good start

And just like that, we're skiing!  Milton was not impressed Saturday morning when H and I scurried around, packing our boot bags, dragging ski pants and jackets out of closets and generally not taking him hiking.  He's a good boy, though, and he just went back to bed as H and I drove to the park-n-ride at 7:30 to catch the ski bus to Alta.

We sure do love early season: we got seats on the bus, we got a table at the Goldminer's Daughter, we never waited too long in the lift lines (although we did ski the singles line a bit) and we got our favorite table at Alf's.  And this year, early season even came with good snow: while the Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm hasn't been supplemented with much new snow, the base at Alta was over 45 inches - and that covers quite a few rocks.

Quick! Take my picture before it gets cloudy!

The weather report said high 20s/low 30s and partly sunny and that wasn't entirely accurate.  When we skied the Collins lift, it was warm at the base (38F max) and the sun was in and out.  Up at the top of Collins and over on the Sugarloaf side, however, the wind was pretty strong and clouds had settled in.  It was COLD.  Unfortunately, that meant the majority of the skiers were skiing the front side, making for longer liftlines and high traffic areas that got skied off quickly.

Still, the snow was quite good, all things considered.  We skied together the whole time: this was our first day back on skis and it was clear that neither of us has done much in the way of conditioning for the season.  We were in no shape for off-piste and so stuck to groomers for the duration; H checked out the conditions in Ballroom and found them firm, and although Extrovert got opened after lunch, you could tell that there were rocks lurking just beneath the snow's surface.  We skied until after 2 p.m., then caught the ski bus back down, again enjoying the lack of crowds.  Even though it was relatively early, the only plan for the afternoon was to nap with the dog and rest up for day #2.