the calm before the storm

It hasn't been entirely calm here, what with Christmas parties and cookie-baking and limoncello-making and mailing gifts and cards and putting up the "Christmas tree."  All that is what we've been doing while it hasn't been snowing very much.  All that was about to change, with a big, wet storm heading our way for Saturday afternoon through Monday, and then another, colder storm for Christmas Eve.  But when we headed up to Alta Saturday morning, there had only been about five new inches during the week - I was hoping that was enough to keep the bases of my skis safe.

It was lightly snowing when we got up there, about 30 F at the base and in the 20s at the summit, with very flat light.  On the plus side, it wasn't at all crowded and would remain that way all day.  The groomers were in great shape with those five additional inches, smooth and flowy.  The ungroomed trails were less enjoyable: a few inches of fluff on top of rock-hard bumps.  We fared better off piste in Catherine's Area: we took good two runs down around So Long where the snow was soft and the rocks pretty well covered.

That's the most sun we saw on Saturday

It was a fairly social day for us as well, as we chatted with some of our favorite Skier Services folks, Martha and Stef, and met Ben, a liftie from Vermont with whom we commiserated about the mosquitoes back east.  We also rode Supreme with this hilarious local seventeen year old who was super outgoing and who apparently spends more time on the slopes than in school.

We skied until about 2:30 p.m., at which point my quads were hollering pretty loudly.  The snow had held up pretty well all day and we were hoping that it would even be better for Sunday.  With this latest storm system, it looks like we may be finally getting some winter weather this winter.