a gorgeous day in lcc

 I realize that I have turned into one of "those" skiers.  You know, the ones who only want to ski on bluebird days, when it isn't too cold, the visibility is great and the snow is soft.  And Saturday totally enabled me to embrace that because it was clear, sunny, warm and Alta was just coming off a very nice storm cycle.  We still had to get up early and take the early bus, and then sit with our books in the Goldminer's Daughter cafe waiting for the lifts to open.  (By the way, why the HECK was the GMD cafe area so cold?  It was warmer in the hallway, where the door to outside is, and we were even sitting next to a little radiator.)  There were some demo tents set up at the Wildcat base area and you could just tell that the patio was going to be packed with people later on.

After riding up Collins, we went straight to Sugarloaf where it is sunnier first thing in the morning.  We did several runs there, including going over upper Cabin Hill to do a Cabin Run.  Things are pretty well tracked out and bumped up off-piste but the bumps were still soft and kind of chalky.  They had groomed out most of Razorback which was skiing quite nice - and a much different experience than when it is nothing but giant moguls.

Cabin Hill.  I wasn't overdressed

until the Catherine's run

We switched to Supreme for a bit, as it got busier and busier.  I requested a Catherine's Area run - where we paused to watch skiers much younger than us hucking themselves off some cliffs - and a Devil's Playground run (the gate at the bottom of Rock 'N Roll has both been moved and signed).  And we got to see one of the resident Alta porcupines, trundling along the edge of a trail and attracting quite a lot of fans.

When the singles lines at both Supreme and Sugarloaf stretched out far beyond the corrals, we moved to Collins, where the patio was full, the tunes were cranked and the lift lines were not so long.  Before noon ski patrol had opened the Baldy gates: there was a long line of skiers boot-packing their way up and so many people skiing the chutes.  I don't recall ever seeing so many skiers in Main Chute - just one after another - but also in Little Chute, Dogleg, Perla's and from the ridge between Perla's and the Rotors.  Despite all that open terrain, the most off-piste I got over there was a Ballroom run: soft and not life-threatening - perfect!