So we left on Saturday and dodged traffic cops on I-5, getting properly caffeinated at a Dutch coffee shop (!?). We reached Shasta around noon, picked up permits, ate lunch and headed to the parking lot - it was crazy warm! We figured this would provide good spring skiing conditions - despite the fact it was January, it hadn't snowed for several weeks and the snow was spring-like. So we thought we'd go to Horse Camp and settle for the night there - Pavel and Vendula had already gotten up there and left a voicemail that they were camped 10 minutes past the cabin. We eventually made it there too, about an hour before sunset. I was happily going along on my skis with skins, while Marius elected to leave his snowshoes at camp and carried his snowboard (plus 2 stoves) while postholing along. Splitboard, anyone? It took about an hour and a half reach camp though, so nothing too bad.

We all hung out for a while until it got dark, then we cooked up dinner and me and Marius took night photos. I was mostly copying what Marius was doing and learning - thanks for that (and letting me borrow a tripod) :) It was a lot of fun, but kind of stressful, and we planned on getting up at 4:30am to start our climb.

So 04:30 came quickly... ugh - why do we do this again? We slowly got out, melted some more snow for breakfast and got ready - at 06:00 we were on our way. The first hour or so went by really fast, we were on top of Giddy-giddy gulch and caught sunrise there - sweet!! Then off we went the rest of the way... slog slog slog. The other guys had been on the mountain several times before, and apparently this is the least snow they had seen on the ridge. Which meant some extra navigation was necessary around the rock gendarmes, but nothing terrible. Once higher up, the winds kicked up significantly, we were on all fours sometimes, using the pick of our axes to secure ourselves to the slope (which got damn steep too). When we got to around 13,000' we were totally trashed, the winds were howling and the snow wasn't good for skiing, so we headed back down. Me and Marius went back down the way we came and down to the bowl closest to the ridge, while Vendula and Pavel traversed to the west face - we should have probably done that too. I'll skip the details but let's just say it was icy crud at a great degree of steepness. Marius did some impressive self arresting demonstrations while I downclimbed the steepest sections in my crampons (facing in!) instead of trying to ski - terrifying, really.

So anyway, eventually we made it back to camp, quite trashed. Instead of camping there another night, we chose to pack up and head to the parking lot. The reward was some amazing half pound burgers and chicken wings in town - yummy!

Then we got a motel for the night, and leisurely drove back the following day, stopping at the Shasta Dam. Overall, pretty good weekend. Like the saying goes, "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun".

	Coffee stop on the way to Shasta: drive-through only!	Dutch bros!	Shasta parking lot.

	Tall man, tall tree	Ice axe? Check. Tripod? Check.	"My pack is too heavy!" (it was)

	Mt Shasta, 4,322m (14,179 ft)	On the way up through the trees	Marius postholing while I'm "walking around like a princess" with my skis

	Wait, are we in Texas!?		Horse camp cabin

	Our campsite for the night (at the base of Casaval Ridge)		Mode of transportation

	Photo madness begins	Giddy-giddy gulch	Setting up the cameras

	Vendula and Pavel's campsite with GGG in the background	Pavel jetboiling	Sunset at camp

	Vendula and Pavel		Framing the shots for later that night

	Shasta doesn't have any other big mountains nearby... just open fields	Cooking setup on top of Marius' snowboard.	Our campsite. Experimenting with long exposures... black & white version

	Our campsite. Experimenting with long exposures...	Longer star trails: 20 minute exposure	Star trails!! 24 minutes exposure

	Sunrise on Casaval Ridge, Mt Shasta	Marius snapping photos like mad at sunrise. It was very windy and you can see the particles of snow flying around in the alpenglow. Casaval Ridge, Mt Shasta	Casaval Ridge

	Marius photographing the snow on the ridge :)	Neat wind effect.	Hello there!

	The top of giddy-giddy gulch, where we caught sunrise.	Pavel is barely getting warmed up	Marius had a little problem as the camera got glued to his face

	Casaval Ridge, the route we used. You weave around the rock gendarmes on either side...	Vendula	Steep ground

	Vendula and Marius climbing to regain the ridge: the snow was quite hard below	View of Casaval from 13,000'	Casaval Ridge up close

	Marius pointing at the Trinity Alps	Pavel and Vendula refueling :)	Look at Shasta after we skied down. Steepest & scariest part was high up on the right... of course pictures don't do it justice. (this is the west face on the left)

	Tired, but time to pack up and get out of here!	Back at the parking lot :)	Shasta sunset

	Shasta dam where we stopped by on the way back	Sacramento river starts here	Mt Shasta dominates the horizon. Taken at Shasta Dam.

	The dam wall