EISPIRATEN

I did an early climb of Baldy Bowl this morning, summitting before 9:00. The snow (and there is still a lot up there) was hard and icy. Sunny and gorgeous with high winds on top. I know that Norma was up there too, but I never saw her. But she did return my trekking poles!

Here is my trip report.

Excellent conditions. Icy = good for climbers going up. Nice pics. Thanks Sam.

Fun Fun Fun! That short cut you took can be miserable if you hit soft snow. Postholing into those prickly plants is no fun, but it is a great way to go when the snow is firm.

Sam, we couldn't get as early a start as you, but we thank you for kicking in a nice boot track all the way to the hut

after reading your TR i went home and looked at my pix and guess what i saw at 7:14 am on the Baldy Bowl????

as Shin says, i guess there is no privacy left in the mountains!

Jim and I had all intention of going straight up one of the chutes, but felt that with the sun that had been on the bowl for a couple hours by the time we hit it we might see (feel )some rock fall so we opted to go east. but we never saw or heard any so before it was too late Jim said, let's head toward some rocks and do i ever say No? so we traversed west to the rocks that are in the far right band of rocks in the middle. it was fun and provided a little excitement in what was a pretty ordinary climb. We actually looked for you as we ascended figuring we would see you. I don't know how we missed you glissading down? Were you doing a Fernando lay-down head-first glissade that was too stealth for us to see???

On the summit we were smacked by winds of 45 to 50 mph and could barely stand still while taking a photo. We didn't stay more than a couple mins up there and headed over to the east bowl for lunch and a lovely glissade down. Funny, we looked at the snow slope short-cut you descended below the hut and almost went for it too, but since we were in a time crunch decided to stay on the route we knew. Glad it worked for you. I love how full San Antonio Falls is. Wasn't it nice to hear the sound of the cascading water all the way down the ski hut trail?

all my pix are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma81/BaldyBowl32510#

Norma: It was challenging taking photos on the summit in that wind! I made two aborted efforts before finally committing to taking a few shots.

Nice work Sam, Norma and Jim.

I think one more run up the bowl is needed before all the rocks come down in quantity

Anyone going up Sunday?