Snow day on Mount Baldy
Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:54 pm
Went to Mount Baldy yesterday 4/8 via the ski hut trail. 
When I arrived there were clear skies and about a half inch to 1 inch of new snow on the ground. Once I got close to the ski hut clouds really started moving in and the visibilty drasticaly declined and I could no longer see the summit. All I could see was a lack of snow in the bowl except for the most western section near where the trail goes up. Well I decided to just go straight up that part of the bowl, I was probably about a 100 feet from where the trees are on the west side. Well after a slow ascent up the corner of the bowl I topped out on the ridge at about 8900 feet accroding to the gps. From there I followed the ridge to the summit with hardly any visibilty and light snow flurries falling. When I arrived at the summit there was one other person there. It was very cold on top maybe 20 degrees, my whole face had frost all over it and my camelbak drinking tube was completly frozen solid. It was also extremely windy the whole time I was up on top. I was only there for about 5 minutes, just long enough to eat my sandwich. There were no view in any direction. Well I quickly decended to get away from the wind, and on my way back down to the ski hut it really started snowing, and it was even starting to accumulate but not more than an inch or so. Once near the hut I took a long break just sitting on the bench getting snowed on. I love the snow when it's actually falling. From there I hiked back down to the parking lot slowly watching the snow accumulate before my eyes, but too bad it was no more than an inch, oh well I guess we have to be thankful for what ever we get these days towards the end of the season. Well overall I had a grat time, I made it to the summit, and got snowed on the whole way back. What more could you ask for, it was a perfect day, just a little too cold!!!!! 8)
Here are my pictures if anyones interested:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brian90620/ ... #slideshow
When I arrived there were clear skies and about a half inch to 1 inch of new snow on the ground. Once I got close to the ski hut clouds really started moving in and the visibilty drasticaly declined and I could no longer see the summit. All I could see was a lack of snow in the bowl except for the most western section near where the trail goes up. Well I decided to just go straight up that part of the bowl, I was probably about a 100 feet from where the trees are on the west side. Well after a slow ascent up the corner of the bowl I topped out on the ridge at about 8900 feet accroding to the gps. From there I followed the ridge to the summit with hardly any visibilty and light snow flurries falling. When I arrived at the summit there was one other person there. It was very cold on top maybe 20 degrees, my whole face had frost all over it and my camelbak drinking tube was completly frozen solid. It was also extremely windy the whole time I was up on top. I was only there for about 5 minutes, just long enough to eat my sandwich. There were no view in any direction. Well I quickly decended to get away from the wind, and on my way back down to the ski hut it really started snowing, and it was even starting to accumulate but not more than an inch or so. Once near the hut I took a long break just sitting on the bench getting snowed on. I love the snow when it's actually falling. From there I hiked back down to the parking lot slowly watching the snow accumulate before my eyes, but too bad it was no more than an inch, oh well I guess we have to be thankful for what ever we get these days towards the end of the season. Well overall I had a grat time, I made it to the summit, and got snowed on the whole way back. What more could you ask for, it was a perfect day, just a little too cold!!!!! 8) Here are my pictures if anyones interested:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brian90620/ ... #slideshow
especially on a summit plaque.......If you think about it, it's hard to believe a tagger would hike all the way up to the top of the mountian anyways, I always thought those type of people were lazy and just come to the mountians to get stoned and leave trash in the creeks......