EISPIRATEN

Last weekend I had a great day for hiking, I wasn't so lucky this time. I had Saturday off of work so I figured on a birthday hike and what better place to spend it than up in the San Gabes.
I thought about going up to Ontario Peak but at 7am the parking area at Ice House was packed so I kept on going up to Manker. There was some breeze there and I thought it would be stronger as I got up a little higher, and that was definitely true. The walk was pretty uneventful, I stopped at the stream just past the hut for a break and to refill the Camelbak. For reference, the water is flowing fine for that purpose. I don't know what I do all the time, but somehow between talking with a couple people and having some crackers I spent 30 minutes there. Once on the ridge section, there are just too many trails to choose from. I thought I was too high up, but soon enough the trail sign came into view. Because of the clouds rolling in I couldn't see the summit but soon enough I reached the top. I immediately joined a few people in one of the rock shelters, the wind was blowing pretty hard at that time. The clouds cleared a couple of times so that we could see Silverwood Lake but eventually visibility was just a few hundred feet. After hanging around there for a while I walked down the Devil's Backbone trail. The wind was blowing real hard then, the exposed sections were rather interesting to cross. I passed a lot of people still on the way up, which meant no line at the Notch. After a Double Dude IPA I headed down the road, and then took the trail under the lifts. This was a lot like skiing, I fell a couple times in the loose scree and gravel. When I got back home the thermometer on the front porch read 84, which seemed about 40 degrees warmer than the mountain. All told it was another great day to be out.



The blue sky fooled me, it wasn't that clear when I got up there.



Getting up to the ridge, obvious it wasn't going to clear up. Didn't look like rain so I thought it safe to continue.



The Baldy Bowl trail sign is in the middle of the picture. Lots of clouds above it.



Bundled up and ran over here for a picture before heading down. I love the Dirty Girl gaiters.



Looking down from the saddle below Harwood. I could see Catalina earlier but clouds got in there by now.



Stiff breeze while crossing this section.



Trail junction below the lift. The correct choice is the one on the left.

+1 for the dirty girl gaiters. Nice report and pictures.

I was out there on Saturday as well...so windy and cold! Does anyone know who was being airlifted out just beyond the Ice House turn? We saw the chopper on our ascent to the summit and by the time we were driving down, it was hovering near the road and the police had traffic stopped going up past Ice House.

I read there was a fatality, accident around 10:30 in the morning. I went through the traffic block on my way down, I saw the chopper heading up the canyon.

We arrived in the Icehouse Canyon parking lot at 6:50AM with 4 cars trailing after us. The last 5 parking spaces disappeared in one swoop. Baldy was in and out of clouds during the day. The flash flood did a number on the trail past the ski hut. You can't distinguish between the original trail and the numerous use trails and switchback cuts anymore. This would be a great opportunity for the trail to be re-established and rock lined, but the manpower for that would be substantial. You did just as well to proceed to Manker. We have never seen Icehouse so crowded. Groups as large as 15 streamed by all day. Thanks for the report. We were wondering what it was like higher.