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1/13/13 Mt. Baldy trip and conditions

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:37 am
by Bonan
I teach Physical Geography at a few local colleges and often talk about trips that I take in class. Two of my old students were back in town and have been wanting to go up Baldy since I spoke about it in class. So I took them up yesterday for their first time.

It ended up being the coldest I have been up there, reports said 9 degrees F at the top, my thermometer only said 24F, which wasn't really as cold as I felt (wind).

They kept up just fine, but suffered from being 'undergeared'. One of them interpreted my "no jeans, something as water repellent as possible" as jean shorts and a bathing suit, luckily I had extra pants. The other interpreted my, "wear water proof shoes or comfortable boots" as something that looked like this http://www.karmaloop.com/product/The-AO ... goduxYAgw , note the slick bottoms. They worked fine until we hit any small amount of ice. He wore my crampons the entire time.
These guys are smart top-of-the-class students, and have been hiking/backpacking before, and the clothes they brought would have been perfectly fine in the summer time. But I mention all this because if you bring friends up for their first experience like this, I realized how important it is to be very careful about what you allow them to bring, and to bring your extra gear for them to use.

We went up the Skit Hut trail, and went up the ridge to the left of the bowl. 90% of the people we saw all day were headed up the bowl, and equipped to do so, and it looked like great conditions for it.
Heading up the ridge there was a few feet of snow, but the trail is currently well packed down, so there really wasn't a need for snowshoes or postholing. Crampons are nice in many areas, but not necessary up the ridge, as long as it stays as cold as it's been.

Dogs at the ski hut.
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We summitted at 12:40, and left the car at 8am, so not too bad for timing. When we got to the top it was completely deserted, which surprised me, after seeing so many people on their way up the bowl.

My old students at the summit.
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Me on the summit.
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Descending was very chilly (my hands actually hurt, with gloves and liners on). The snow was in great condition to glissade down lots of spots on the way down the ridge line. We actually got going pretty fast in some spots.

Once we got ridge, walking across the bottom of the bowl, we ran in to a guy who was looking for his friend. Apparently he and his 'first timer' friend separated on their way up, the lost friend should have summitted around 12:30, we didnt see him, and as of 3pm the friend was missing. We offered help and some advice and the guy said he was alright for now. I am curious about how that all turned out. I was glad to see this morning there aren't any missing person posts.

All in all, great trip, awesome snow conditions.

Re: 1/13/13 Mt. Baldy trip and conditions

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:22 pm
by Phil B
Hi Bonan,

Thanks for the great report, glad you had a good time. I was up there on Saturday and conditions were pretty much as you described except that on the summit there was no wind at all just blue skies. That changed on the way down as a few clouds rolled in. The snow was fairly consolidated so I donned crampons after the Ski Hut as did most people that I saw.

One thing that did impress was the good condition of the road leading up to Manker Flat, I was expecting more ice, but apart from a few spots the road was clear and mostly dry. I don't know who does road maintenance there, Caltrans or Forest Service crews but cudos to them for a good job.

Cheers Phil
Pics : http://philbrown.smugmug.com/Other/Bald ... &k=k3CB5Jv

Re: 1/13/13 Mt. Baldy trip and conditions

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:10 pm
by Bonan
Nice pics Phil!

On the way up on Sunday the road looked about the same as in your pictures. Though when we were coming down, most of the snow was gone and it was mostly covered in ice.

At that point it became the most dangerous part of the trip and it took some extra time to dodge, and I saw a few people slip on the asphalt.

Re: 1/13/13 Mt. Baldy trip and conditions

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:22 am
by Marty
Thanks both of you for posting. Was curious what that area was looking like around now. Looked like fun trips.

Re: 1/13/13 Mt. Baldy trip and conditions

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 7:41 pm
by bravefanla
I want to put a trip together to Mt. Baldy for some of my nursing school friends. I want to go up via Ski Hut trail and come down via the ski lift. Can anyone tell me the conditions for the ski hut trail the trail to the ski lift? I will probably be doing this hike on Friday or Saturday the 24th/25th. Thanks in advance for your replies. Kevin