in which we get a little bit of spring

We weekend warriors have been getting the short end of the stick with respect to the spring skiing lately.  The weather has been beautiful Monday through Friday and then clouding up for the weekend.  Case in point, our not skiing two Saturdays ago because of the weather (small storm that didn't bring much snow but kept the visibility to practically nil) and also our not skiing last Sunday because of the weather (small storm that didn't bring much snow but was blustery and wet).  This past Saturday rolled around and we couldn't stand not skiing again; H checked the weather forecast carefully and determined that the day would start out sunny, with clouds moving in for the afternoon.  That settled it and we were up and at 'em without delay.

After this weekend, Alta is closing M-Th and as we pulled into the parking lot, you could see why: even though we got up there after the lifts opened, the lot was less than one-third full.  The sun was out, with a few clouds floating around, and the temperature was in the low 40s.  We hopped on Collins and rode out of the base, heading over to Sugarloaf first thing.  The Supreme lift closed last weekend and Sugarloaf will be closed after this weekend - gotta ski that terrain while we can.  First run we swung by Supreme (confirming that yes, it was closed), just to warm up the legs.  The snow was pretty soft on the groomers but a little crusty off-piste and iced-up in the shade.  With the sun out (at least for a little while), that would soften things up quickly.

While the sun was still out

We made a lot of runs since we were (a) skiing runs and not off-piste and (b) skiing right back onto the lift with no waiting.  The clouds gathered as the morning wore on, however, and by noon we couldn't see the sun anymore.  Skiing the same runs over and over again was quite a bit less fun in the flat light so we moved over to the front side for a couple of runs before calling it quits.  Half a spring skiing day is better than none (but we had our fingers crossed for more sunshine for Sunday).