EISPIRATEN

Hey all.
Today I decided to come out of hibernation and go on a hike! So i joined OnFire Zach and lilbitmo on an ice adventure. We met up about 7 in Ice house canyon wit the intent of bagging Ontario and Bighorn.
Sorry it didnt go as planned when some of us half yak half cramp footed it had no success!

We decided onfire and lilbutmo should continue on with the PROPER gear and bag those peaks. While Zach and i headed toward the T's and the chapman trail. and re group at the lodge in 5 hours. it was more like 6 but pretty close!
11 miles for me and zach
15 miles for onfire and lilbitmo

Early am. The big Mt by IHC parking lot


Easy going in the begining


But snowy as u get higher =)









Every thing beyond IHC is iced!


Needed some thing a lil more heavy duty!


Wtf?


Baldy from Chapman trail


Now views from the chapman trail




Zach refueling


Then to the lodge then home!
great day

Very nice report and pictures! Looks like a fun day too. Thanks for sharing.

It was an excellent day. I took a small group of eight and the intent was to do a little snow travel on what we thought was going to be slushy, maybe a little icy trails up IHC to the saddle, then on to Ontario Peak and Big Horn.

One person forgot his boots, so he hiked with us in his Tevas up to the saddle before parting for home. One other member, had a previous engagement with family, so she also parted for home at the saddle.

The rest of us continued on to Ontario Peak. The trail quickly turned to hard ice, and with two people having yak trax, this did not look good. With a sever lapse in judgement, two people shared one crampon with those who had yak trax. We continued on for a short while, and after one person started to slide down a slope, we ragained proper thinking, and those that did not have crampons decided to bag Timber Mountain instead.

Four of us remained and continued on to Ontario Peak. It was pretty much smooth sailing the rest of the way, but from Kelly's Camp, to the summit, I would guess 80% of the trail was hard blue ice. There was a few nail biting sections where we were traversing some hard ice on 40-45 degree slope. We also had one eye opener when one member lost his footing and slid out of control down a 40 degree slope for about 100 feet. Luckily he came to rest where the slope leveled out a little bit over some ice over brush. He suffered some cuts and scratches on his hands and knuckles.

Shortly after this incident, we reaches another sketchy section, where one member of the group decided this was as far as he needed to go.

Three of us continued on to the summit under perfect blue skies, no winds, nice blue ice.

The summit was actually only 11 miles from start, not 15 as mentioned by Eric. It was a hard earned 11 miles, but most rewarding.

Here's the porn:

First there was eight:



Then there was six:



Eric with his new weapon of choice:



Patrick in his element:



Just trekking along:



Very lucky person:



Gratuitous self portrait:



Ridgeline:






Baldy Bowl:



Then there was four:



Perfect weather:



Looking out over towards Corona:



Still a ways to go:



Patrick on summit blocks:


And then there was three.
Summit Team:



Oklahoma climber:






Heading home:

Our superman!

Enfuego set up a group hike for Ice House Canyon, Ontario and Big Horn.

8 souls showed up right on time at 7 AM, Enfuego, Zach, Eric, Kord, John, Noel, Nicole and myself (Patrick/Lilbitmo). We headed up Ice House at a very fast clip and reached the Saddle before 9:30.

The day started with some ominous warnings - One person forgot their hiking boots, two people did not have crampons and only two people had Ice Axes.

The person without the boots sent out with the rest of us and did make the Saddle and then headed down with Nicole as she needed to be somewhere by noon. So the other six of us headed out towards Kelly's Camp on our way to Ontario Peak first. Since there was missing equipment we tried to make it to Kelly's Camp but the conditions were such that it was apparant early on that this was not going to work, the snow had a firm crust on top and most of the snow was consolidated enough that had anyone lost their footing in the more exposed canyon slopes it would have been a disaster quickly.

The decision was made quickly that we would return quickly to Ice House Saddle and two people would go up Timber (it is almost completely devoid of snow now) and meet up with us at the Baldy Village Resturant later that day, while the other four of us would head back out to Kelly's and on to Ontario. We were able to follow very faint tracks in the snow that looked to be coming back from Ontario ( I think these are Dave G's and Phil's from the previous weekend?). Once we reached Kelly's the tracks dissapeared so we just "b-lined" up the slope to the ridgeline as it's obvious where you need to go from there.

Once we were 50 feet below the first ridgeline (just shy of where the sign used to be showing the arrows for Bighorn to the left and Ontario to the right, it's still there but it was lying down inbetween some rocks not on the "Post" that it was attached to in past trips out there) John dropped one of his gloves which quickly slid down 50 feet on a very steep slope. In his attempt to turn himself in a position to go get it he lost his balance and did a "Head First" glisade for 100+ feet just missing the dead fall tree that had stopped his glove on it's ride. The other three of us watched in "Stunned Silence" as it unfolded so quickly. Once he came to a stop he yelled up that he was "Shaken" but ok and he slowly made his way back up to us. We continued on for another 20 minutes until we came to the second "False Summit" (there are four leading out to Ontario if you stick to the ridgeline instead of trying to find the buried trail which stays below most of these "Rock outcropings") at which point John made it clear that he was not comfortable with the "amount of technical stuff" we were encountering. The conditions were very Icy, with lots of open exposure below us and the "Run out" was long with "Dead Trees" at the bottom (not very inviting) as I was out front of Kord and Enfuego I was having to "Kick Steps" for the others to follow but that only lasted for about 30 - 40 feet.

At this point John turned back and waited near the sign while the other three of us headed over the other two "Bumbs/Out croppings" and thus up to the summit of Ontario. We did the usual summits pictures and headed down to hook back up with John, and we were too tired to bag Big Horn so we called it a day, then down to Ice House Saddle, then to the parking lot, then the Baldy Lodge, some grub and everyone headed home.

The day was great, some clouds but plenty of sunshine, the conditions past the saddle were technical in nature (Icy and very exposed) so don't head out there unless you are experienced with crampons, ice axe, steep slopes and all the "self arrest" techniques required to be safe. Ice House Canyon Trail itself has plenty of spots where the ice is covered by a mixture of sand/dirt/twigs etc... but it's still slick and people were falling on their butts but with some patients and work it's not that hard to reach the saddle.

Thanks Enfuego for setting up this great outing, thanks Zach for taking Eric over to Timber and showing him the proper use of and Ice Axe, thanks everyone else for showing up and participating.

Pictures here - http://s908.photobucket.com/albums/ac28 ... =slideshow

Nice pictures Patrick

Nice pix, Patrick! You sure had a beautiful sky overhead. 8)

Phil and I actually went up Falling Rock Canyon to the Sugarloaf-Ontario ridge and then to the peak. If you've never gone that way it's a beautiful route, albeit a little more technical in winter. On the return we first went to Kelly's Camp, then dropped directly into Icehouse Canyon via Delker Canyon and Shortcut Ridge.

You guys are lucky nobody got hurt. Yak Trax and no ice axe is a recipe for disaster up there right now.

Agreed, some of us had all the stuff others did not. Group hikes with unknown hikers and their abilities always makes me nervous.

Please, please let me know the next time you are doing the Falling Rock Canyon, Sugarloaf, Ontario, Delker Canyon, Shortcut Ridge and Ice House Canyon parking lot. I saw your post but was glad I did not do that with you as my leg was sore from the "Bowl Climb" three days prior, but since doing Baldy Main trail and Ontario yesterday I feel great.

Where exactly do you turn to go down Delker Canyon? Is it right there next to Kelly's Camp, thought I saw some tracks going left but did not investige them?

You going out this weekend?