EISPIRATEN

Hi Everyone,
Took a trip up the Village trail Saturday and had a great time. I think I was probably the first one up in a week or so judging by the tracks. Snow was continuous from about 8200 feet on up and was in good shape, very little postholing and fairly crunchy, at least in the early AM. The mountain was kind of quiet on Saturday, only saw 3 other people on the Village trail and summit and the Bowl only had a handful of climbers in it. I came down the Ski hut trail and out to Manker and even managed to enjoy walking the road back to the Village. This was a good training day for Mt. Whitney in 2 weeks.
Some pictures here:

http://markirving.smugmug.com/Hiking/Mt ... 8719_87BFd

Hello, Mark!

You missed out on the crowds. There were about 30 people in and around the bowl on Sunday.

Cheers, and welcome aboard.

Haha! I like how close you parked your van to the wall.

Just noticed the photo you took of the crag on page 6.

If it's anything like other crags I've climbed in the area, it's both climbable and friable. Uses the San Gabriel rating system AKA movie ratings (G, PG, PG13, etc).

I have yet to climb it.

Hey Zach,
The last time I parked in front of the Ranger Station I didn't pull in enough and ended up blocking the road and having to go move it so this time I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have to park the darn thing twice. Just pull it forward till ya can't go anymore!

Taco,
So then I guess an X is when you grab a hold and it crumbles in your hand? And a XXX would be when you stare at a hold and think about grabbing it but don't and it still turns to dust?

Pretty much.

G: Safe, not overly fun
PG: Getting more fun, safe for the SG's
PG13: Avert your eyes sometimes, I guess
R: Fun, loose rocks everywhere, typical SG stuff
X:
XXX: FA on

Good job Mark! funny captions. see you Saturday!

p.s. after doing the MR this last weekend i firmly believe nothing can get your ready for it. the Whit MR is just a biatch! especially in cold & windy weather.

Hey Norma,
Mucho congratulations for an awesome summit in VERY challenging conditions. 60 mph winds? No prob. Below zero wind chill temps? No prob.
I had my doubts on that whole deal after reading the forecasts. I may have a few questions for ya, unless you're going to make me figure everything out myself... Haha

MarkI wrote:Thought about grabbing a beer, but they probably don't like sweaty hiker guys with ice axes.

I can tell you from experience, the Buckhorn has no problem with sweaty hiker guys with ice axes. Just sit outside.

Well after thinking about this, now I'm ready for a beer and it's only 1030 in the morning...
Any chance they have any beers other than Bud-lite, Miller, and Coors? A porter or stout would be nice but that's probably too much to ask for. Nothing like a big Baldy hike to give you a case of the thirsties!

They have Guinness in bottles.

And great bloody marys.

MarkI wrote: The mountain was kind of quiet on Saturday, only saw 3 other people on the Village trail

Hi Mark,

I was one of those 3 people. I actually parked right next to your van, and started my hike at about 7:30. I think I caught up with you (was traveling light) at about 9:00 and I ended up turning around whenI hit the ice sections and saw you again on the way down.

Nice meeting you and good luck on the Mountaineer's Route.

Patrick

Hey Patrick,
It was so quiet up there that for some reason I thought I wasn't going to see anybody all day so I was kind of surprised when you showed up. It was nice talking with you and the climb to the top was definitely worth it if you haven't done it in awhile. Oh, and you parked so close I couldn't open my car door... just kidding, just kidding : )
Take care and maybe I'll see you again up there!