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

thanks folks! happy new yr

Happy New Year everyone. Baldy on NY Eve was absolutely beautiful. Left out of Manker with a t shirt and shorts at 6:30am. No spikes needed, a little ice in spots, always a way around it. I am amazed with the running clubs that come running by, with nothing more than a bottle of water. When is the snow going to fall !!
My best to everyone fo 2012.
Dave

might as well have been July up there today and ooooh the crowds. the switchbacks through the woods could have been the 405 on my decent...on second thought maybe lombard street is a better analogy.

frank, good to see you. it's always great seeing nice people on Baldy. No Shin though? I would have lost that bet.

snow please.

Crowds? I saw two headlamps across the way on the West Bowl Ridge, summitted at 1:20am this morning 29deg...Who ever enclosed the wind break thanks..Highlight of trip, going down main bowl using moon over my right shoulder..
Another bitchen night on Baldy...

Night Moves

mark

Hi Patrick,
Happy new year!!
What a surprise to see you,Sam,and Ryan on the "DRY" Mt. Baldy today. The global warming took away our enjoyment from us this winter.

We must ask Mark's blood type. He loves the dark side of the world especially at full moon night. Does he get a new cookie recipes idea at full moon night?
Mark, Happy new Year!!! I hope to see you during a day soon if your eyes won't hurt badly.

I hiked with my friend Edith and Randy today. The traffic was very heavy today.

We may have to put away all winter gears in the closet.

Mark; I must have missed you by an hour or so. A before dawn start is rewarded with a deserted summit for me.

It was good to see you Green Mountain Boy. It was a beautiful day, aren't they all?

Next time I think I will carry a sign that says:

"Nope, there is no snow up there"

so I don't need to keep repeating it over and over to the people going up.

My microspikes stayed in the pack.

WOW! With crowds like that I'll be sticking with night and early morning hikes, you put me in a stadium with 50,000 people for a rock concert and I love that atmosphere... Weather is just to nice...

Happy New Year to you all..

mark

There was a Full Moon up on Whitney too. That would definitely be a solitary climb... and the conditions aren't tough enough to make it unreasonable for you right now!

You're nuts Mark.

Any recent intel on Baldy conditions? I'm wondering if yesterday's rain in OC translated into any appreciable amount of snow on the Baldy trails.

Brent N

www.mtbaldy.com reports 0 to 1 inch yesterday. Expect a big snow dump this coming weekend.

I sure hope so, Richard. Thanks for the link.

Clear and cold today, nice and sunny while it was gray in LA. Not a soul to be seen all day from Manker to Backbone...good stuff. SAR choppers were doing training flights at the saddle which was cool, interesting to watch the pilots work up close.

Dry as a bone, hopefully the weekend will change that.

Has anybody here climbed Baldy using the North Approach from Blue Ridge via Pine Mountain and Dawson Peak? My son wants try a new route this weekend. We were hoping to make this an overnighter.

Would this route be suitable for the current conditions? We're okay dealing with snow and ice.

It is an exposed ridge in spots that forms some pretty spectacular cornices...

Go to GigaMike's (xSpeedy) website. I remember seeing an album of his that had some mind-boggling scenery...

I got a close up look at the route yesterday, it is almost entirely dry. It's a fun route and certainly offers some varied terrain from the walk up routes as RP said.

Conditions are going to change this weekend so be prepared. The NOAA website shows (http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php...p;FcstType=text)snow and rain for Friday thru Sunday. I was in the area of the ridge that leads from Dawson up to Baldy four weeks ago and there's still plenty of spots with "Ice" under the snow (it's a north facing slope) and with fresh snow coming down over the top of that there's going to be some spots that are very slick - just bring the right equipment and have a great time

[quote=iPlod]Has anybody here climbed Baldy using the North Approach from Blue Ridge via Pine Mountain and Dawson Peak? My son wants try a new route this weekend. We were hoping to make this an overnighter.

Would this route be suitable for the current conditions? We're okay dealing with snow and ice.

I myself have always wanted to do that route but not till late spring early summer. Also on my list is fish fork creek. I hear thats a very remote area. Anybody do fish fork ?

Last April Sam P and myself climbed up to the saddle between Harwood and Baldy directly up the water drainage next to the Ski Hut (at the far northeast end of Baldy Bowl), then we traversed over to the Dawson/Baldy saddle (very steep and very exposed when Icy - which is was at that time) then we followed the canyon that was presented to us from the ridge in that saddle directly down to the west leading down into Fish Fork, then we followed the creek for 1/2 mile till it opened up (where the canyon makes a slight turn to the south) into the (our left as we were heading downhill and in a westerly direction) Baldy/West Baldy North Faces. We then turned South East and climbed what I refer to as the North West Face of Mount Baldy - one crux with small waterfall running through and under the snow at the time,some ice fall but not much that day we were there fairly early in the day. Unless you want a total scree slug I would not do it until it's covered in snow again - might not happen this season. Hope that is what you were referring to? Enjoy

This is a fun one in a good snow year. Rugged with a water fall or two. Up Lytle Canyon
Dave