Alpine Meadows skiing

The streak of changed plans continued last weekend. The plan was to fly to Boise, ID for the holiday weekend and spent a few days skiing in Sun Valley with Juliana's cousin. We got to the airport well before the departure time, since we both had skis to check in. Just after we swiped the credit card and got charged for the checked baggage we were told that the flight was canceled due to a mechanical problem. Furthermore, we were told that we could not expect to be on a flight in the next two days. There went the holiday weekend plan...
We decided rather quickly that we go to Tahoe instead. While I tried to sort things out with the airline, Jules got on the phone and secured a room in Truckee for Saturday night.
We left the Bay Area shortly before 5am on Saturday morning. Getting to Alpine Meadows at 9:30. The last miles from I-80 to the resort were definitely the slowest of the entire trip.
The weather and the conditions were fantastic. The skiing couldn't have been any better anywhere else. The previous week had seen four feet of powder, and there were plenty of untouched stashes.
After a few easy runs to warm up I went to Scotts Gully, a double diamond. What a incredible run! I am not sure why, but the run just felt awesome... Either it was the new skis, or I am finally getting a hang on steep, deep runs. After a few runs here, I could not get the grin off my face.
After checking in to the hotel we had dinner at the Bridgetender in Tahoe City. If I remember correctly I was asleep by 8:30.
Sunday saw more skiing in the morning, but the temperatures dropped significantly in the afternoon, so that we left around 2. Although the second day was rather short I am absolutely happy about the skiing I got in.

Mount Shasta

This winter started out with some epic early storms in late November and early December. January on the other had saw almost no snow fall in the Sierras. Obviously this is bad news for skiing. The new Mantras with AT-bindings just got a three day work-out in Chamonix in December, but had to stay in the closet back here in Cali.
On the other hand the stable high off the Northern California coast allowed for good conditions for a winter ascent of Mount Shasta. The Casaval Ridge seemed to be in pretty good shape during the first weekend of February. Just the right thing for a quick weekend dash, similar to my previous ascent of Shasta. Or so I thought.
The plan was to leave the Bay Area Saturday morning, get to the trailhead around 3pm, hike to Horse Camp, set up camp in daylight, get an early night, set the alarm for 2am, get going by 3am, summit, descent via Avalanche Gulch, break up camp, head back to the car, make the drive back. Simple enough, right?
The first part worked just fine. We arrived at Bunny Flats around 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, got the permits, re-packed some gear and got ready to go. Just as we were about to leave two parties got back to the parking lot, who had started out that morning. Both of them tried to climb Sergeant's Ridge, but turned around due to high winds. They reached a high point of around 9400ft. One of the climbers had soloed Casaval Ridge the previous weekend, and confirmed that the conditions had been great. With these mixed news we were in our way at 3:30pm. The hike to Horse Camp was rather mellow, and eventless. By 6 we had set up camp, eaten dinner and tugged away in our sleeping bags... This is were things deviated from the plan: High winds made sleep practically impossible. It didn't help that I had a congested nose either. Given the sleepless night, high winds, a missing pair of gloves and a malfunctioning headlamp the summit attempt stopped right there.
Objective not achieved... But I still had a good time. A wonderful sunset, a night spent outside... What more can one ask for?