definitely spring skiing this time

The weekend rolled around and spring was definitely in the air.  H skied solo on Saturday, the last day for the ski bus (which is so stupid - I mean, why not run it Sunday too?).  When he came back, he was all, "You should have gone."  To which I pointed out, I'm going tomorrow [Sunday] ... and who's smart?  Me, because Sunday was even nicer - sunnier, warmer, less windy - than Saturday.

Words to live by, compliments of the

Goldminer's Daughter's door

Because we didn't have to catch an early bus, Sunday felt decadent: I slept in until after 6:30!  As we drove up to Alta, there wasn't much traffic on the road.  We pulled into Wildcat base and were directed to a very nice parking spot by the parking lot guys.  We changed our boots in the locker room (no word yet on whether we'll be able to sublet the locker again next year) and slathered on more sunscreen.

Yet another Supreme chair selfie

As I had done on Thursday, and H had done on Saturday, we started on the Sugarloaf chair, following the sun around as it warmed and softened the snow.  Extrovert got really good and the little Razorback pitch was fantastic, although you can only make about three turns before it's over.  A lot of terrain was closed (like Saturday, unlike Thursday): Devil's Castle, the Backside, Catherine's Area, Supreme Bowl, East Castle.

#nofilter on that sky

We moved to the Supreme chair next, doing laps, seeking the sun.  It never got busy enough that we had to wait in line and we almost always had the chairs to ourselves.  

Dang good parking spot

When we moved over to the front side, the wiggle in the Ballroom was deep and fast, and we could see people getting launched - sometimes intentionally, sometimes not - from the turns.  I was not at all happy with the top half of the first run down Collins: it was frozen hard and not much fun.  It was much better below the angle station.  We took a ride on Wildcat next; since it's such a slow chair, we figured that would just give more time for the sun to soften things up.  Back to the Collins chair for another but it hadn't softened up much in my opinion and I called it a day.  H did one more run and said that it really was softer that time.  I remained skeptical.

Those wires are tiny battery-powered lights

Since it was the next-to-last ski weekend, and since it was so gorgeous, we had brought a couple of beers for the tailgate.  The Wildcat base parking lot was about 75% full and people were still coming in.  This time of year, most people prefer to come later when it's warmer, softer and the party has started.  As always, it both seems like the ski season has taken forever and gone so fast.  On beautiful days like this one, you wish it could last longer. 

playing hooky 2

The last time I played hooky to go skiing, it was pretty cold and definitely snowing the whole time.  Not what I had had in mind.  This time, when I needed to get a day in for not skiing on the weekend when it was dumping snow, it was much more what I wanted.  Bright sun, bluebird skies, no wind and hardly any people.

Supreme chair selfie

Going up midweek is just so decadent-feeling, compared to having to get up at 5:30 a.m. to catch a 6:30 a.m. bus.  This time, I slept in until the sun was up, had breakfast, took Milton on a halfway decent walk, and then hopped in the car to go up to Alta.  The drive took me fifteen minutes and I still got up there fifteen minutes before the lifts opened.  And got a dang good parking spot too.

Supreme chair

The thing to do this time of year - when the snow freezes up overnight from being slushy the afternoon before - is start off on the Sugarloaf chair, which gets the most sun and thus softens up the fastest.   When conditions start getting sticky, move to Supreme and then, in the early afternoon, head to the front side.  That's exactly what I did.  Everything was open: there were a good number of folks schlepping up the East Castle traverse; and there was a line of skiers hiking up Baldy.

Partial view of Devil's Castle

Since it wasn't crowded (no little kids and most people seemed to be 60+), I skied right onto the lifts every run, meaning that I made a lot of runs even though I'm pretty slow.  I even ventured into Catherine's Area but should have waited just a little longer before doing so: it was softening but still stiff in spots, making it difficult for me to push through.

Catherine's Area selfie

By 1 p.m., when I got to the front side, the main groomers were nice and soft.  I did make the mistake of going into Sunspot.  It looked okay from the chair but once I got in there, it was still hard and scraped off and I got out and over to Strawberry as soon as I could.  Despite that one sketchy run, it was a fantastic day.  I skied until my legs were tired and didn't get sunburned - so much better than going to work!

more skiing and homebodying

 Despite my still having three days to ski before the season ends, I again opted out of skiing today (see previous post re being over winter conditions).  H went up to Alta, noting that the bus was not very crowded and the road much less dicey than Saturday.  It was still cold, but less windy, and snowed off and on all day, although never amounting to much.  There seemed to be more people than the day before but patrol did a great job opening more terrain and spreading those people out.  He had another terrific day, finding thigh-deep stashes on the Backside and down Chartreuse Nose.  

She deep

Milton and I did our Dimple Dell loop, stopping in to say hey to the new bison.  It took us a while because there were a LOT of things to sniff as it had been several weeks since we did the whole loop.  Back at home, while the dog pouted that it wasn't sunny and warm enough to lay out in the driveway (mostly cloudy, high 30s and occasional flurries), I meal-prepped black beans in the InstantPot, made a coffee cake and the best vegan chili, vacuumed and finished a library book.  The sun finally came out around 5 p.m. but by that time, Milton was content to snuggle up on the bed with H, watching videos while the chili simmered.  Not the most scintillating weekend (nor the most productive, as I was hoping it would have been warm enough to do some weeding (dang weeds)), but sometimes that's what you get.  We're all together, healthy and happy, and that's enough.

Also: Alta is at 611 inches on the season!

apparently winter ain't over yet

 Time is running out on the 2023/2024 ski season.  Not that you'd know it from the weather.  Although it hit 70 in SLC on Wednesday - and it was glorious - a cold front started pushing in onThursday (windy), arrived Friday (plummeting temperatures) and the system settled into the Cottonwood Canyons overnight into Saturday.  We got a dusting of snow by Saturday morning but by 3 p.m. Saturday, Alta had gotten 18" in the last 24 hours and, to look at the mountain webcams, it wasn't letting up anytime soon.  It was also cold: 20F at the base and 9F at the top.

I'm over it with winter conditions.  Call me a wimp, a fair weather skier, but I'm tired of being wet and cold and I want a goggle tan.  So I didn't go.  The valley weather was better than forecasted (the forecasts have not been that accurate all winter, IMHO), but in the 30s and mostly cloudy, with off and on flurries.  Milton and I did a good walk in the morning, including him getting a game of off-leash chase with a neighborhood dog.  And then I was productive: pumpkin-cranberry-walnut muffins, chocolate chip cookies, baked tofu, peach preserves and chickpea/walnut taco "meat" for dinner, plus dealing with a ridiculous amount of laundry.

H of course went skiing, up and at 'em and on the 6:30 bus.  It wasn't terribly crowded so he got a seat, reporting that it was snowing hard and the upper canyon road was sketchy after Snowbird.  After a slightly delayed opening, he had a great day (morning) of skiing, starting off Collins in Fred's Trees and then just skiing off the High Traverse for pretty much the whole time.  There wasn't much else open because patrol hadn't cleared slides yet, but the conditions were deep and soft and lots of fun.  He did try a run over at Sugarloaf but it was windier there and colder, so he went back to Collins, did a ten minute warm-up in the lodge for his hands and feet, and then kept skiing.  

By mid-morning they were posting that the canyon road would close for avalanche mitigation at 1:30.  He was sad to have to leave early but better that then potentially getting stuck up the canyon into the evening.  The snow was really stacking up on the upper road too, making the bus ride down rather more exciting than he would have liked.  The bus slid off the road a couple of times, but with its chains on managed to back up each time and get back on the road.  When they got to the left turn into Snowbird center, the bus driver didn't even attempt to go in and when they got down to the turn at Tanners Flat, the bus actually fishtailed.  Below that the snow tapered off, however, and the bottom bit was just wet.  H said that was the gnarliest bus ride in all our years of riding the ski bus - I think I'm glad I missed it.

The stormy weather did give H an impressive ice-mustache, occasioning several compliments, including  "You can grow a grizzly bear mustache and I can only grow a squirrel!"

an overcast weekend in the desert is better than no weekend in the desert

 We spent the last weekend of March down in Moab and while it wasn't the blue skies and balmy T I had hoped for, it was quite a lot better than what northern Utah got, which was rain and slush.  Down in the southeast corner of the state, it was mostly overcast but warm-ish (up to mid-60s occasionally) and with a few sprinkles of rain interspersed here and there.  It was also the final weekend of the 2024 Easter Jeep Safari and there was a definite uptick in tourists.

It's a little blurry (nighttime shot)

but this tree was spectacular

We did a little socializing, hanging out with our neighbor before she left for her Alaskan fishing season, and her roommate, before she relocated to Oregon for a new job.  We also went to Woody's with a friend - he went to high school in Moab and lives/works in town so going anywhere with him is like going out with a rockstar since everyone knows him; and we learned that our favorite bartender has left the Hoodoo for a different restaurant.  We'll track her down but we'll go back to the Hoodoo for its $2 PBRs.

These cacti turn purple in the winter,

to absorb more sunlight, so now that

they're green again, spring must be here

We also got out on the trails a couple of times.  Friday, H wanted to do a 10K trail run: we went to Moab Brand Trails so while he and Milton ran that loop, I hiked a shorter loop and finished up at the end with them.  The temperatures were perfect and the trails fairly empty.  On Saturday, H's knees were a little sore so we opted for just 3.5 miles.  I'm not sure the trail we picked - Moab Rim - was the best choice for knees since it's so steep, up and down, but it got us moving.  There was a Jeep Safari run there that morning so it was closed to other motorized traffic.  We saw a number of hikers, trail runners and dogs though.

First wildflower of the season

Sunday we just did a town walk before packing up and heading north.  It was one of our better spring drives, to be honest: the snow that was supposed to hit Soldier's Summit never materialized, so the road was clear and dry, and since it was Easter Sunday, there was hardly any traffic.  

i take back everything i said about "spring skiing"

I paid the piper for my solo ski day on Thursday by going in to work Saturday morning.  (I took Milton with me but probably shouldn't have, as there's something about my office building that stresses him out in a way that doesn't happen when H takes him to work.)  I did this because the Wasatch mountains were forecast to have some definite weather for the weekend and beyond, and I just don't love storm skiing like I used to.  In the valley, it was warm and windy with scattered showers until late afternoon when the front moved in.  Then we had rain and snain and snow cycling through over and over, with occasional three minute breaks of sunshine, from Saturday evening through Sunday evening.

H went skiing.

Moody Saturday

It wasn't too cold up at Alta on Saturday but it was windy and dark, with very flat light.  They had snow showers off and on but not too much in the way of accumulation.  But we knew they were going to get some, especially as the thunderstorm moved past us Saturday night and headed on up the canyons.

By Sunday morning, the resorts in the Cottonwood Canyons were reporting 12" overnight.  H didn't dillydally and made sure that he got the 6:30 a.m. ski bus.  They got to Alta about twenty-five minutes late, due to dodging other vehicles that had slid off the road, but that was way better than people who didn't get an early start: H talked to a guy who had driven up and it had taken him two hours from the Cottonwood Heights fire station on Wasatch Boulevard due to heavy traffic and slushy conditions.

Just a few tracks

Speaking of condtions, the snow was fantastic, deep and soft and while it wasn't light enough to be considered blower powder, H did get it puffing over his head in some deep pockets that he found.  Plus it kept snowing all day - "free refills."  And since the canyon road was snarled with vehicles, he didn't have to wait in line much, just doing deep lap after deep lap.  He started on the Sugarloaf chair, enjoying good runs down Chartreuse, and then over at the Supreme lift, doing Challenger, the former gullies, the trees off the cat track, Supreme Bowl, the Three Bears trees and one run into the beginning of Catherine's Area where there's a stand of trees we like.

This is that stand of trees we like.  

Look how deep!

Around 12:50, he hopped on the Sugarloaf lift, intending to go ski off the front side for a while (Fred's Trees were calling his name).  But at the top, Alta ski patrol was closing the EBT for avalanche control and the canyon road was closing 1:30 - 3:30 (also for avalanche control).  So he basically straightlined it back down to Alf's and through Sunnyside, then poled for all he was worth across the rope tow, ran to the locker room, threw his skis and poles in the locker, grabbed his boot bag and ran - still in his ski boots - for the 1:09 ski bus.  He was the last one on before the driver closed the doors, and then they just managed to pack the bus full and get out before they closed the canyon.  It was too bad because the snow was so good, but if he'd stayed and skied and taken a 3:30 or later bus, it was probable that he wouldn't have made it home before 5 p.m.

 

variable

 In my current, "I only want to ski when the sun shines" era, I had been eying the upcoming weekend forecast with trepidation: Saturday 19-30 F with 3-5 inches of snow, windy and possibility of thundersnow; Sunday high of 25 F with 1-3 inches.  That's not what I think of when I think of spring skiing.  So I checked my work schedule and was able to play hooky on Thursday, with the plan to work on Saturday so as not to burn a vacation day.  Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday would have been ideal, with Alta sporting warm temperatures and bluebird skies, but Thursday was what I was able to come up with.  The forecasts were all over the place but they all averaged out to fairly warm, snow showers either early or late but not much accumulation, possibly windy.

You don't have to have parking reservations Monday through Thursday, and since there wasn't supposed to be much snow I opted to drive up instead of taking the bus.  I invited H to join me but he had some work stuff he couldn't get out of.  So I slept in until 7 (!), got up and walked Milton, had avocado toast and coffee for breakfast and rolled on out in my little Subaru around 8:20 a.m.  It took me twenty minutes to get up there and they parked me in the second row, just five cars in.  Decadent!  I got the locker opened on the first try, chatted with some of the regular locals in the locker room and then headed up to ski.

It had just barely been sprinkling/spitting snow when I drove past Snowbird but by the time I was walking to the lift line at Collins, it had graduated to snowing.  Big, fat, wet flakes.  It was warm, which was good but also bad because neither my puffy jacket nor my ski pants are particularly waterproof.  By the time we got to the top of Collins, there was around an inch of new snow coating the frozen hardpack underneath.  I went straight to Supreme, got a chair to myself and it kept snowing harder.  As I neared the top of that lift, it was snowing so hard that you couldn't see the next lift tower.  Now I was anxious about driving home: if only I'd skied earlier in the week, or if only I'd taken the bus.  I decided to do two runs at each lift and then check the parking lot back at Wildcat base to see if the snow was sticking to the road.

Extra large photo so you can see the falling snowflakes

As it turns out, the roads were fine, warm enough that snow didn't stick at all.  And after about forty minutes of snowing hard, it stopped - and the weather just kept changing every ten or fifteen minutes, like it didn't know what to do.  Snow, then no precipitation and flat light, then the sun would come out enough that I was overdressed, then a little graupel squall, then back to dry with flat light, and so on.  The snow was variable as well: the top of Collins was bulletproof, then the middle bit was pretty nice, then coming down through Corkscrew you were skiing on frozen death cookies.

I left a little after 1 p.m., having done plenty of runs as there were so few people that I never had to wait in line.  When there were enough people to merit my going to the singles line, I skied right to the front of the line and filled a chair; otherwise I was able to ski right onto the chairs.  I felt like I was skiing better than last time too: I went at exactly the pace I wanted to and I wasn't anxious about other skiers.  The conditions might not have been what I had hoped for but it was still a really good day.

did someone say spring skiing?

 I had announced that I was going to ski Sunday and not Saturday.  H wasn't sure that was the best idea as Sunday's forecast had a few more clouds in it but I just wanted a break in the string of days where I had to get up at 5:30 a.m.  So off he went on Saturday: up at 5:30 for the 6:30 ski bus and on up to Alta where it was clear and bright blue skies, lovely warm sun, temperatures getting up to the low 40s, softening snow and lots of people.  The lift lines were long and the trails kind of crowded; quite a lot of terrain was closed for avalanche control after the wild and windy week we'd had.

Devil's Castle looms large

Meanwhile, down in the valley, Milton and I had a nice walk up through Dimple Dell, complete with a pause to watch some bison (!) exploring their new suburban pasture (the fence the people put in was massive).  Then, while Milton stayed out in our driveway (on a tie-out) to keep an eye on the neighbors, I cooked: making InstantPot black beans, then black bean soup, chocolate chip cookies and meal-prepping "sausage, egg and cheese" breakfast sandwiches for the freezer.  When H got home from skiing, we all decamped to the still-sunny driveway to enjoy the spring weather.

Pausing to enjoy the scenery

On Sunday, both of us were up at 5:30 for the 6:30 ski bus and on up to Alta.  Despite the forecast (the forecasts seem to have been less accurate this ski season), it was clear and bright blue skies, lovely warm sun, temperatures getting up to the high 30s - but seeming warmer because of the sun, softening snow and lnot nearly as many people.  Whether it was the not-so-nice forecast that kept folks away, or valley golfing or maybe pregaming for St. Patrick's Day, the lift lines were not too long.  It did get busier as the day wore on, but patrol opened Ballroom and the Backside, which took some pressure off some of the more-trafficked trails.  It was quite delighful, just the kind of day I had been hoping for up on the hill.

desert things

 Once the latest round of weather cleared out, we went to Moab for a long weekend.  Part of what we did was sad, because we said goodbye to two neighbors who are moving to Oregon for their next adventures.  We - including Milton! - will miss Natalie and Lauren and wish them very well.

Parking lot look-out

Part of what we did wasn't at all sad, however.  On Saturday, H did an eight (8!) mile trail run as part of his new trail running program.  In hindsight, that was probably a little long for his knees but at the time, he felt great.  We went to Moab Brand trails for the "event."  Since we know it so well, we figured he could do his run and Milton and I could do our regular Circle O loop and we'd all end up finished at the same time.  And that's exactly what we did.  Milt didn't like splitting up the herd at first, so I had to keep him on leash for a while.  It was a gorgeous day, mostly clear and sunny but cool - perfect for a long run.  H did great and that was the longest he's run since he ran cross-country in high school.

The boys in motion

On Sunday, even though H's knees were a little sore, we decided that a short (no more than four miles) hike would be a good idea, just to get things moving again.  We drove out to the upper Navajo Rocks trailhead and went out the jeep trail towards Wipe Out Hill.  The first part is on a smooth rocky shelf that goes along the red cliff walls.  Then it switches to sand but since it had rained Friday night as we were driving into town, the sand was still pretty well packed and easy to walk on.  

Warm enough for shorts, btw

We had intended to do an out-and-back, turning around once we got to two miles.  Just before the two-mile mark, however, we came to a wash.  We knew there was another 4x4 road to the south of us and H thought that if we walked the wash, we could cut across to that other road and not have to retrace our steps.  I love walking in washes.  You don't have to worry about footprints; you usually have it to yourself; and it's often more interesting than just stomping along a dirt road.  We did have to scramble under a couple of gnarled junipers but H was right and we came to the other road before too long.

In the wash

When we got back to the parking lot - which was busy-ish but not packed, with MTBers, trailrunners and hikers; we'd seen one side-by-side and one jeep out on the trail - we chatted with some folks while Milton made friends with their dogs: Summit, an eleven year old yellow lab; and also Hank, a tall, young border collie who kept trying to herd Milt.

504 and counting

 H hasn't had to shovel very much down at the house but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a good snow year: Alta hit 504 inches of snowfall on the year, with just over a month to go in the season.  That's a good snow year!  Here's a graphic comparing 2023-2024 (blue/this year) to 2021-2022 (green/two years ago) - way better, although that season did have a strong finish:

Of course, here's what this year looks like when compared to the ridiculous over-the-top-ness of 2022-2024 (green/last year), the likes of which we'll never see again:

in like a lion(-ish)

 On Friday, March 1st, H was already fretting by dinnertime.  The weather had been going on for days about the storm moving into the Cottonwood canyons: warm and windy Friday; colder, high winds, thunder-snow and heavy snowfall Saturday; not as windy but very cold and snowy Sunday.  Some sources were talking a potential for 42 inches of snow by the time it was over.  The fretting focused around the fact that high winds means lift holds, thundersnow means lift holds and so much snow means high avalanche danger and really messy roads.  I wasn't fretting.  None of that forecast sounded like anything I wanted to be involved with.

And boy was it windy!  It picked up Friday night, kept it up all through the night and was even worse come Saturday morning.  Like, shake the house / flip tractor-trailers on the interstate windy.  H reluctantly decided to not go up to Alta on Saturday - his first time being in the house on a Saturday morning since before ski season started in November.  I'm sure he was second guessing himself all day, especially since the precipitation part storm didn't show up until just after 2 p.m.  The winds dropped dramatically and it first graupeled, then hailed, then some thunder and lightning, before segueing to wet snow.  Powder Mountain hadn't bothered opening at all, citing the high winds.  The Cottonwood Canyons resorts opened, with some wind holds, until the lightning arrived ... and then they all shut things down.

Good sunrise from earlier in the week

Milton and I found it a little disconcerting to have H in the house but we didn't let him distract us.  We did a four mile walk in those strong winds - we had to dodge tumbleweeds flying down the street - and a nice lady told him he had "cute feet."  Then we did a quick run to Ocean Mart in Sandy for some specialty ingredients I needed for new recipes I want to try.  I could easily spend multiple hundreds of dollars there, there's so much I want to try: all the spices, condiments (chili-garlic sauces, banana ketchup, fermented bean curd, different vinegars and soy sauces), fresh fruits and vegetables, noodles and tofu, frozen buns and rolls and lumpia ... I got out of there with dark soy sauce, Shaoxing rice cooking wine, sesame paste, sambal oelek, tamarind paste, chili crisp, fresh shiitake mushrooms and long bok choy, extra firm tofu, a bamboo steamer and, my one impulse buy, Thai-spiced vegan jerky.  I love Ocean Mart.

Back home, I made vegetable broth from veggie scraps in the freezer, a vegan Nantucket cranberry pie dehydrated the shiitakes I didn't need right away, and made sesame noodles for dinner.  When the storm arrived, the streetlights all came on at 2 p.m. and we stood at the window, watching the snow come down.  It had been 63 F and sunny earlier in the week but March is now here and with a bit of a roar.

viva la divas

 Sunday ended up being a carbon copy of Saturday up Alta - even better, H reported, as it was sunnier and slightly warmer.  Ski patrol even got East Castle open, so literally the whole mountain was skiable (if you're able).  He had watched them doing avalanche control there and contemplated hiking in there but ended up getting bored of Supreme laps waiting for the rope to drop; by the time it was open, he was skiing at Collins and didn't go back.

I didn't ski Sunday, opting for a long walk with Milton, vacuuming, laundry and chocolate chip cookie baking instead.  That was only the morning, however.  By 1 p.m. I was cleaned up (boots with heels even!) and driving to downtown SLC.  I was meeting E and K and some of their friends at the Metro Music Hall (615 West 100 South) for a matinee showing of The Viva La Diva! Show.  The venue is on the far side of the Gateway area, with several other clubs nearby.  It isn't a location that I would want to frequent after dark but in the bright afternoon sunshine, it was fine and I followed a group of older women into the club.

Fun crew

E and K were waiting at the door for me and a couple other folks, and they swept us right down front to our seats.  The bar was open, with draft beer and cocktails available; after the show started, they had a system where you could open a tab with your credit card and then text drink orders to be delivered to your seat.  As the place filled up, E and K seemed to know every other person there and, as usual, all of their friends are both interesting and nice.

The show - my very first drag show - is a combination of comedy and different act lip-syncing.  The host/star, Jason CoZmo, is a world champion Dolly Parton impersonator; he also did Bette Midler and Lucille Ball at this show.  The performers are a fantastic array of people, all different genders/shapes/ethnicities: the acts included Neil Diamond, Madonna, Ceelo Green, Kenny Rogers and a Barbie ensemble.  The audience was super into it - singing, cheering, applauding, laughing - and after every act, we all got up and tipped the performers.  Jason Cozmo was especially fantastic: quick on his feet, funny as he roasted the audience viciously but always with an edge of humor.  The sole man in our group got called up on stage for a bit and did so well, playing off CoZmo, totally relaxed and game, that when he went back to his seat, he got his own tips!

Hello, "Dolly"!

By the end of it, my throat was sore from all the hooting and hollering.  CoZmo thanked everyone for coming, reiterated that despite the teasing, this was a safe space for everyone.  And it's true: you could feel the warmth and acceptance in the room.  It was a terrific first drag show for me, and a great show period.  And the fact that it was still light out when I got home made it even better.  Viva la diva!

a gorgeous day in lcc

 I realize that I have turned into one of "those" skiers.  You know, the ones who only want to ski on bluebird days, when it isn't too cold, the visibility is great and the snow is soft.  And Saturday totally enabled me to embrace that because it was clear, sunny, warm and Alta was just coming off a very nice storm cycle.  We still had to get up early and take the early bus, and then sit with our books in the Goldminer's Daughter cafe waiting for the lifts to open.  (By the way, why the HECK was the GMD cafe area so cold?  It was warmer in the hallway, where the door to outside is, and we were even sitting next to a little radiator.)  There were some demo tents set up at the Wildcat base area and you could just tell that the patio was going to be packed with people later on.

After riding up Collins, we went straight to Sugarloaf where it is sunnier first thing in the morning.  We did several runs there, including going over upper Cabin Hill to do a Cabin Run.  Things are pretty well tracked out and bumped up off-piste but the bumps were still soft and kind of chalky.  They had groomed out most of Razorback which was skiing quite nice - and a much different experience than when it is nothing but giant moguls.

Cabin Hill.  I wasn't overdressed

until the Catherine's run

We switched to Supreme for a bit, as it got busier and busier.  I requested a Catherine's Area run - where we paused to watch skiers much younger than us hucking themselves off some cliffs - and a Devil's Playground run (the gate at the bottom of Rock 'N Roll has both been moved and signed).  And we got to see one of the resident Alta porcupines, trundling along the edge of a trail and attracting quite a lot of fans.

When the singles lines at both Supreme and Sugarloaf stretched out far beyond the corrals, we moved to Collins, where the patio was full, the tunes were cranked and the lift lines were not so long.  Before noon ski patrol had opened the Baldy gates: there was a long line of skiers boot-packing their way up and so many people skiing the chutes.  I don't recall ever seeing so many skiers in Main Chute - just one after another - but also in Little Chute, Dogleg, Perla's and from the ridge between Perla's and the Rotors.  Despite all that open terrain, the most off-piste I got over there was a Ballroom run: soft and not life-threatening - perfect!

enjoying the last of the quiet season

 The Moab off season is getting shorter and shorter.  It's really just December, January and the first part of February now; we were there for the long President's Day weekend and have already noticed a slight uptick in tourists.  It didn't hurt that the weather was really nice: chilly in the mornings but reaching into the 50s with good sunshine.  It was still cool in the shade and the wind was cold when it picked up, but generally very pleasant.  We did have a small system move through Saturday night, leaving Sunday a little more overcast to start, but no complaints from us.

Oh hey it's this photo of Arches NP from

MOAB Braind Trails that I've certainly

never taken before /s/

We had driven down Thursday afternoon and so were ready to go Friday morning.  As soon as it warmed up.  But the sun was out so that didn't take too long and we three went out to the Moab Brand trails so H could MTB and Milton and I could hike.  There were a handful of vehicles in the parking lot but the trails themselves were pretty empty.  While H did his Rusty Spur/Arches overlook/Bar M/Lazy-EZ loop, the dog and I walked out Bar M (from the parking lot cutoff) to Circle O.  We encountered four MTBers out there and that was it.  The potholes were quite full from the recent storms - Milton even got to go "swimming" in the biggest one.  H rode out a little ways from the northern trailhead and as soon as Milton saw him (from about a quarter mile away), he took off like a rocket, running back to the truck with H and leaving me to finish the walk by myself.

The color of that sky!

Saturday was again clear and gorgeous, but with a light and cold wind.  H wanted to do a longer trail run so this time we went to Amasa Back.  Since it was the weekend, there were a fair number of vehicles in this parking lot and while we did see more folks out on the trail - five side-by-sides and a number of MTBers - it was still peaceful for most of our time out there.  H and Milton did the loop clockwise (out on the MTB trail and back on the jeep trail) while I did it reversed (out on the jeep trail and back on the MTB trail), with the thought that we would probably cross paths near the Cliffhanger junction/river overlook.  That was exactly what happened and Milton sprinted up to say hi to me before continuing down with H.  Since I now had the longer portion to do, H ended up waiting about a half hour for me back at the truck; he brought a camp chair and his book, and he and Milton were making friends with all the other dogs in the parking lot by the time I rolled in.

They found me

Sunday was slightly more overcast so we just did the quick Slickrock practice loop (H and M running; me walking) to get our exercise in.  By the time we finished, the clouds were breaking up and the afternoon was lovely.  And then Monday we just did an hour and a half town walk: along the bike path, out to and up 500 West, back down Main Street to make a loop.  Things are definitely picking up in town: restaurants and shops are starting to reopen and there were lots more folks walking around.  Local businesses will be thrilled for an increase in tourists - we'll just have to pick our trails more carefully if we want to find quiet.

that's the way (uh huh uh huh) i like it

This isn't a real post but just popping in to say that this winter is shaping up to be quite good snow/water-wise.  Meteorological winter is over and the weather folks are trying to get a handle on the spring - but as of this posting, Alta has had 437" of snowfall with around two months to go in the 2023/2024 season.  It's looking to be one of the snowiest winters since we moved here in 2009!  Nothing on last winter, of course, but what I especially like about this winter is that nearly all the snow is up in the mountains!  That's the best place for it for snowmelt/run-off capture ... but it's also really really good as far as the shoveling and driving!  (I may have just jinxed us as there's supposed to be valley snow on Tuesday.)

a tale of two weathers

 Northern Utah got a nice series of storms throughout the week that brought mostly rain to the Salt Lake Valley (and lemme tell ya, by Thursday we were desparate to see the sun) and over 50" of new snow to Alta.  Last I checked, their snow total was 362" on the season which is definitely respectable.  As that system moved out, however, cold weather moved in.  With cloudy skies and a forecasted high of 9F for Alta, there was no way I was going skiing on Saturday.

H went, of course, grabbing the 6:30 a.m. bus - and being thankful for it later when he read that the 7 a.m. bus was full after leaving the very first stop (the one before ours).  It was cold and cloudy, spitting snow off and on, but the conditions were really quite good.  While he did that, Milton and I did a four mile walk, dealt with two loads of laundry, changed bed sheets and vacuumed and made chocolate chip cookies and chili.  (Then H and I went and socialized, as previously discussed.  It was a busy day.)

Sunday was to be still cold but warmer, plus sunny, so I charged up my battery-powered socks and was with H on the 6:30 bus.  We both wore our warmest parkas as it was 20F at the base when the lifts opened, colder at the summit and frigid-feeling in the shade.  We immediately went to the Sugarloaf lift because that one is almost 100% in the sun, even first thing in the morning.  Lots of other people had that idea too and there was a noticable lift line before 10 (as opposed to the line not showing up until 10:30 on Saturday).  That was okay, though, because the sun was strong and the snow was pretty good - all skied out, of course, but a nice combination of soft and/or chalky.  As we did laps there, we could see ski patrol hiking out into Devil's Castle; soon enough lots and lots of explosions shook the mountains from the avalanche control work.

You can just see that cloud coming up the canyon

After Sugarloaf we switched to Supreme for a while.  It was busy enough that we exclusively rode the singles lines on all the lifts.  The lifties were doing a good job, though, so it never seemed like we waited all that long.  By 11:45 my heated socks - which are very thick - were squeezing my toes too much.  I proposed that we move to Collins: I went to change into different socks and then we just skied the front side until it was time to catch our bus home.

It was an absolutely stunning day, with as much sunshine as you could want (we need to start remembering sunscreen) until about 2 p.m.  As we rode the bus down Little Cottonwood Canyon, this weird cloud was working its way up - it wasn't an inversion-y mess of smog, just a stray cloud - and it looked like the nice warm (30F) sunshine was done for the day.  That was okay.  We were done too.

socializing

 We don't socialize much in SLC.  Down in Moab, it's easy to just walk to one of several bars or to peek over the fence to see if our neighbors are around for a beer.  But in SLC, it's much more of an effort.  During the week, we aren't likely to go out: H will sometimes meet a friend for a post-work beer but since I work downtown, and have a thirty-mile round-trip commute, I am unlikely to want to drive back in town in the evenings (and bars/vegan-friendly restaurants are scarce in our neighborhood).  On the weekends, we tend to get up early to get out and do outdoors stuff before the trails get crowded or it gets hot, and then when we get home, it's difficult to rally to go back out.  

One of my goals for 2024 is to get out more, however.  To support more local small businesses and to get us out of the house.  Occasionally.

We're off to a good start, I think, because we met our friends E and K for dinner on Saturday to celebrate E's birthday and to catch up - they have VERY busy schedules and it had been since November (?) since we'd all connected in person.  They suggested an early dinner at Vertical Diner and we were like yes! because (1) early is good and (2) Vertical Diner is one of the OG vegan restaurants in SLC.  We hadn't been there yet but it has been on my list for a while. 

Vertical Diner (234 West 900 South) is fantastic.  Huge menu, 100% plant-based and while it may not be the healthiest for you, it was DELICIOUS.  It was so much fun looking at a menu and realizing that there were multiple things I wanted to - and would - eat.  H had a reuben, K had a chik'n fried steak with roasted brussels sprouts, E had a cheez steak sandwich and I had a chik'n biscuit and gravy.  There were sides of mac-n-cheez and mashed potatoes and gravy ... it was a table full of seitan and carbs and everyone one of us cleaned our plates.  They have beer on tap and cocktails too.  We were all so happy.

Dinner had been on the early side because E and K - who have an exhausting social calendar - were heading out to watch a friend's band later.  But they were just going to the RoHa Brewing Project (30 E Kensington Ave.) just a few blocks away and since it was early, we went too for a beer.  We'd never been to Roha before - small, super-chill place with lots of taps and even more cans of their own brews, a food truck outside and a large dog-friendly patio for warmer weather.  We hung out until way past H's bedtime, drinking local brews, playing a tabletop hook and ring game, meeting E and K's friends and listening to a fantastic local bluegrass band, Mars Highway.  

We have loved living down in Sandy: we like our house, we like our neighbors, we love the proximity to the Cottonwood Canyons.  But boy, it sure is fun to come up to the "big city" lol and do city stuff.  Here's to a little more of that this year.

if you go down in the woods today

 When the ME-FL road trip was complete, and we got into my folks' Eastpoint VRBO, the owners had very specific instructions regarding the garbage cans, as in keeping food scraps in the freezer until the morning of garbage pickup due to bears.  Like, national park-level rules.  Also, they asked us to keep on the floodlights under the house (stilt house) and at the corners, due to bears.  Okay, we thought, rolling our eyes.

We take it ALL back:

Cutest little bear ever - just wish we'd gotten to see him live and in person.  He showed up around 2 a.m. and the security cams caught him.

Also, the sun was out and the trees were taller.  The Forgotten Coast is not your typical Florida.

And now back to our regularly scheduled western content.

while i was out

 Last week I flew to Maine (and boy were my arms tired hardehar) and drove my folks to Florida so they could snowbird for a few weeks.  While I was doing that, H and Milton hied down to Moab - directly after dropping me at the airport - and stayed there for the week.  I asked H to take photos throughout the week and send them to me so I could follow along.

Nice alpen glow

Somebody decided he was allowed on the couch

Trail days

More couch time

Calm Colorado River

In-town Mill Creek

They kept the mural when they repainted the building

I have spared you the photos of the prodigious amount of upchuck Milton deposited on our brand new rug.  (Why do dogs always throw up on the rugs?)

eat more plants

 Veganuary 2024 is over but there's no reason not to keep your plant-based eating on.  Here's a little list of some vegan / vegan-friendly restaurants in the greater SLC area.  All small businesses, locally owned.  (Not to mention the bar food at places like Grid City Beerworks, Ice Haus, the Handle Bar, Piper Down ...)  And some of the places are dog-friendly too!

Rawtopia

Blatch's Backyard BBQ

Sweet Hazel and Co.

Mark of the Beastro  (Hail seitan!)

Vegan Daddy Meats

Vertical Diner

Zest

Buds

All Chay

And here are some lists with lots more - SLC is pretty vegan-friendly, y'all!

stormy sunday

 When H went back up to Alta Sunday morning, he took the 6:30 bus again.  The bus was five minutes late but he managed to get a seat, for which he was grateful: he heard over the radio that the next bus was full to bursting, SRO.  The mountains hadn't really gotten any overnight snow but the clouds were very low and it was spitting snow off and on all day, again not amounting to a whole lot but making visibility awful - skiing in the actual clouds makes flat light like we'd had the day before seem clear and bright.  It got colder as the day wore on and the snow held up.

#iykyk

(and if you don't know, Alta is east of Snowbird)

Meanwhile, down in the valley, Milton and I timed our morning walk just right to avoid the rain, which picked up just as we headed off for a post-walk Costco run.  On the way home, I swung by a little local coffee drive-thru and Milton got his very first drive-thru biscuit, which was very exciting.  The rest of our day, while it rained off and on, involved lots of laundry, getting caught up on posting here, chocolate chip cookies, homemade vegetable soup and red lentil soup and a leek and potato frittata for dinner.  I didn't quite get around to vacuuming but a girl can only do so much.

stormy saturday

 While we were down in Moab, northern Utah got a very nice storm: Alta ended up with 87" out of that storm cycle alone.  They also got avalanches, closed canyon roads and an interlodge, but the new snow was both needed and welcomed.  A friend of mine went boarding at Brighton on Saturday and reported that it was fantastic riding ... and I'm glad he had such a good day because then on Monday, he went boarding at Brighton and ended up both dislocating AND fracturing his shoulder.  Season over - at least he went out with good conditions.

By the time we got up there, on the weekend after the long holiday weekend, it was just in time for a smaller refresher system to move in.  I studied the weekend forecast closely and determined that Saturday was the better day for me: windy but warmer, with the snow not starting until around 2 p.m.  It was windy and warm all right - starting at 30 F at the base when we started and warming to around 37 F - but the snow started at 10 a.m. and kept going all day.  It didn't amount to a whole lot, just enough to make things soft again, but you could also tell how much the big storm had helped cover things.  H declared it the best conditions of the season (so far).

I know we have a lot of photos just like

this but I really like this one

We took an earlier bus up (6:30) and it wasn't crowded at all.  We hung out in GMD reading and then retired to the basement locker room to put on our boots.  We alternated going through the singles lines and the main corrals at the various lifts, depending on what the lines looked like.  After getting out of the Wildcat base area, we went straight to the Supreme lift and did several runs there.  We switched to Sugarloaf where the lines were much shorter; the strong, chilly wind on the ride up explained why there were so few people there.  After that one ride up, we went back to Collins and stayed there most of the day (unusual for me): the lines weren't terrible - despite all the dingdongs ducking the ropes and cutting us off in the singles line - the runs are longer and the snow was really quite good.

We had planned our layers based on it not snowing until 2 p.m., and the fact that it started in the morning instead had us damp and starting to get chilled by 1 p.m.  No worries: we hopped on the 1:39 bus and headed home, where Milton was glad to see us.

long weekend things

 Well, gosh, that week got away from me, didn't it?  

We went to the desert (Moab, of course) for the long Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.  I managed to pack in enough hours at work through the week that I only need to bring a couple of hours of work home with me to take Friday "off."  That meant we could go down Thursday, giving us a whole extra day there.  

Friday we intended to go to Salt Flats Recreation Area but our season pass had expired, so we did an out-and-back along the Pipedream trail instead.  We started at the Jackson Street entry, and Milton and H did some trail running while I, trying to manage a tweaked knee, just hiked.  When we were in the sun, it was pretty pleasant (30s F) but in the shade - and there is a lot of shade on that trail this time of year, once you get close to noontime - it was chilly.

Canyon views

On Saturday, we three went out to Seven Mile Canyon to take a short hike in the north fork.  This section of the canyon comes right up under the Monitor and Merrimac buttes and it looks like you can get up there by ascending the rock levels towards the start of the hike.  We didn't do that but I have it in mind for later in the spring.  We were the only ones there, aside from some birds, and it is just so nice to find places in Moab where you can be out on your own, not too far from town.  We do see people in this little canyon in the spring/summer/fall, but that January day, it was ours alone.

My guys

Sunday H wanted to trail run again - and Milton was up for anything - so we just went to Moab Brand Trails.  We all set out on Lazy-EZ and the two of them ran ahead, then turned around and met back up with me, stumping along per usual.  There were about nine other vehicles in the parking lot when we had gotten there but we only saw one MTBer and one trail runner, so again it was like having our own private trails.  Milton did scare up a desert cottontail towards the end of our hike; that bunny easily outsmarted him by diving into some rocks.  Exciting nonetheless!

we each do our part

 After over a week of poor air quality, we had a series of small storms roll through northern Utah, beginning Thursday evening (1/4/24).  These storms brought some much needed snow - as of Sunday evening, Alta had received eleven inches (not spectacular, but welcomed nonetheless) - and much colder temperatures.  Like, Alta's highs for the weekend did not go above 15 F.  That is too cold for me, even with heated socks.

H, who doesn't get cold as quickly as I do, skied both days.  On Saturday, his usual bus was SRO and he heard over the bus's radio that the bus behind them left a whole bunch of wannabe skiers at the bus stop, unable to load them on the crowded bus.  On Sunday, he took an early bus (6:30 a.m. omigosh), which didn't leave the park and ride until 6:50 a.m. and then got stuck in the "red snake" of traffic on the way up.  He was glad that he'd made the effort for the early bus, however, since UDOT tweeted out that vehicles were struggling to get up the canyon due to the snowy conditions.

The snow was good, the lift lines were shorter (due to it not being vacation week and also COLD and snowy) and he got hailed by a local whilst reading in the Goldminer's Daughter lodge prior to the lifts opening.  He did get cold, though, his feet especially.

Down in the valley, Milton and I had our own fun.  On Saturday, we walked for an hour and then shoveled, the dog "helping" me by standing in my way every chance he got.  Once indoors, I did two loads of laundry (including putting them away!), changed the sheets, made both chocolate chip and oatmeal-raisin cookies, as well as lentils for the week ahead and a really, really good lentil bolognese sauce for pasta dinner.  

Sunday was colder and snowier.  We walked for an hour and shoveled for an hour, helped out immensely by our neighbor who graciously ran his snowblower down our sidewalk frontage.  Then I made six quarts of homemade veggie broth for the freezer, cleaned out a closet, caught up with an old friend on the phone and successfully made an actual loaf of bread, with yeast and all.  Very exciting.  Dinner was a new recipe: tofu giniling, a Filipino-style picadillo with carrots, raisins, green olives and potatoes.

ski days (second part)

Saturday was partly/mostly cloudy, with a 20% chance of snow and a spectacular sunrise.  Milton and I stayed home (walked, made chocolate chip cookies, "egg" squares for breakfast sandwiches, soup, etc.).  H got a seat on the bus (what the heck?) and at 9:13 a.m. texted me that it was 35 F at the base of Alta.  Now, I like it warm but that it way too warm for Alta at this time of year and what little snow there is will NOT last long at those temperatures.  H skied until 1:30 and then caught the bus home.

On Sunday, I went too.  We got seats on the bus, and trucked right on up there to Goldminer's Daughter.  It wasn't too crowded so we just grabbed a couple of seats and read our books until it was time to get on the chair.  It was a gorgeous day, warming into the 30s with clear, bright, blue skies and no wind.  It was definitely skiing firm and as the crowds grew - the lift lines popped up around 10:30 but were never horrific - I was nervous because I haven't had my skis tuned in two (or more) years.  I had no edges whatsoever which wasn't an issue for the first three runs, but after that the high traffic areas got skied off and I was skidding a bit.  With how busy it got, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to stop suddenly or avoid someone if necessary.  Anxiety aside, I felt much better than I had on my first day on the hill: stronger legs, better hydration.  When we quit around 1:30 p.m., we thought to get a New Year's Eve celebratory beer - the GMD patio was packed, however, and the beer lines were longer than the lift lines.  We caught the bus instead and descended into the crappy valley air.

Trying everything to get a storm 

so the air will clear out

I had selected New Year's Eve to ski over New Year's Day because Monday was supposed to be colder.  I blew it, though, because (1) Monday was a carbon copy of Sunday - sunny, clear, 30s - and (2) there were way fewer people.  H skied right onto the lift all day!  (That would have eased my mind quite a lot as regards my dull edges.)  No new snow so the conditions were duplicated as well.  On the plus side, the other GMD basement locker owners are beginning to recognize H and introduce themselves, so potential new friends are in the offing.