Wuddup fellow people who have been on here for years despite the variety of newer forms of forum-replacing technology which have all overshadowed forums, yet died their own deaths, leading us back to this reliable form of communication! Do I have a grand tale of derring-do for you to feast upon today!
On the hot, sunny morning of Saturday January 9th, 2021, I set off from West Covina at 0420 (blaze it), meeting up with Danny and Dima in San Dima-s an hour later. I told them to meet around 5, but I was a little late, as happens sometimes when you're not sure how long it takes to bike to different points with different loads. I was carrying two pairs of crampons and two ice axes, as Danny was borrowing one of each. I also brought my La Sportiva Trango Cube Melted Lego Man Edition boots, and a few small items for the climb. I left my bike helmet home, using the climbing helmet instead. I wore no helmet until the ride home, so someone please alert the authorities and tell them I was a naughty boy who is super selfish and now everyone will get really sick and cry.
We took Baseline to Mills to Baldy Road. Traffic was super low until we started up the road. People honked at us for taking up their valuable space, slowing their drive up Baldy road by seconds. How awful of us! There is no shoulder on the majority of Baldy Road, and we were carrying our gear, thus we are both slower and a bit more wobbly as we slowly crawl up this long climb. I do my best to stay to the right, but often there are sharp rocks which can damage my tires, random road debris, snow, ice, all kindsa shit, and again I'm a lil wobbly with a buncha added weight, aside from just being a regular asshole who isn't perfect, so maybe take a chill pill. Everyone's in such a hurry to speed to the next red light and wait in line. A big part of city culture I don't miss when I'm away from it.
On another note, if you think someone riding up like that is cool, may I kindly suggest not honking, and instead giving a thumbs up or something. Getting honked at is startling, and I've crashed before from it. I appreciate the positive attitude and encouragement and I don't want that to go away, I just don't like sudden loud noises coming from behind me where I cannot see, rapidly approaching in a big vehicle. A thumbs up or some kind words will get you a positive reply. Thank you!
We reached the trailhead at 1000, and it was packed! Tons of cars, all manner of people and dogs. I meant to record the time we reached various points from here on out but forgot/couldn't in some cases. We hid our bikes near the start of the Ski Hut Trail and began hiking around 1100. Made it up to the hut, filled up bottles at the stream, and eyed the route up. The Bowl is almost completely melted out, with a few snow tongues leading most of the way up. As it was a little after noon, the snow was soft and not suitable for enjoyable climbing, so we roughly followed the Ski Hut Trail up, taking a different line up and right at some point. We took our crampons off at the plateau, and followed the growing network of trails up the southern facing slope. Lots of people descending, a couple dogs, and some folks wearing hypeman Nike slambusters and cotton clothes with no provisions. The true ultralight hardmen, putting us overprepared losers to shame. At times I do feel overdressed. Anywho, we continued up to the final plateau, which caps off the bowl and has those nice few camping spots. Then comes the slow slope to the summit, which was pretty windy but not outstanding. We chilled out on top for a minute, I sent my lady a cute picture, and we headed down the backbone to drop in to the Bowl. Avoiding snow, we scree skiied down, reaching the hut in about 30 minutes. I love that descent. Super fun, super fast, and despite jumping and landing a good distance lower my shitty knees didn't hurt. We didn't need more water, so we boned out down the trail to the bikes, reaching them after sunset. Grabbed em, took em down onto the road, and packed up. The ride down was fun, with a few patches of snow and ice, with the last challenge of the day lifting the bikes up and around the uphill side of the gate (the crux of the route). We zoomed down to the village, where we got water at the little water bottle filler station at the Lodge, and lit the afterburners down to Claremont. It was pretty windy in places, and at one point I had to slow down considerably when a crosswind nearly knocked me on my ass while going 30mph or so. We got down to Padua 15 minutes after leaving the lodge. Big difference in time from the climb! From there we rode west, and I broke off from Danny and Dima in Sandy Mas. I turned south and got some Popeyes in Covina, managing to avoid a weirdo lurking the parking lot. They tend to engage me while I sit and eat, so I really like not having to take part in social interactions of this sort whenever possible.
My numbers for the day were 68mi and 10,300ft of gain. Left home at 0420, home around 2100. I dunno how long it would take if I did it 'fast', if I was interested in such a thing. What I am interested in is doing more bike-climb/hike/canyon-bike trips, so if you're thinking of dusting off your old bike and doing some hooligan shit with us, speak up. We have a good time and despite the challenge we take it pretty easy and just try to have fun. I just wanna chill with my homeboys in the mountains and make memories and say silly shit and laugh, and maybe get scared once in a while. You do too. Peace out,
Baldy by Bike
Y'all didn't ski or snowboard down I take it? I've heard of people going to baldy bowl for backcountry and have been intrigued to try it out. Have not done the backcountry snowboarding thing since I'm not versed in avy risk assessment though.
