Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Conditions On Baldy

Rick,

I headed back up Monday after a snowy Saturday climb, much of the snow had melted from the weekend. There was nothing below the hut and really nothing until you hit the woods west of the bowl. That was Monday, I was out in Pomona yesterday and got a good view and it looks mighty brown up there...which should change this weekend.

Forecast as of this morning is for maybe a half inch of snow later Saturday and 1-3 inches Sunday. Supposed to be quite windy (20mph) but that's no surprise for the summit.

Frank A. and I left manker at 6:10am 1 1/2hrs before Shin, Jeff and Richard P. up the reg. trail to meet them at the summit..
Low clouds creeping up cyn. all day, but the winds up above kept pushing them down not letting them go over the bowl.. Frank and I stayed to the right of the reg. trail though the trees as the trail was to icee..

Chilly day on summit 28deg.with wind blowing, had good time with great friends...

mark
Baldy 11-19-2011



Richard P. Walmart boots that went on 3 volcanos and a Winnie The Pooh Blustery day on Baldy..
(He's a sick man)

Sorry but Ty and I missed you guys at the summit, we were on top of West Baldy at 11 AM and shortly there after we were on Baldy. We took the Bear Flat Trail up, then stop at the Cafe in town when we came down from the summit right around 3 PM but all of you were gone already, maybe next time.

It is official, you can summit Baldy from Manker without stepping in snow at all, but you better hurry, snow this afternoon.

Nice pictures Mark, thanks for the company.

Sorry we missed you Patrick and Ty, I would have waited had I known you were on the way.

Shin, the Chineses couple and I had a nice walk down, they were fit and fun, we laughed most of the way to the cars. For them navigating the path in the fog seemed hard, and our help was appreciated.

Hi Frank,
You were kind enough to escort down the couple who were not prepared well at all for the cold and windy Mt. Baldy yesterday.
I am glad to hear that your kindness was appreciated well by them. Many people tend to over estimate their abilities and get into a trouble. But you prevented the thing to happen.
Thank you very much.

Looking forward to the next hike soon on snow covered trail.

Shin

Hi Shin,

I talked to you last Saturday at Manker Flats. I was with the REI group across the street from where you parked. I also had hiked with you two years ago with Kurt's Baldy hike. How often do you hike Baldy? Would it be possible if I could join your group sometime in December for a Baldy hike? I'm trying to develop snow skills. Thanks.

Randy

Hi Randy,
It's nice to see you again,too.I usually hike on Saturday.
Please contact me by an e-mail or P.M. for date and time.
Looking forward to hiking with you next month.
Shin

Sounds great Shin. Thanks. I'll PM in a week or so.
Thanks,
Randy

Anyone know if there is any snow in the bowl or if crampons will be necessary this weekend?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

JB

We were there today 11-23-2011

While the bowl could be done it's got a whole lot of rocks coming down, just not enough snow to keep them buried. We did the water drainage route just on the west side of the Sierra Ski Hut today and made the saddle between Harwood and Baldy by 9:30, we choose to go in and out of the rocks/shrubs to avoid the rocks that were coming down that chute. It was fairly warm by 12 noon so it's melting. The south end of the bowl has much more snow in it and we did get a 50 glissade on the way down, about 12 inches on that side in the trees, before the rock garden. Have fun.

Thanks for the info........

Going up tomorrow. Any takers??????????

JB

Hi Bob,
I just came back from Mt. Baldy this afternoon.
The snow condition beyond the Ski hut is excellent. It was not deep or soft. The temperature stayed low enough and kept is nice.
The trail below the Ski hut is nice and dry.

Richard and I went up Bear canyon today. Area beyond 9000 feet had nice snow, a bit soft. South of West Baldy had nice deeper snow. The solid snow field begins after the "Narrow". The summit was a bit cold but it was all right. The summit area was covered with snow but not deep enough.

No crampons were needed at all. Microspike was just fine.

Today was Richard's over 500,000 feet elevation again per year so we change our rout from Ski hut trail to Bear canyon to gain more elevation gain.
Congratulations Richard.
I think he is crazy and I was crazy enough to tag along with him. We had a very nice hike with less people because today was Turkey day.

Ski hut was open. Dan White was working hard to fix the outhouse. Thank you Dan for keeping up the SKi hut nice and clean for all of us.

Bob have a nice hike tomorrow.

I went up this morning, trying to burn calories. It was a beautiful day, just at freezing on the uphill and not a wisp of wind the entire way. Warm on the descent. Almost no snow and only a few patches of ice until the hut. Micro spikes were very helpful above the hut, lots of icy spots and slippery snow and the trail will only get icier.

Path was in nice shape...

Flag is gone.

I believe this is where Patrick glissaded, used it myself, thanks Patrick. A few more photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asbufra/sets/72157628135756197/

Hi Patrick,
It looks like we are keep on missing each other on the trail.
See you next time.

Shin

Thank you all for the "heads up" on the trail conditions. Looks sane enough to go. I'm going to do the west face of the bowl since there seems to be some snow sticking there.

Richard. You're an "animal". Congrats once again!!!!!

JB

Thanks Shin! Thanks Bob.
It was only a short while ago that I figured out that if I calculated the gain for the climbs I did in the first three months of the year (started tracking via GPS in early April), I might be able to hit half-a-million feet of gain for the year. Can't believe how awesome it is to be able to say that out loud!

Here are some highlight photos:


Down on dry gound.
Bear Flats.



At what some call the narrows, but I call the South Backbone.
Cool wind swirls in the snow.



In the trees below West Baldy.



Mt. Baldy summit view towards Mt. Baden-Powell.



Shin about to step off onto the clouds.


The rest of the photos: http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/West-Baldy-Mt-Baldy/20268149_fD4vhX#1602331967_hK4zLf9

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I was actually planning on being up there again today, but the legs were feeling the effects of quite a bit of soft snow... Plus, there was the lure of heading to Eddie Bauer for some new First Ascent gear. (Dang, they make some really light, really warm stuff these days.)

Shins 250th summit: Well we weren't going to make it easy for him...Shin, Randy and I hiked up Bear Flat this morning, when we heard the wind in the trees we knew it was going to be a cold one..
Along the way in exposed areas and ridges the wind blasted us..When Randy and I got to West Baldy to Baldy summit, Shin was waiting for us, the wind was I have to say 60mph gust..On the summit I took my thermometer out and it was 12deg.at 11:50am, with my glove off my fingers went numb fast I put my glove back on and took other one off to take pictures and got only 2 point and shoot pictures as my fingers went numb and felt like ballons..We got out of there fast..
I slipped twice on the way back on my butt on hard ice between the trees and the hut in the boulder field,be carefull alot of ice on the trail in the rocks..

Glad to meet you Randy..

Shin, had a great time congrats to you!!

Scofield: Shin told me you and a friend were going to meet us on the trail

mark

Pictures of Shins 250th Summit

Hey Mark,

Nah I told Shin my good friend Frank backed out due to weather, he doesn't have winter gear so he would have frozen. I told him I'll go but don't wait because things have been crazy around my house. Going today to stretch my legs but sick of these dry conditions. Nice pics Mark hope to see you soon.

Yeti

Shin,
Congrats on #250 and your perserverance yesterday. I tried to
summit around 9:45 but bailed after the being pushed back by
several strong gust and pelleted with small rocks... this was
about 400 yds below the summit. Watching the wind whip acoss the
top it didn't look like a good place to be. Glad you were
able to make it. Think snow!! See you next time.
Rick
Agoura Hills.