an actual bluebird day

Sunday was crowded in the morning but less so than Saturday.  There were some lift line shenanigans but noticeably less so than Saturday.  Temperatures were cooler and the snow was snow but the skies were completely clear and way sunnier than Saturday.  We're going to call it a win!

Temperatures in the high 20s/low 30s meant that the snow never softened very much even with the bright sun.  Off piste terrain remained a bit stiff well into the afternoon and as the high traffic areas got skied off, they got pretty slippery, i.e. the closest thing to "icy" Utah has.  As I haven't bothered to get my skis tuned yet this year, the skied off sections were a little dicey as I couldn't get an edge in and kept skidding through my turns.  Because the sun was out, however, I could see the best spots to ski and didn't get surprised by much.

Sunshine!!!!!

Like we had done the day before, we skied Collins all morning because it had the best/fastest lift line.  At one point I went over to the Sugarloaf side to see if Razorback had any softening bumps.  It didn't: it had been groomed flat although the snow on the lower face started to soften around noon. I couldn't face the alarmingly long singles line at Sugarloaf and so ended up doing another around-the-world back to Collins.

Birds singing and critter tracks all over in the woods

With the gorgeous sunshine, it was warm enough for people to want to eat outside, so Alf's wasn't crowded at lunch.  And after that, the hordes cleared out and we were almost able to ski right onto the lift at Supreme.  We played around there during the afternoon: going into the gate below East Castle again; bouncing down the gullies between Challenger and No. 9 Express (that thankfully weren't frozen rock hard); poling across the highest traverse around Supreme Bowl, into Catherine's Area and then into the first gate in the first meadow for a go at those trees we like so well.  The snow was still pretty good in there and we almost had it to ourselves, only sharing it with one kid, skiing alone, who passed us while exclaiming out loud, "That was so smooth! This is so great!"  He was absolutely right.

While it wasn't perfect snow conditions this weekend - truly, the entire mountain is completely skied out - it was still decent skiing, and the sunshine on Sunday was terrific.  Also terrific: seeing all the avalanche dogs out and about.  We saw Banjo (?), Monty and Lucy, all working the crowds at Wildcat base - still waiting for an OC sighting though.