Castle Peak

Erica and I drive to Truckee, fail to find a room, drive on to Reno, reject rip-off 'Boomtown' ($109), end up at the Stardust Motel ($40, but note to self: never stay there again; rock-hard bed).

Next morning we drive back to Donner Pass and park at Boreal. We cross the highway, put on snowshoes, and hike up the Pacific Crest Trail for a few hundred yards. Then we head north off the trail, and climb towards the south flank of Castle Peak. I leave a tired Erica, and go off on a 30-minute sprint up to the country-rock bluffs at the summit. I remove snowshoes and climb a short 5.2 gully up to the top, then glissade most of the way down.

It's a wonderful, warm sunny day, great just to be out there. We chat with a guy from Stanford taking an avalanche course. We have coffee at Boreal, and stop in Davis for dinner on the way back.

Erica at home

On the Pacific Crest trail

Am I really this fat?

Erica on the hill

Erica on the hill

Another great day on the mountain

View from the summit. Erica is tiny speck next to 2,375th tree from the left

Summit bluffs

More bluffs, and I'm not bluffing

Donner Lake from summit. We tried to correct the color on this one, with mixed results

Me after descent. I made it to top of rocks right of tree, which is not actually the summit but close enough.

Erica on descent

Rock garden. Theory: every 100'x100' patch in the Sierras is more beautiful than any creation of Man.

Cool snow pattern