variety

Each morning before skiing I ask H for the Alta forecast and plan my layers accordingly.  Over the years I've gotten enough data to pretty well know what to where for what conditions.  The system isn't perfect.  Sometimes there are disconnects - like this past Saturday.  H told me low to mid-30s, cloudy, with a trace to two inches of new snow.  I took that to mean flurries and so when we got up to Alta and it was snowing like crazy - and wet snow, because the temperatures were pretty warm - I resigned myself to a wet and miserable day.  Luckily the snow let up right when we headed to the first lift line and although it would remain cloudy with occasional snow throughout the day, it wasn't that wet and it certainly wasn't miserable.

The mountain had gotten some new snow overnight too, just enough to get the groomers (which had been groomed before the snowfall) bumped up.  The new snow was fairly creamy to ski on when not bumped up, although some high traffic areas did get skied off and it was a bit crusty underneath.  H and I skied together on Collins for about five runs, including a great little turn through the Ballroom.  Only a few people had been in there ahead of us and it was one of the better Ballroom runs I've ever had.  Around 11 a.m., I shifted over to the Sugarloaf chair; H stayed on the front side, finding nice lines through various stands of trees, until we met back up at Alf's for lunch.

This was the most blue sky we saw all day

The snow started back up again after lunch, but never with any real intensity - although the precipitation did run the gamut from big fluffy flakes to sleet to graupel from one run to the next.  We hung out on Supreme and even managed to ride the chair with Martha from Skier Services (who only has one month to go before she retires - congratulations!).  I quit on the early side with my out-of-shape legs, catching the 2:30 p.m. bus down, while H stayed out a little longer and raced for the 4:15 bus.  The visibility wasn't that great - certainly nothing like last weekend's sunshine - but the snow was good, the temperatures pleasant and the whole day turned out much better than I had anticipated.