Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Baldy Bowl 'Trail' Question

Hi,
I'm planning to be on Mt. Baldy Sunday and I'm interested in hiking from Manker Flats. I've never been hiking in this area, so I want to explore it a bit in preparation for a summit attempt at a later time. Is the Baldy Bowl well trafficked in winter? Will it be fairly easy to follow footprints? I've read that it is easy to miss the trail in the summer; am I likely to have the same (or worse) problem in winter? Thanks for any help.

The weekends are pretty busy in winter. You shouldn't have a problem finding your way. Just come early to avoid traffic (before 8am) and don't drive up there when there's incoming weather or you might get stuck in a zoo of people sliding off the road :-)

Also, don't forget to get your parking pass. They love giving out tickets.

Finding the beginning of the Ski Hut trail can be confusing, at least the first time. It begins via a paved road - it will be on the left as you drive uphill. There's usually a portapotty on the right as you begin walking uphill, and a gate immediately thereafter. As the road goes uphill, curving to the right, you'll see a few homes down the bank on the left. At a sharp turn to the right, you'll have a good view of the bowl above, and a cascade immediately in front of you. Continue uphill, and as the road swings left and begins to flatten out, watch on the left for a foot path on the left, climbing steeply and reversing direction. From your vehicle to the beginning of the trail is about 1/3 to 1/2 mile. From that point to the Ski Hut the trail is well-defined, unless immediately after a storm. Above the hut there are many choices to the summit.

If you go on a weekend, and start betweeen 6:30-8:30AM there will be LOTS of people, so finding the beginning of the trail itself is much easier.

i too am planning on climbing it, potentially this weekend...

anyone know what the bowl snow conditions are? avy conditions? snowshoes or crampons or both?

i know the summer trail crosses the boulder field at the base of the bowl and climbs up to the south ridge. i would imagine in the winter you can cut the normal trail and head up the southwestern edge of the bowl?

winter baldy veteran advice is appreciated!

thanks in advance!

Weather has been nice and sunny so the bowl should be in prime shape with little to no avy danger (my humble opinion of course). I would ditch the snowshoes and only carry crampons and ice axe.

In winter you can follow the summer trail for a short while under the bowl and then head straight up.

you are exactly right, once you pass the ski hut and the stream turn right and there is a pretty decent boottrack straight uphill. zero need for snowshoes right now, crampons and trekking poles will be very useful.

Climbed the bowl today up the middle and came down from the summit on the left side of the bowl. If you can find the trail from the fire road, you should have no trouble finding your way to the bowl. The snow was soft and had no trouble. Several climbers glissaded down. Lots of ice on the trees falling off and plenty of ice falling down the bowl. One hiker sustained a good bruising to his leg from ice falling down the bowl today.

Was up there today and the snow was actually less consolidated than expected (especially on the left side of the bowl). Two guys set off an avalanche and almost got buried.

Hey luciano137,
The photos from the avalanche are amazing. Are you the climbers up higher on the bowl or the ones at the bottom? Kudos for the warning!! What time of day was it and what was the temperature? Is this photo of the Left side of the Bowl? I think I see the old avalanche I crossed last week coming down.

We are the 3 tiny climbers to the left of the avalanche. The slide started out pretty mild but the second guy really set it in motion. We were just out for a short day to give Scott's wife some snow climbing exposure. When we started up, the snow was surprisingly soft; I thought it would have consolidated a lot more in the mean time. Scott mentioned the possibility of some wet slides and sure enough, moments later this one happened! I'm guessing it was between 11am and noon. Temp was probably higher 40s (just a guess) but it obviously feels much warmer with the sun reflection. From up high, the avalanche didn't look too horrible but when we passed it on the way down, it looked a lot more impressive! Those huge blocks could've buried someone easily and caused serious injury. They *just* escaped it after they finally heard us.