Day 51 - Thursday Apr 10 - Wait...What Month is This?

Another 14 inches? On top of the 20 inches from the Monday storm? This could not be happening in April, right? On the contrary, my good friends, it is. This morning was epic. The snow was phenomenal. The skiing was fantastic. And the weather was beautiful. For any of you who were wondering what the term "Bluebird" meant... this is it. I met CJ at the mouth of Little Cottonwood this morning at 5:30. Much to my surprise, there was a large group of people there as well. Two of these people were Rick and Dug from Tuesday. Well, it turns out that we have somewhat mutual ski friends. We were one of the first cars that headed up the canyon. When we passed the first gate there was a UDOT truck there getting ready to close it for the next hour or so - we barely made it. Only the first three cars of the group made it up Little. The rest, I assume, went to Big. We went back to Scotty's and broke trail through at least 14 inches deep all the way up. This wasn't too bad, though, thanks to four of us that are in pretty good shape. This four was CJ, Rick, Ben, and myself (although, I barely kept up with these guys even when I wasn't breaking). There were a couple others up there with us, but I only knew one of them - Paul. Yes, the same Paul that we skied with one time this winter when CJ bailed on both of us and he asked if he could join our group. On the summit CJ made some comment about this being a mormon party and I commented on how I don't like skiing with those mormons. Little do they know that it was all in jest and I am one of them! Skiing in the chute provided some interesting results. It was super deep, but you had to manage the sluffing underneath you. I set up to take some photos just outside of the chute and I think I got some cool ones. The one of CJ at the top of this post is classic. That is for real! He is not falling or anything. He is just in a standard turn. That just tells you how much snow we were skiing this morning! Some snow did move my way and I managed to lose one of my Kinco gloves. It is a good thing they are only $5/pair or else I would be bummed out. I pulled out my skinnier gloves out of my pack and then skied down the bowl to meet the crew. I don't know how to describe the shear awesomeness of this. I was on my Asylums today and they were so much fun. This is the perfect day for these skis (I am just glad I have skins for them now). CJ, Ben, and I decided it was worth doing another lap. We skinned back to the top and got another sweet line in. This time I put the camera in the pack and worried about skiing. I do like taking photos, but I don't want to be the guy who has to take photos every line just to be sure he doesn't miss the money shot. Not that I am against getting the money shot, I am just willing to sacrifice the occasional money shot for some amazing turns. This time we skied all the way to the bottom and my quads were feeling it, but it was so worth it. The snow this morning was every bit as good as any other day this year. I could not ask for anything better in April. Yes, it is April. Yes, I did ski. Yes, I did enjoy it. On Ski.