I've been meaning to climb Baldy for a couple of months- but three times either weather or schedules got in the way of even starting.
Yesterday was almost a repeat. A planned partner had to cancel, then yesterday morning I got up but hadn't packed and was almost ready to go back to bed when I saw an email from Kathy Wing inviting me to join her group at 7:00. Then I had a quick frenzy of throwing gear in the pack, having breakfast, and hitting the road. Low fuel and a NEED for Starbucks delayed me further. I hung the U-turn for parking at Falls Road at exactly 6:59. After screeching to a halt, smoke started wafting from under the hood, enveloping a gentleman standing nearby in a haze.
That would be John, one of my to-be companions for the day. Kathy soon arrived, followed by Ed from across the road. After introductions and a bit more gear fiddling on my part we started up the path at around 7:20. I really like to start out hiking very slowly, but after a full round of claims to the title of "slowest hiker" we developed a pace that was more of a training rate than a gentle stroll for me.
About two hours saw the green ski hut and a quick break to fuel, hydrate, and crampon-up. We headed up into the bowl with discussions of the saddle to the right or couloir to the left. We ended up going left. I shortly realized that the length adjustment on one crampons was too long and stopped to fix that. Suddenly I was well behind the group and sped up to catch them.
Ed was in the lead, setting a good steady pace. Still being pretty green at using crampons I played around with different techniques- flat footing straight up; following steps from those ahead; flat-footing in a climbing traverse; edging up, etc. I was so engrossed in this practice that I kept dropping back, then hustling again to catch up. We reached some rocks at a split in the couloir and I was close to bonking. I called ahead to John that I was taking a nutrition break.
Plopping down in the snow, I scarfed down a Clif bar and some water. A few minutes later I felt re-energized and rounded the corner to find the rest of the group resting at the top of the couloir. My legs were clearly tired as they wanted to cramp as I joined the group- but luckily from there to the summit was a much more gentle slope.
We reached the summit at about 11:30 and I was amazed at the views. Many peaks that I couldn't name, but Catalina island, San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, Telescope Peak, and the southern Sierra were all clearly visible.
Heading back down, we descended the ridge a bit towards Harwood before dropping into the bowl. I was the first to glissade, trying to be rather conservative since I haven't done a good glissade in a score of years. Conditions were perfect though and after doing some test self-arrests I started having fun. Suddenly I thought an avalanche was coming- but quickly realized it was just John screaming by in a fast sitting glissade with rooster tails of snow spraying up from his boots and axe spike. What took two hours to climb only took a few minutes to glissade and soon we were back at the hut.
A nice hike down, quick good-byes and I was back home in Long Beach before 4:00.
I had a great time. Kathy, Ed, and John thanks for having me along.
Jim
First ascent! (...by me.. of Baldy)
Nice first bowl ascent, congratulations and nice TR, NR will be glad you found some other hikers/climbers to guide you up. Hopefully someone will post some of those views you mentioned - would like to see some of those shots?
Hope to see you up there again soon
Hope to see you up there again soon
It was a beautiful day out there on Friday with great company. Thanks for joining us Jim. The guys even got a reluctant glissader like me to slide down the bowl.
Some Pictures:
http://kathywing.smugmug.com/California ... 2594_uQBDg
Some Pictures:
http://kathywing.smugmug.com/California ... 2594_uQBDg
