EISPIRATEN

I explained the day to my good buddy Patrick in an email...

"I parked at the ski lifts, climbed up Manker Canyon to the Devils Backbone, took the ridge to the summit of Harwood, hiked over and across the NE face of Baldy, down to the saddle between Baldy and Dawson, then across Dawson's south side over Fish Fork, then right down into Fish Fork, the straight up the major couloir on West Baldy's north face, then across to Baldy and down the Ski Hut Trail, across the bowl from in the trees, and then home. "


Pics:


Starting up Manker Canyon


Here be the poles that USED to be on DBB.


In Manker




Done


Summit of Harwood


Dawson


My lucky Koopa Troopa


Fish Fork




Baldy's NF


Avy debris at the base of the route


C46 Commando bit


Scrapes along the base of a spur from avalanches.




Starting up


Unhappy with steep postholing.





Further up


Happy with conditions


Nearing the top


Landing gear





Almost done


Top


Koopa Troopa and the Pacific


Route

Fin

That crux looks narly, can we get past that?

Just a super route today Taco, I'm very impressed, nice work, great pictures and report.

Taco wrote: ↑

Baldy's NF

Holy s#!t !! That's an amazing route, and great pictures !

Dude!

The crux on Baldy's NF Couloir (the one I didn't do) looked easy to get through. No gear.

Thanks Elwood!

How's the knees?

Hike, Taco hike! very nice.

Knees not so good as usual, probably because of miles of postholing.

Wow! Great job. Looks like fun.

Taco out livin' the dream. Nice report, how many miles would you reckon that was in total?

Nice day's work!
I like the landing gear pic.

Dang you are one tough Taco!

For a good while I was fascinated with those poles that used to be on Back Bone - who put them there, when ,,,,,, then who decided to take them down, etc etc...

Now to see that they were just tossed 'aside' is classic!

I've only seen one picture of them 'in action' - think it was in one of those Russ Leadabrand guide books or an old Westways magazine.

Good 1, Taco! Thanks for capturing all that beautiful scenery...

Great job, how long did that take?

Hi Taco,
You are truly an adventurer and mountaineer !!!
I enjoyed your photos very much.
Thank you for sharing with us.
Shin
PS. Sorry, I couldn't join with you last weekend. I had a very bad cold.

nice work. I still haven't made it back in there, looks like it would be a good ski. Also like the airplane parts.

Great trip report Taco. That was quite a day. I like that you take the time to take good pictures to go with experience. I think Koopa Troopa deserves a carbon fiber biner for guiding you. Next time I'm in REI I will pick one up for him. You are a good inspiration for me to keep working hard to get in better mountain shape so I can have those types of experiences.

...the Manker Shortcut Road (disintegrated Winter 2010-2011)

Dang. How bad is it? Last summer it was in easy walk up condition.

Thanks all!

Burchey, about 7 miles or so, 7,000ft gain and loss, give or take.

Outwhere, now you know where to find them!

Spotfin, started around 6 something in the morning, got back to my car around 4:30pm, 10.5 hours? It's kind of a long walk in that kinda terrain.

No worries, Shin.

406, it would be a ski paradise. So many awesome runs.

Secondlizard, sweet! Matching biners! Glad I could be of service!

Hikeup, all but the last 1/4 of the road is completely gone, you'd need a rockcrawling 4x4 to negotiate it now.

What a sick route!

When I grow up I wanna....

Impressive.

Man that is some training for....

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awesome stuff!

HELL YEAH, ALL-SPORT-MAN!

Totally awesome route, Taco. You got WAY off the beaten path on that one.

There was mention of a road being thrashed. Which one, exactly?

WOW dude, you are an animal! Incredible route. I like your buddy there too - Koopa Troopa

Sam Page wrote: ↑There was mention of a road being thrashed. Which one, exactly?

It is (was) a short steep "road" that's shown on this map (try the satellite view). Goes from point A (parking lot for ski lift) up Manker Cyn. to point B (a point on the road from Manker Flats to Baldy Notch). Kind of a short cut if you want to walk up to the notch without following the really steep use trail under the ski lifts or following the road all the way up from Manker Flats.

HikeUp wrote: ↑

Sam Page wrote: ↑There was mention of a road being thrashed. Which one, exactly?

It is (was) a short steep "road" that's shown on this map (try the satellite view). Goes from point A (parking lot for ski lift) up Manker Cyn. to point B (a point on the road from Manker Flats to Baldy Notch). Kind of a short cut if you want to walk up to the notch without following the really steep use trail under the ski lifts or following the road all the way up from Manker Flats.

Thanks HikeUp! I didn't know about that road.

Nice. Last time I was on DBB Manker Canyon looked like a fun shortcut to bypass the lame road. Look forward to trying in.

I was stoked to find a stash of ice pirates stickers in the registry box on the 13th. So thanks!

You can thank Simonov for those stickers.

Manker Cyn will probably suck unless you finish it before sunup, since it's been hot.

What... the.... hell??

The why, I can understand, but how you did that route, I have no clue.

Awesome stuff!

It was technically very easy. The hard part was the postholing. I'm still searching for a route that will destroy me.