a little goes a long way

It's cliche but what a difference a day makes!  A little storm moved into the area Saturday evening and although Brighton over in Big Cottonwood Canyon got the most snow out of it, Alta managed about 4" at the base and what seemed more like 8" up at the top.  The snow was fairly dense and heavy, which meant it got tracked out and bumped up quickly, especially given how busy it was, but it also made all the difference in the conditions.  Sure, the high traffic areas got scraped off down to the crusty stuff.  But if you could score fresh tracks, it was creamy and smooth.  We even heard some hootin' and hollerin' from the Stonecrusher area!

Views were ... limited

Funnily enough, the Collins lift line was the most treacherous terrain anywhere: the heavy, wet snow was quickly compacted and iced over smooth as the scores of skiers shuffled their way through the line.  The singles lines, on the far left of the corral, were on a bit of an incline and people were skidding and sliding into each other, even as we were all just trying to stand there.  If we'd had edges on our skis, it would have been fine.  But we haven't had our skis tuned since last season so there was no edge to dig in.

Because the snow was heavy, my legs tired quickly - I am in terrible shape this season!  The low visibility made things tough too as we couldn't really see what we were skiing on until we were skiing on it.  But the new snow made everything better and everyone happy: there were many more locals in evidence on Sunday, brought out by the promise of freshies, however small; and the tourists, who don't know any better, were all smiles too.  Even though we always want to ski in the sunshine, this new snow was very welcome.