Yesterday I took my friend Ingrid up to the top of Mt Baldy in her first winter ascent. It was a fantastic day. We were the first summiters up there since the recent snows ended, so there was a lot of trail-blazing above the Ski Hut, which made for pretty slow going. Between the tedious trail-kicking, ice axe training at the Ski Hut, an hour loitering around at the summit, and some very careful foot placements all the way back down, it was a long day, 12 hours!
I have a lot of nice photos I need to process and upload before I can post them, but I wanted to just post some conditions really quickly for those of you who are thinking of going up this weekend.
First, it was a cloudless day, so a lot of the snow on the trail below the Ski Hut melted while we were up on the mountain. The NOAA doesn't expect tonight's snow to accumulate much.
But conditions about halfway up the Ski Hut Trail, and above the Ski Hut, are terrific. The trail we blazed along the summer Baldy Bowl Trail was followed by three more climbers, so there's a good trail above the Ski Hut that ought to be firm and crusty in the mornings, if the new snow doesn't cover it.
There was evidence of several avalanches from earlier this week in the Bowl, and one big rockfall that apparently occurred while we were up on the ridge. There was even a small avalanche above the trail below the Ski Hut.
This is the first time I have done this during the week. For those who are exclusively weekend climbers, the difference is incredible. We met exactly four people above the Falls the entire day. Recently someone asked me in an incredulous tone whether you can really derive a true wilderness experience in the mountains around the Los Angeles megalopolis. Well, the answer to that is you sure as hell can during the week.
The temperature was moderate, except at the top, where it was very windy, and so wind chill drove us south about a hundred feet where we hunkered down behind a bush to eat lunch.
While were were up there, an LA Sheriff's Office helicopter orbited around and finally landed on the summit. No one got out. Later, as we were coming down the ridge, we saw the chopper land briefly on Harwood. When were below the Ski Hut, a different chopper flew right up San Antonio Canyon and hovered above us for a few moments. We assumed they must have been training, since midday seemed to be a strange time to be conducting a search, but we met a local couple on the San Antonio Falls Road walking their dog who said some one has been missing since Monday. We hadn't heard anything else about that.
The photos are really beautiful. I'll try to get them up tonight. I'm heading up again on Sunday with MikeTX from SummitPost. We should get to Wanker by about 6:00am if anyone is thinking of accompanying us.
Ingrid's First Time: Mt Baldy 11 Mar 2010
Nunc est bibendum
Pics are up. Mostly a lot of shots of Baldy and environs, for those of you unfamiliar with the area.
Avalanche debris:
Ingrid on the steep bit:
More of that:
Ice sculptures:
LA Sheriff chopper landing on summit:
Our track along the bottom of the Bowl, which made the lives of three other climbers somewhat easier that day:
Getting late:
Good night:
The rest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/se ... 13/detail/
Now I need to process the pics from yesterday's climb with Fritz. I'm a day behind.
Avalanche debris:
Ingrid on the steep bit:
More of that:
Ice sculptures:
LA Sheriff chopper landing on summit:
Our track along the bottom of the Bowl, which made the lives of three other climbers somewhat easier that day:
Getting late:
Good night:
The rest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/se ... 13/detail/
Now I need to process the pics from yesterday's climb with Fritz. I'm a day behind.
Nunc est bibendum
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jimqpublic
- Posts: 58
- Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 10:05 am
Congratulations to Ingrid on her first ascent. I did my first two weeks ago and I can't wait to repeat it.
Jim
Jim