I need a name for this type of snow.

     So today called for a late afternoon ski since temps were no longer below freezing at night and I had a few other things going on in the AM.  Today it would be North Bowl for the sake of convenience.  Speedy Gonzales came along, so did Mr. Newtonhat and Repeat Random Person.  We also met another Eagle River local at the TH. 
     Weather was looking iffy: partly sunny at first shifting to cloudy with light sprinkles here and there at the peak.  Temps were pretty warm: we saw several others making the wise call to short-it-up.  The temps were making the snow challenging, variable, sticky, heavy, less-than-friendly, wet, almost like it was trying to force the end of the season.  I won't have it.  If there is snow I'm skiing it whether it likes it or not.
     Overall snow was less than desirable.  We were entertained by several wipeouts, flailing, and awkward off-balance movements while we all attempted to ski the stuff.  The dogs didn't seem to mind the snow conditions.  They found a tennis ball part way up which stayed with them and accumulated just as much vertical as we did.  We skied North Bowl then traversed out to the pass as snow got bad near the bottom.  Then we skinned back up the ridge and skied it down to the cars. I love the ski-out-to-car way of ending the day. 
     I've seen better ski days, but it was great to get out with good company and not be working.  The views from the top/ridgeline are like my minds' breath of fresh air.  I've been running the Lucy pretty ragged this past week but she seemed to be doing well today, maybe it was that super salmon, or that tennis ball.  She loves tennis balls. 
     Just a heads-up, I may take a hiatus from posting for awhile as my Denali trip nears(12 days away) and preparations will take priority over local outdoor activities.  Then on May 23 we will hopefully be flying out of Talkeetna. 
     On a separate note, the McHugh-Rainbow section of the Turnagain Arm Trail is looking really good right now.  Probably the first mountain-ish trail option free of snow for now.  It was good to see so many taking advantage of it.