Mount Baldy Super Bowl Sunday Hike

[Travis]

Being Superbowl Sunday we decieded to climb Baldy's Bowl.

Taco Del Rio, Augie, Tom and I all went. It was very windy and cold but we were still able to summit.

Here are my photos. We will write a Trip Report Shortly,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trav_and_j ... 845211840/

[HikeUp]

Awesome.

[Travis]

Here is my low budget video of our hike:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9219186063

[HikeUp]

Whiner...


Just kidding. Which route was the ascent and which was the descent? What gear was required...snowshoes? crampons? etc.

[Travis]

We ascended just about right up the middle of the bowl, maybe a little to the right (east). The Topo map shows the route. We descended via the regular ski hut trail around the bowl. We had an ice axe each and crampons. We saw someone climbing the bowl with just snowshoes but he looked like he was having a hard time. The snow was good and hard, no need for snowshoes other than traction aid.

[HikeUp]

Just watched the video...answered all the questions. Was there avy danger? How did you determine so?

Not busting your ... , just trying to learn.

[Travis]

Good questions, I had the same ones.

As for Avy danager, it had been 1 week since the last snow and it appeared to have consolidated well. We asked others going up as well and everyone agreed the threat was minimal. I continually probed the snow with my ice axe on the way up and it seemed to be very solid. The new snow was minimal, only a few inches, so there was little threat that this new snow would slide. But you never know for sure. Others who were going up the bowl had avy beacons and shovels, we did not.

[AlanK]

Good goin' guys! I just got back form out of town and was stuck near home, but you looked lie you were taking full advantage of the pleasant weather.

[Travis]

More pics from Tom:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/becht/sets ... 3849074485

[He219]

Niiice guys!


Travis, still up for boarding that section you ascended?

You wrote it was hardpacked; is it soft enough to carve or was it for Ice-skates?
How would you rate the coverage; did you hit lots of rocks in your steps or just snow?
Probably will get slushy in the daytime next week, lots of sun in the forecast.

[Mattebox]

Wow, what a difference a day makes. I climbed the same route on Saturday and it looked like this:



Btw, did you guys use GPS to navigate in those whiteout conditions? I've only been up there in that kind of low visibility during a "fogout" at night. It was a little unnerving searching for the peak in 5 feet visibility and knowing there were some steep slopes on the north side. I ended up using the GPS for guidance on the way down to make sure I hooked up to the Ski Hut trail and not the Bear Canyon trail.

[Taco]

Travis lead the way with GPS on the way down.

Had a helluvalotta fun! My ankle ain't too bad. I felt like crap above about 8,000ft as usual.

[hvydrt]

Wow, great picture and report. Looks like a lot of fun. Asy guesses on the amount of new snow that accumulated???

[Travis]

Here is some of my GPS data and kmz file if anyone is interested:

http://www.gpsmountaineering.com/mountbaldybowl2-3-2008

As for snow boarding down the bowl I think I would end up killing myself. I would need to practice a lot on some gentle slopes first. Sorry, but this weekend is just too soon.

The snow varied, there were sections that were like ice where only the spikes of our crampons penetrated, other areas, especially near the top, there snow was a lot softer and we were sinking in about 1 foot. I didn't see a single rock on the entire ascent, the coverage was pretty well at least 2 feet most of the way up. As for new accumulation, it was still snowing when we left, but I would say only 4" by the time we got down.

[heme11]

thanks for the report!

[Augie]

Good questions, I had the same ones.

As for Avy danager, it had been 1 week since the last snow and it appeared to have consolidated well. We asked others going up as well and everyone agreed the threat was minimal. I continually probed the snow with my ice axe on the way up and it seemed to be very solid. The new snow was minimal, only a few inches, so there was little threat that this new snow would slide. But you never know for sure. Others who were going up the bowl had avy beacons and shovels, we did not.

In addition to what Travis said, we took the ski hut trail ridge down. Because there had been snow flurries all day, the minimal danger of avalanches on the way up increased somewhat in the afternoon and that is why we chose not to descend back down the Bowl. We would have probably been o.k. going back down the Bowl, but the question always is how far you want to push things. If the question never occurs to you, then you have put yourself in danger.

[Travis]

Wow, what a difference a day makes. I climbed the same route on Saturday and it looked like this:

Wow, what a beautiful scene. Definitely looks like an entirely different place compared to what we saw yesterday. The views must have been spectacular going up the bowl, that is one thing we never really got to feel the exposure due to the poor visibility.

[Travis]

Here is the completed trip report that all 4 of us Mountaineers wrote:

http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/3 ... ering.html

[ak Jack]

Thanks for posting map & photos.
Jack

[Cy Kaicener]

Here are some more Baldy pictures
http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?t=2228