Well, things changed today!
Instead of sunshine, we had increasing clouds, flat light, winds, and a bit of blowing snow. This made for visibility "challenges" of course, but also led to some improvement in the skiing. I don't think there's supposed to be much accumulation from this little storm (it has already stopped snowing both here in the valley and up on Teton Pass), but the mere fact that Mother Nature remembers how to produce snow is encouraging.
Today was a banner day though - I learned a new snow-related phrase:
GUN POWDER
Maybe everybody else in the world has heard this term, but I never had. It refers to snow - coming out of a snow gun - that is actually fun to ski as it's falling. The instructor friend I was skiing with says he first heard it from Benny Wilson (co-founder of the Jackson Hole Air Force). Maybe the rest of the world has used it for years, but it was brand new to me and it was really appropriate for the snow coming out of the guns on Amphitheater and Lower Gros Ventre. Instead of the usual gloppy/slop or grabby/grippy/slippy stuff that the guns put down, this was smooth and soft and really fun to ski. Gun POWDER!
Aside from that, it was a tale of two ski areas today. We went up the tram around mid-morning and skied Rendezvous Bowl in flat light, lots of wind, and REALLY frozen leftover junky snow from yesterday. The kind of stuff that shakes your fillings as the "snow" slaps your skis around. The kind of stuff where you have to laugh because it's far too crappy to cry about. Then, 1 minute later, we did skier's-right Cheyenne Bowl through the trees. Steep, smooth, chalky, edgy, rounded bumps. Just fantastic.
Then, at my insistence and my friend's happy acquiescence, we went over to the Cirque with the intent of hiking the Headwall. Well, it turned out that the ski patrol had closed the boot-track (I assume because of high winds, clouds, and really grungy snow at the destination). That meant we had no choice but to ski the Cirque, which was ALSO re-frozen crud ruts from yesterday afternoon. Just outrageously bad skiing that no one in their right mind would choose to ski voluntarily.
But after that, we got to go ski the Gun Powder down through Amphitheater and Lower Gros Ventre, so in the final analysis it was all good.
Best turns of the day? Tie between Cheyenne Bowl and the Amphitheater/Lower Gros Ventre artificial powder.
Worst turns? I can't honestly say whether Rendezvous Bowl was worse than Cirque. I think I'd rather forget both.