved to Collins and did four or five runs there, then went back to Sugarloaf for a couple. The snow was really holding up well - fewer skiers means it doesn't get skied off as quickly. Coverage is decent too, thanks to the recent storm, and we got into Razorback and the Ballroom too ... where I learned that despite the squats I've been doing, my legs still aren't in shape.
We caught the 2 p.m. bus back down. Milton was glad to see us, of course. And after walking him, getting cleaned up and starting a load of laundry, it was time for another one of those tequila Manhattans.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment