I hiked up the Devil Backbone trail to Mt Baldy and then came down the Ski Hut Trail on Sat (Apr 1).
There were very strong winds on all the ridges with northern exposure to the desert and almost got knock over a few times on the slopes of Harwood.
The Backbone Trail only has a few snowy sections with one tricky section at the top of the cat-walk traverse where you have to kick step for about 10-15’. It’s a zero-tolerance place to take a slip.
I hike up & over Harwood and survived the high winds. Met a SAR group at the Harwood & Baldy Col, and I believe they were searching for someone who had an unintended bivy near the summit.
The hike up from the Baldy-Harwood Col is pretty much snow-free on the south side of the ridgeline, but the whole summit dome is covered in crusty hard-pack snow (Microspikes highly recommended).
Saw Shin-san, Phil Brown and others on the hike down to the Baldy Ski Hut.
Lots of folks still hiking up without any poles or Microspikes and are probably expecting Spring-like conditions with little snow. But there is still plenty of snow in the tree-section above the Hut, the whole summit area, and on any northern slope with plenty of slick areas, I would still recommend bringing Microspikes.
No critter sightings today, but lots of doggies.
Here are my photos:
https://grahamcracker.smugmug.com/2017/Baldy-April-1-2017/
