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The two men, described as expert skiers, were spotted by the crew of a Placer County Sheriff's Department helicopter about seven miles from the Alpine Meadows ski resort, just west of Lake Tahoe.

Patrick Frost, 35, and Christopher Gerwig, 32, both of San Francisco, were picked up near Hell Hole Reservoir, department spokeswoman Kelly Hernandez said. They were taken to Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital, where spokeswoman Janice Davis said they had suffered “really minor, minor” frostbite.

The storm dumped up to 2 feet of snow around Lake Tahoe and as much as 3 feet in the mountains during the weekend, said Mark Deutschendorf, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Reno, Nev.

In Southern California, a 53-year-old hiker, Ellen Coleman of Riverside, was found yesterday on Mount San Jacinto, a day after she was reported missing during the winter storm. A sheriff’s spokesman did not know her condition.

FLORIDA

Astronauts arrive for shuttle launch

CAPE CANAVERAL — Seven astronauts returned to NASA’s launch site yesterday to take a new shot at flying Space Shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station.

Liftoff is set for Thursday afternoon, with NASA wrapping up a last repair Sunday night involving a radiator hose. The mission was waylaid in December by a different problem: erratic fuel gauges.

Atlantis will carry the European Space Agency’s science lab, Columbus, to the orbiting outpost. That will be the second science lab; the United States operates one there already. The largest lab of all, Japan’s Kibo, or Hope, will be carried up in sections beginning next month.

Atlantis' mission, fraught for weeks with mechanical problems, now faces only weather concerns, NASA officials said.

As the countdown clocks began ticking late yesterday afternoon, forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at just 40 percent because of a cold front and rain expected on launch day. Friday’s outlook was much better: 80 percent.

GEORGIA

Judge replaced in courthouse shooting

ATLANTA — A judge from a suburban county has been appointed to preside over the murder trial of Brian Nichols, the man accused in a courthouse shooting.

Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford was assigned by an administrative judge to oversee the case, Fulton County Superior Court spokesman Don Plummer said. The appointment order was dated Friday and released yesterday.

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