ain't no spring here

 There has been no sign of spring in northern Utah - or even southern Utah, as St. George, which usually has around three days in the 70s in March, will not have seen a single day in the 70s in March this year - with cold temperatures and snow (so much snow) continuing to roll in.  

We were back up at Alta the weekend right before "spring" with both of us skiing Saturday and just H skiing Sunday.  We got up at 5:30, left the house at 6:30, got a seat on the second bus of the day and were up at Albion Base by 7:15.  (This time we didn't spring for an exorbitantly priced cup of coffee.)  There are still struggles with the new six-person Sunnyside chair: skiers, especially beginners, cannot successfully count to six, and the lifties have not figured out the best way to get people through the gates in the right numbers.  Still, we got on without waiting too long and then skied right onto the Supreme chair.

#iykyk

The snow is, as you might imagine, fantastic.  The cold temperatures have kept it soft and there's just so much of it - whole sheds and houses are buried and the trail signs are at hip-height.  We skied at Supreme for a number of runs, H venturing into the trees and popping back out with a grin on his face, until it got crowded.  We shifted to Sugarloaf, found it quite cold with the wind (as it often is) and moved to the front side to ski Collins.  Unsurprisingly, the snow was terrific there too - Corkscrew may have been the best its ever been - although high traffic areas were getting skied off just a bit.  We noticed lots of people taking the traverse all the way across Ballroom and skiing the chutes on Baldy Shoulder.

There are markers like this all over now

so the snowcats don't run over buried buildings

My legs are not in shape (that's not an excuse, it's a fact as I have not been good about doing squats this winter) and so I skied out to catch the 1:30 p.m. bus.  H skied an hour longer and when he got home, we took advantage of the marginally-warm temperatures - the sun was out! - to tailgate in the driveway.

Alf's is pretty much an igloo now

On Sunday, I did a long walk with Milton, started some seeds (hot peppers, Thai and regular basil and cilantro) and did a bunch of meal-prep cooking (pumpkin muffins, maple oat bars, lentil "sausage patties" and "egg" squares for breakfast sandwiches, cashew cream, cajun spiced beans and pureed butternut squash) while H skied.  It was a little colder and a little less sunny up at Alta so the snow had stiffened up a bit and wasn't quite as good off-piste.  It was a little colder and a little less sunny down in the valley too but that didn't stop us from bundling up and tailgating again.