Sunday morning I drove up to Manker for a hike to Old Baldy's summit. The road was completely clear and dry, despite one erroneous sign demanding drive-wheel chains. I arrived at a nearly empty parking area at 0615 and hit the trail in the toasty 26F weather. The Ski Hut Trail is mostly clear of snow until the hut itself. The refrozen snow across the bowl and beyond was perfect for crampons during the ascent. It was getting pretty slushy as I made my way back down. Any hopes of hanging out on the summit were dashed by astoundingly strong winds. The rock shelters were mostly full of frozen snow. Conditions were not conducive to digging them out. I had the best of intentions of descending the Devil's Backbone and racking up some mileage via the road from the notch. I don't scare easily, but the thought of getting blown off the backbone sent me back the way I came. There were a couple dozen hikers headed up as I descended, spread along the length of the Ski Hut Trail.
Baldy's pinnacles in sight from 3N01.
View towards the ridge from the Ski Hut Trail.
Baldy Bowl seen from well below the hut.
Ontario Peak.
Rime-covered trees on one of Mount Harwood's flanks.
View across the bowl.
Trail conditions along the west ridge of the bowl. Refrozen snow up, slushy down.
Trail conditions a little further along.
Snow and Manzanita.
Thunder, Telegraph, Timber, Etiwanda, Cucamonga, Big Horn, Sugarloaf, Ontario.
I was leapfrogging these gentlemen from the hut on up.
More rime-covered trees.
Devil's Backbone; too windy for me to descend.
Dawson Peak and Pine Mountain, seen from Mount Baldy's summit.
Dreaded Kraken rises from the boulder field by the ski hut.
GPS track and elevation plot.
