glass half full

 If you don't mind skiing eastern conditions, right now is a good time to ski Utah.  (Forget I said that - don't ski Utah.  Ski Colorado instead.)  We haven't had any snow since December 8 and conditions are firm.  Coverage is okay, but the base is disappearing with no new precipitation to bolster it.  So why is it a good time to ski?  Because there aren't many people out right now: it's only the hardcore folks, the ones who have been impatiently waiting for the lifts to start turning since they closed down in April.  There aren't any tourists yet and the more casual skier is waiting until after the holidays.  

It's mostly just people like H.  On Saturday, he got up to the Goldminer's Daughter lodge around 7:50.  Since it isn't crowded, he managed to stake out a corner by the coffee shop, to read and wait for the lifts to open.  Once they opened, it didn't take long for the crowd to disperse.  He pretty much skied right onto the lifts with no waiting from then until after 1 p.m.  More terrain is open - Backside, Supreme Bowl - but he didn't venture into there.  Alta has a lot of rocks and there's just no quite enough coverage yet.

Looking down the Collins chair

Meanwhile, as the day's less-dedicated non-skiers, Milton and I did our Dimple Dell walk, made vegan "parmesan," chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin muffins, vacuumed a little, de-clogged a bathtub drain without upchucking and walked to the liquor store.  Dinner was a red lentil and almond curry made in the InstantPot - it was a terrible, muddy color but was quite tasty.