EISPIRATEN

well, i'm batting a thousand with wind on whitney these days....that i would gladly trade you. sleepless nights, while memorable in hindsight, i could do without!

photos added here

yeah, it just hasn't warmed up at all yet. talking to everyone in town they are getting antsy for summer. the upcoming forecast doesn't really have any warming on the horizon, so I'd say the snow conditions for your trip may be similar. We seem to be in that period where conditions change based on ...

Nothing so exciting as Norma's great MR report, but nevertheless....

What can I say, the forecast was accurate :)

Headed up with a buddy on Wednesday morning, persistent snow began at LPL as many had mentioned. From LPL we took the high traverse that branches off just south of the main trail ...

hvydrt wrote: Nice trip report. I did a loop in the area on Sunday and there were definitely a lot of downed trees below Islip.

Ha! Says the fastest man alive moving downhill...there were certainly many trees. I still don't know how you did it so fast.

GM, that's some time....8.75, nice.

AM headed up for this loop on Wednesday, I'm hesitating to say it looks as though no crampons/microspikes are needed at this time. Is that accurate?

Thanks

Spring of 2011 has for some reason been the time that I've chosen to hit the obscure Front Range peaks that often leave you feeling just a tad like climbing them was more work than fun. While it's always fun, this is a fairly challenging one and the terrain makes you work for every step.

My buddy ...

Anyone been up Baldy via Bear Canyon lately? How are the conditions, where is the snowline currently? thanks!

can anyone report on the conditions of the ski hut trail up to the hut? was thinking of taking the family up tomorrow depending on conditions.

thanks

indeed Norma! it's a great hill to glissade on for sure. the quads took a big hit, man did it feel good to sit down in the truck

Should I ever be so unfortunate to find myself reborn a lesser being I'm now certain my days will be spent perpetually postholing the northern slopes of BP.

That said, I was looking for a good training hike for loftier summer goals and knew this would be a challenge with the warmer temps and sans ...

interesting is that why the fire dept has it closed? being federal land I would find this odd at the least...

You're exactly right, the descent from Clamshell (particularly the last 1/4 mi to the firebreak) requires some concentration. Simply due to the steep, loose slope and how tired your legs are at this point. Microspikes, equally effective for dirt and scree are very helpful here.

There isn't any real ...

I'll be honest, a month ago I hadn't heard of Monrovia Peak. I was looking for something new and was intrigued when I saw this on someone's top-10 most difficult climbs in SoCal list. Granted this is super subjective, Monrovia was 8 or 9 I can't remember and the remaining climbs seemed reasonable so ...

any feedback on what the upper elevations got yet? first report i saw said Baldy got 18" new....seems high to me. Can anyone verify this?

I followed the ridge direct, which was slightly brutal....then met what looks like an old firebreak from there up. I've been spoiled by maintained trails or snowclimbs lately so this was a huge departure. I had read that it was tough, and it is. The decent was by far the worst part.

Can you ...

Indeed....i was up there yesterday and almost thought that this meant I couldn't climb the peak

That's a serious slog up to Monrovia Peak there...what a little monster that is.