more of the same

Monday's weather was more of the same: sunny and clear blue skies.  There were noticeably fewer people up at Alta although there were still plenty of lift line doofuses.  We had to get up there first, however, and we found ourselves on a ski bus driven by a crazy bus driver: he got us up there ten minutes early, due to stomping on the accelerator/brakes and skipping stops, and we were grateful that the road was clear and dry.

When we got out on the hill, I was also grateful to find that my skis were running slightly better on the groomers, no doubt because the edges were starting to dull a little, muting whatever it was had been done to them.  We did four runs on Collins and then one at Sugarloaf.  The lift lines started stacking up at that point so we again switched to Supreme for the rest of the day.

Cliff area

We waited until after lunch to give Catherine's Area a try, figuring that the Sunday afternoon sun would have made the exposed areas crusty.  We were right - the run-out was crusty in spots but the upper areas were still pretty good, although skied out.  We also did a number of runs through the top gates and in the trees above Rock N' Roll.  The snow is protected from the sun in there both by the trees and by the cliffs of East Castle and Devil's Castle, so it stays soft long after the storm has moved on.  

We too were ready to move on shortly after 2 p.m., our feet hurting from three days in a row in unforgiving ski boots.  After beers at Goldminer's Daughter, we hopped onto a busy bus and were grateful for a much calmer bus driver to bring us home.