Baldy Trip Report 03/07/10

[calicokat]

Mark and I decided to climb up to Baldy as a prep trip for our upcoming Matterhorn (Sierra Matterhorn, not Disneyland ) trip. Earlier in the week it seemed the weather would keep us away, but the storm forecast got better as Sunday neared so we decided to give it a go. Forecast was for scattered snow showers before 10:00 am and northerly winds between 5-10 mph, boy were they wrong, more on that later.

When we got up towards Baldy village in the morning we realized it had snowed the night before, about an inch or two down low and up to six inches higher up the mountain. It was beautiful to see everything covered in white, looks like the snow level got down close to 4000'. It also meant having four wheel drive or chains to get to Manker, we were the latter.

We got all dressed up and headed up towards the ski hut at 7:00 am. Clear and calm, it was a great start to the day. We had an uneventful climb up to the ski hut, again, calm and clear. At the ski hut we ran into Lilbitmo and Gigamike (nice meeting you both). After donning our crampons and Ice Axes, we headed up the center of the bowl to its high point (9800'). Right away we realized our clear portion of the day was over. But it was a fast moving fog, we could still see. It remained that way up until 9500', that is when the calm left us. Wind, lots of wind and diminishing visibility at the top of the bowl (9800'). This is where things got interesting and creepy. Mark and I hunkered down behind a tree to get out of the wind and get our bearings. I set a heading for the last 264' to the summit and we were on our way. Visibility was now 10-15' with a stiff cold 40 mph wind. My key chain thermometer read 22 degrees. We were determined to make the summit and get out of there being so close to the summit and all. At 10,000' we could no longer see five feet in front of us. Mark and I stayed very close to each other, we could barely hear each other with the howling wind. We made the decision to keep pushing on to the summit being 64 feet away. We topped out at 12:00. There was no view to be had, in fact without the GPS telling me where we were, I wouldn't know if we were on the summit or not. It was a complete whiteout, less than five feet of visibility. We had to navigate with the GPS and compass. The tracks we made coming up were completely covered in minutes. On the way down, it was take a few steps, check the GPS to make sure we were heading the right way. It was slightly vertigo, it was hard to tell which way anything was. I was concerned about roaming down the wrong side of the mountain so it was a very slow go back down.

We originally wanted to go down to the Harwood/Baldy saddle and glissade the western bowl back to the hut. But that plan was out now. We ended up backtracking to the top of the bowl that we had topped out on. We at least knew going down was the right way to go, so we carefully down climbed the bowl.

When we got back to the hut, we learned of a skier that had not returned from the summit. The fear was he might of skied down the wrong side of the mountain in the disorienting whiteout. Lilbitmo hiked down to Baldy Village to alert SAR. At the hut, it started to snow, quite a bit of snow for a short period. There was no visibility up the bowl. The hut host brought out the bell to give people some bearing as to where the hut was. Mark and I headed back to Manker and made it without too much trouble. At the trail head, a ranger was standing by waiting for SAR. We talked to him for a few minutes and described the conditions up top and told him what we thought might have happened to the skier.

I have not heard anything as of this morning about the missing skier. I said a silent prayer for him last night before bed. If anyone knows anything, please post it.

I will get some photos up later when I get them processed.

[GigaMike]

I forgot to mention in my lame TR that I ran into you also. Nice meeting you! I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures.

[Ellen]

Howdy CalicoKat and GigaMike

Great trip report! Glad you all summited and got down okay. The wind was knocking me around pretty good when I was up there with Lilbitmo about three weeks ago -- having that wind with the white out would have been really creepy.

I'd hoped to go up the San Bernardino Peak trail on Saturday but suspected that I would be turned around due to lack of chains. Sounds like driving up to Manker would have been an issue as well.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[lilbitmo]

Missing Skier

At 11:15 PM last night the skier was pickup via the San Bernardino Helicopter on one of the ridges between Dawson and Baldy or Harwood and Baldy not sure which as I did not speak to him personally and he was quite disoriented in the white out. It looks like he skied down the wrong side of Mount Baldy.

From what I’ve been able to gather he was following the other skier back to the rim of the bowl and fell. When he regained his balance the other skier was no where to be found, it appears that both were yelling at the top of their lungs for each other to no avail in the “white out” with 40 + mph winds – if they were 20 feet from each other they more than likely could not have heard each other, the wind was that strong and visibility was less than 20 feet at that time.

Needless to say he got completely turned around and started skiing the wrong way, ten minutes later he fell again, this time losing a ski – unable to down climb to get it with risking serious injury (and truly not know where he was) he made the decision to put on his crampons and get his ice axe out and get back up to the closest ridgeline above him. Once there he realized that the “crags were to steep” to continue so he worked his way around them, got to the ridgeline and made his way behind some nearby trees where he used what equipment he had to build a snow cave and hunker down until the weather cleared as he had plenty of food and water and had done “bivy’s on the side of mountains in the past.

After 10 hours the weather cleared enough that the Search and Rescue helicopter could be heard in the distance, so he climbed out of his snow cave and started using his “headlamp to signal the chopper”, within minutes they were able to lower down and pick him up as the clouds had blown out of the area temporarily (a little angel must have been looking out for him as anyone that was up there yesterday can attests it was very ugly).

Waking up this morning with more clouds reminded me that this was a disaster that was avoided but could have been sooner with proper equipment and communication. Had the weather not cleared when it did last night this skier could have been out there for sometime – I will not get into what should or should not have taken place but here’s a list of what was missing – no compass, no map, no phone, no GPS, no spot, no radio, no familiarity with the area to my knowledge. What became very frustrating is explaining to the lead SAR guy that yeah we gave this person a ride to the trailhead but we did our thing and they (there were two skiers together at the summit when this all developed as previously mentioned) did their own thing and he berated us for letting this guy get out of our sight. Everyone is responsible for their own behavior in the wilderness and when conditions deteriorate to the point that they did above the “Baldy Bowl” and the surrounding ridgelines, it’s best not to lose the only “visual cues” (in this case you were still able to see the rocks and about 75 feet down into the bowl) if you don’t have the knowledge, gear or ability to find your way in “total white out conditions”.

Having said all that I’m glad this had a happy ending but it could have turned out to be a “Recovery” instead of a rescue. I want to thank all the SAR guys that showed up and went into the wilderness in the dark to find this guy (no names necessary), I want to thank Dennis Wesserman (who was doing a day hike of the bowl and happened upon us at the Ski Hut – he just happened to work for Ventura County SAR, had a radio and took charge of the proceedings at the Ski Hut), I want to thank Traci (the Sierra Ski Hut Host) for letting the other skier and Dennis use the Hut to coordinate things from that location and I want to thank the Helicopter guys for doing a night rescue, it’s not standard procedure to pick “lost hikers/skiers” off ridgelines in the dark of night. Want to thank Linda Young of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s department for meeting us at Mountain Road north of the 210 to get the whole search and rescue started, (it should be noted here that phone reception in the whole Mount Baldy Village Area Sucks, so we had to head down the hill to get decent reception, which later provided itself in front of the “fire station” but wouldn’t work earlier as we tried for 5 minutes there when this all started) her willingness to learn exactly what conditions were (she’s never hiked before), what the difference between the Baldy Ski Area and the Baldy Ski Hut (most folks confuse the two since they never actually have been up either) and her warm and pleasant manner during this whole rescue. Want to thank the other skier for hanging all night in the Ski Hut just in case the lost skier showed up there.

Furthermore, I had a blast taking a newbie up the face of the bowl, he used his crampons well, and he kept three points of contact going with his ice axe and crampons the whole way up. Congratulations Ty on your first Bowl climb. It should also be noted that he was so exhausted from doing the bowl that we were 100 yards above the bowl’s ridgeline when he told me he couldn’t go any further, I suggested he wait behind two trees with shrubs that surrounded it while I made a run for the summit. I got another 100 feet and visions of what happened on Everest in the book “Into thin Air” got the better of me as it was deteriorating even worse than before I came over the edge of the bowl 20 minutes earlier, I turned around and retraced the steps I had taken – it should also be noted that my friend had on a “bright orange balaclava and bright orange helmet on” and I was not able to see him through the bushes until I was 5 feet from him. From there we followed the ridgeline down to the right keeping the bowl just to our left at all times. Once we were 300 feet above the saddle that is the main trail I had him take off his crampons and we did a “glissade” down that section of the lower bowl practicing “self arrest techniques” and it was at the base of the bowl that we ran into “skier number one” that indicated he had not seen “skier #2” for at least ½ hour and thus all the fun began.

Also note that while I was at the hut another skier came into the Ski Hut saying that he didn’t know where his companion was and he couldn’t reach her on the radios that they each had. Which didn’t seem that big of a deal until he told us that she was hiking (he had just skied down the face of the bowl), had never been in this area before, had only learned today to use an Ice axe and crampons and he decided it was ok to leave her above the bowl ridgeline while he skied down and she could fend for herself. Lucky for her another experience climber guided her all the way back down the face of the bowl and went directly to that skier and read him the “riot act” saying that she had no business being left alone on such a tough down climb, everyone affectionately agreed.
Lastly, GigaMike and Mike M. it was good to see you guys out there, sorry I wasn’t able to hook up with you at or near the summit (you can understand I had my hands full and would have missed you in that “pea soup” anyways). Thanks for helping to break fresh trail at the top of the bowl . Calicokat it was nice meeting you and your fried Mark – great job using your GPS to navigate in that mess up there, hope to see you soon, have fun on Matterhorn (not Disneyland).

Pictures to be added later, got to get back to work.

[hvydrt]

no compass, no map, no phone, no GPS, no spot, no radio, no familiarity with the area to my knowledge.

When I was near the ski hut on my way down yesterday, I counted 32 people climbing up into the storm. I remember thinking how many of those people knew what they were doing and how many are just doing it because everyone else was.

[TracieB]

Wow. Another epic day on Baldy. I am glad to hear that this skiier got out okay. Things can go wrong very quickly.

[GigaMike]

Thanks for the great TR, Patrick. Mike and I waited for you at the top of the bowl for about 15 minutes before "going for it". If I wasn't so familiar with Baldy, we would of turned around. I almost had to break out the compass for a bearing on our way down, but managed without. We got back to the hut at 12pm and left at 1pm. I guess we just missed all the activity. Glad to hear everything turned out ok.

[norma r]

Wow, just read your TR's Jim and Patrick. that was one heck of a gnarly day up there. as i was flying out of Burbank airport on Sunday morning i was thinking how lucky those of you were that were hiking in the beautiful fresh snow that was blanketing the mountains. little did i know what kind of day was in store! good to know you all made it down safely.

Well, Patrick... you certainly have a story for the grandkids. glad it has a happy ending. as always i am eternally grateful for SAR, law enforcement, firefighters and all persons who are so dedicated in trying to help those lost or injured in the wilderness (or anywhere for that matter.)

[Bear]

Thanks Patrick for the late phone calls and doing such a great job up there! I was fortunate to have a great partner that day! We'll get together soon!

[MightyMouseMountaineer]

Please let it be known that a Ham radio was used by the Hut host to make the distress call from the Hut at about 2:30 p.m., at the request of the missing skier's friends. Other Hams were talking on the Catalina radio tower (repeater) frequency and the host broke in. I believe this was the first contact to initiate S&R. That host carries the Ham radio everywhere she goes and can reach another Ham from anywhere in the wilderness. No line of sight required. Folks may want to consider getting a license and carrying a Ham radio. If nothing else, all parties should consider carrying walkie-talkies. That'll give them at least a 5-mile range and may allow them to keep in touch if separated.

[tinaballina]

Thanks Patrick for the late phone calls and doing such a great job up there! I was fortunate to have a great partner that day! We'll get together soon!

You finally made it to the boards..

[Bear]

I'm here!!! I hope I'm doing this stuff correctly? LOL!

[lilbitmo]

Waking up this morning with more clouds reminded me that this was a disaster that was avoided but could have been sooner with proper equipment and communication. Had the weather not cleared when it did last night this skier could have been out there for sometime – I will not get into what should or should not have taken place but here’s a list of what was missing – no compass, no map, no phone, no GPS, no spot, no radio, no familiarity with the area to my knowledge. What became very frustrating is explaining to the lead SAR guy that yeah we gave this person a ride to the trailhead but we did our thing and they (there were two skiers together at the summit when this all developed as previously mentioned) did their own thing and he berated us for letting this guy get out of our sight. Everyone is responsible for their own behavior in the wilderness and when conditions deteriorate to the point that they did above the “Baldy Bowl” and the surrounding ridgelines, it’s best not to lose the only “visual cues” (in this case you were still able to see the rocks and about 75 feet down into the bowl) if you don’t have the knowledge, gear or ability to find your way in “total white out conditions”.

It has been pointed out to me that I did not have all the facts in regards to the "Missing Skier". He did in fact have a "map, compass, a snow shovel, extensive backcountry experience, the knowledge to use all the tools, extra cloathing, extra food, a beacon and the knowledge to use it. He did do all the right things to survive until either 1) help arrived or 2) he could see clearly to make his way out on his own, he did make a snow shelter and stay put and he did use his light beacon to signal the "helicopter" as it approached his local, all of which made for a safe and timely evacuation.

I would like to make a open apology to both skiers in regards to what may or may not have been inferred by my original report, I was in no way trying to make light of what transpired, did not mean to imply that they did not have the skills to be in the backcountry under those conditions, nor to imply that either knew what do in that situation. I only wanted to indicate that "to the best of my ability" at the moment I wrote the trip report those were the facts I had at that time I did so.

Both are very experienced skiers and backcounty hikers with summits all over the US and Canada together and individually. If you were offended in anyway I was not intending that. My only intention was to show how easily it is to have things go wrong fast (I intentionally left out the names so that no offense would ever be taken) I'll be the first to admit that I make mistakes in the wilderness and things do happen even with the best equipment and skills.

What I would like to stress is that the Mount Baldy area does still suck for phone reception and communicating with SAR at the beggining of this "call out" and it was a problem. That being in those conditions could have caused even the best of the best from getting into a situation that would lead to a rescue and that I do not blame either person for what happened - that was the last thing I was trying to convey.

I stand corrected in my assumption of the equipment at hand, I'm glad that the person involved was ok and did all the right things, I'm glad that his partner was willing to go back out looking for him and assist in the rescue, I'm appreciative that Traci the Hut host allowed everyone that wanted to stay the night at the Hut, I appreciate that the Ventura County SAR guy Dennis was at the Hut when things needed to get organized.

Hopefully the person (s) with experience will take away from this that it doesn't matter who your are, who you think you are, what skills you have or don't have, when conditions deteriorate it's good to have friends that will do what it takes to go get help or stay and help get to you when you need them most, that happened here and it had a great outcome.

Once again I apologize for any unintended misunderstanding of what transpired or of the way I explained it, none was intended.

Patrick/Lilbitmo

[norma r]

Patrick,
i did not take the time to re-read what you originally wrote, but i know after reading it last night that i did not come away with the feeling that you were pointing a finger. i felt you were writing to inform others of what happened out there to these skiers in the zero visability of the storm. your TR was more positive than negative and i felt it's emphasis was to allow us all to hear what happened out there as you knew it and (knowing you) share info that would be useful to us if we ever find ourselves in the same situation.
norma

[Sam Page]

Patrick: I second Norma. I just appreciated (and was impressed) that you took the time to lay out what happened in detail.

[He219]

Nice TR guys!

Glad things worked out for the skier and all the people who contributed to making the rescue.
Outstanding job!

Whiteout land-navigation skills are a must in the BC.

It reminds me of a party of three who got caught in a white-out just 400 horizontal feet shy of Camp Muir (10k) on Rainier two years ago. Even though they had made the hike many times they were totally unprepared and suffered a fatality. In the morning the Rangers at Muir saw them hunkered down in a hand dug trench and rendered assistance. Without a pad, the victim laid himself at the bottom of the trench to protect the others and succumb to exposure.

Carry a compass & map, gps or rope together if moving in whiteout conditions.
Phones or radios generally work on a line-of-sight basis, so don't depend on those.
Have the equipment necessary to survive because at 10k anything can happen at any time.
The Alpine environment dictates it's own weather.

Cheers!

[RickF]

no compass, no map, no phone, no GPS, no spot, no radio, no familiarity with the area to my knowledge.

When I was near the ski hut on my way down yesterday, I counted 32 people climbing up into the storm. I remember thinking how many of those people knew what they were doing and how many are just doing it because everyone else was.

I'm Rick F, a.k.a. the "Other Skier". Late Monday night I read the posts about our trip to Baldy. I don't post often but I visit the boards quite a bit to get information about conditions and to read trip reports.

It was the post above in particular that prompted me to contact Patrick, whom which I know through a mutual friend. Feeling somewhat defeated, defensive and maybe even subconsciously insecure for getting separated from my partner, having to throw in the towel and get SAR assistance, I reacted to the commentary. I felt that the comments, albeit intended to be constructive, emphasized a lack of preparedness associated with my partner and I. Patrick's follow-up post on the other hand, illustrates that no matter how prepared or experienced anyone is, a situation can rapidly deteriorate. I am sincerely grateful to Patrick for his diligence and his follow-up.

Traveling in the backcountry on skis, in poor visibility and high winds, people can get separated from a partner or group and disoriented quickly. Much faster than when walking in boots. Locator beacons are likely a great technological advancement and are becoming more mainstream. With our recent experience on Baldy, its time I and my mountaineering friends take the leap and add locator beacons to our arsenal of essential equipment.

Patrick has already acknowledged several people who volunteered their time and energy to come the aid of my friend. I echo his acknowledgement and offer my personal thanks to everyone who helped us. I would like to add another individual to the list of these people. I wish to communicate my appreciation to Bahram, who I just met on Sunday while skinning up the West rim of the Baldy Bowl. Bahram not only offered access to the Hut, but he kept me company throughout the long hours of waiting to find out the status of my friend. It was Bahram's resourcefulness and foresight to think to ask Dennis Wassermen to leave his FRS radio with us at the Ski Hut so the SAR command post could contact us. Going even further above and beyond, Bahram shared his food and tea with me, and skied down with me on Monday morning.

[RickF]

I'd like to share this account as reported on SBSAR's website:

Hiker Survives in Snow Cave Before Rescue
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 22:38 Bob Gattas
On Sunday, March 7 a hiker got seperated from his partner about noon on the summit of Mt. Baldy in 10 ft visibility and high winds. He had never been there before, so he was completely unaware of the terrain and area. He tried several times with his map & compass to make his way down, but would get to a point and not recognize the area and would go back up to the top.
At 1600 hrs he dug a snow cave for the night. He heard 40-King but it was clouded in and could not see them. 40-King at first could not search the area between 8,000 and 10,500 ft due to clouds, so we were gearing up for a long search with 10 assignments that needed about 30 to 40 searchers. 40-King tried one more time before the end of their shift, after the summmit briefly cleared of clouds, and saw our subject with his headlamp waving. They picked him up and brought him down to Cow Canyon Saddle at about 2230 hrs, ending the mission on a happy note.
Our subject was very smart and stayed put, instead of heading down into any direction off the mountain, since he had no idea where he was. We have had several lost hikers in the past in the same conditions who have actually travelled west and north, going deeper into the wilderness of Fish Fork and Iron Mtn.

[GigaMike]

Thanks Rick and Patrick. The information is very much appreciated.

[RickF]

Please let it be known that a Ham radio was used by the Hut host to make the distress call from the Hut at about 2:30 p.m., at the request of the missing skier's friends. Other Hams were talking on the Catalina radio tower (repeater) frequency and the host broke in. I believe this was the first contact to initiate S&R. That host carries the Ham radio everywhere she goes and can reach another Ham from anywhere in the wilderness. No line of sight required. Folks may want to consider getting a license and carrying a Ham radio. If nothing else, all parties should consider carrying walkie-talkies. That'll give them at least a 5-mile range and may allow them to keep in touch if separated.

Traci did use her Ham Radio to make the initial call to start the SAR mission. Thank-you Traci!

Traci got the call out but while talking to the dispatcher her batteries went dead.

So we all have to remember that as we become more reliant on electronice gadgets like GPS navigators, locator beacons, radios, phones etc., if you lose power you need to be able to adapt and survive.

[MightyMouseMountaineer]

Rick,

Could you get Phil to write an account of his activities during the 9 hours he was on his own? I think it would be very educational.

That's nice of you to thank Bahram. He had brought his paperwork to the Hut with the idea of getting it done in peace and quiet after everyone left on Sunday night. I don't think he got it done.

On the Facebook page of one of the Hut overnight guests, I saw a video clip of what the summit looked like at about the time Phil separated from you. If I can get the guy to send it to me, I may be able to make it available...? (The video shows the JPL scientist and his new lady friend closing in on the summit in a complete white-out.)

In regard to beacons; I want to express my concern that beacons may be used as a replacement for self-sufficiency in the wilderness; as in, it doesn't matter what I do or where I go, I can just press the button and, voila!, a helicopter will appear. I'd bet that Phil would have been able to figure out where he was in the morning.

[RickF]

MMM (MightyMouseMountaineer),

I've talked with Phil a few times since our trip to Baldy. I could write an account of his experience based on what he told me. I'll draft it and get him to read it then I'll post it. We still need to get a fix on where he was so we can get back there on a clear day and find the ski he lost. He got picked up on a ridge, I think either between Baldy and Dawson or between Baldy and Harwood.

Bahram did get a chance to work for a few hours after everyone left, while we were waiting. He put some good Classical music on his docking station and cranked through his paperwork.

Technological accessories can be nice luxuries but I agree with you that everyone should have a good foundation of self-sufficiency that doesn't rely so much on electronic bells and whistles. Back in the early 1900's, around the time that the Hut was built, people roamed all around the mountains and didn't have all the gadgets that are available today. I read a post where Bob Rockwell referred to those GPS emergency beacons as "yuppie 911". despite my contempt for over-marketed technology, I will look into a person-to-person locator beacon that could help partners find each-other in a white-out or under avalanche debris.

[MightyMouseMountaineer]

A write-up with feeling.