Judah and Lincoln

On the last weekend of January I was in the Bay area for a family visit. It had stormed for several days but cleared up for the weekend. Fri night my son said: "Let's go skiing tomorrow at Tahoe". I like such spontaneous trips; very refreshing compared to our long-term scheduled SC trips. We got up at 4:30am, were at Donner Pass by 8:30am, and started a backcountry tour of Mt Judah (8,243') and Lincoln Mtn (8,383'). We parked on the Lake Mary Rd near the former Donner Spitz Huette, ascended the NE slopes of the Judah Ridge. There was lots of untracked fresh snow. Once on the ridge, near the microwave reflector, we took a break and enjoyed the great view. After the storm all the trees were still rimed. It was a clear, sunny winter day with excellent visibility. Castle Peak, Donner Lake, Lincoln and Anderson/Tinker Knob were all clearly visible. We continued SW along the Judah Ridge, bypassing a small wooden summit sign on the high point.