EISPIRATEN

it all started with Sam looking to climb something on Thursday. a few options were suggested and Sam mentioned he had eyed a couloir on Telegraph's south slope when looking at photos that Patrick (lilbitmo) had recently taken. with some info from Taco on possible descent routes it was decided that we would give this climb a try.

el Nino dropped some snow in IHC Wednesday night so we took off with a bit of the white stuff leading the way and cool temps about 6am. when it was time to leave the trail and head to the slope our progress was slightly slowed by the Buckthorn and Manzanita, but in no time we were again on snow and looking up at a beautiful couloir.

can you say... SWEET! this climb was perfect! long, 2000 feet worth, steep (ok so it wasn't 50-60 degrees but steep enough to make you suck wind) and beautiful. the trees became whiter the higher we ascended and the snow was perfectly firm for cramponing. no rocks fell, just rime ice and nothing larger than a cell phone. there was off and on wind gusts to keep us from getting too warm and in two hours we topped out on a ridge between Tele and Timber and awesome views. Dave suffered a torn calf muscle on the ascent and it pained us to see him in pain. but ever the mountaineer, he finished out the hike with a wince and a limp.

it was windy on the Telepgraph summit so we took some pix and found a lower spot for lunch. We descended via Cedar Canyon which again was beautiful and onto the Chapman Trail.

a great day, on a sweet climb with great friends!

btw... Shin and Mark as i looked at my pix of Baldy when i got home i zoomed in on the summit and guess who i saw standing up there??? i wish it was a better resolution, but your group is there! pretty cool.

our objective


entering the couloir


Patrick and Dave ahead


looking back down the couloir


topped out & a nice ridge to traverse to Tele summit


Telegraph through the trees


go to my whole WebAlbum to see who's standing on Baldy's summit!!


Patrick channeling his inner Bolshevik (or is he just missing Taco?)


rest of the pix are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma8 ... ouloir2410#

Beautiful photos, Norma. It looks like everyone had a spectacular day yesterday...'cept those of us who were stuck inside

great pics, i shoulda met up with you all. next time for sure.

thanx Ladies!

Tracie, sorry you were couped-up inside. hopefully reading mountaineering guide books, right?

Tina, you better, you better you bet!

That was a good time, Norma. Here is my trip report, which also includes a video.

norma r wrote:thanx Ladies!

Tracie, sorry you were couped-up inside. hopefully reading mountaineering guide books, right?

Tina, you better, you better you bet!

i will i will

Nice TRs, Norma and Sam--another fun day in the mountains!
And thanks, Norma, for keeping me company as I hobbled back to the barn.

That's an awesome trek and pictures -- thank for sharing Norma!

Dave, I hope your injury heals fast and you get back on the trail soon.

Looks like you had yet another day in Paradise!
Did you seen any (relatively) recent avy evidence?

Hi Norma R,
Thank you for sharing your new adventure with your team. Your have captured the day very nicely. It is nice to see Mt. Baldy from different angle. You guys has set a new trend in winter hiking and elevated the hiking into real mountaineering.

Dave, I hope you get well soon.

Dave,Norma,Patric,and Sam
Thanks.
Shin
PS. It looks like no more privacy in Mt. Baldy area.

Thanks to Sam for putting out the idea of doing this route up the South Coulier of Telegraph - Dave and I spotted this from Short Cut Ridge on Sunday and it was looking very inviting when we both arrived home and checked our pictures. Sam's invitation to go do it did not take much "arm twisting"

Dave thanks for setting a brisk pace and sorry for your "calf giving you a devil of a time" but nice work finishing the hike, I know it was hurting the rest of the day and that's not always easy to do.

Norma, great shots, your pictures tend to capture so much more than mine, I'll have follow you closer on the hills and see more of what you see

Taco it wasn't as boring as it looked

Sam, great getting to know your insights and knowledge on mountians in New Hampshire and elsewhere.

Had just the best of days in perfect climbing snow - let's do that again soon 8)

My pictures here - http://s908.photobucket.com/home/Charli ... =slideshow

Nice photos, Patrick. And thanks again for the image that inspired this outing!

Didja run into much on the descent?

TacoDelRio wrote:Didja run into much on the descent?

Instead of descending "Ryan's Ridge", we followed Cedar Canyon to the Chapman Trail. The snow was perfect until about 100 yards before the intersection with the trail. Then it softened and disappeared and we resorted to a small amount of thrashing.

Lucky. I guess it's because of how much snow we got this season. Last year, it was a suckfest.

TacoDelRio wrote:Lucky. I guess it's because of how much snow we got this season. Last year, it was a suckfest.

Sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes I don't. Not knowing which it will be is half the fun.

I was a little concerned by what you said about dense buckthorn in Cedar Canyon, but we saw almost none. I guess it was completely buried in snow.

It's thick when you're in the very bottom of the canyon, probably buried right now. 8)

Nice pictures everyone. That looks like a fun route!