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

Shin,
Enjoy the hike with your daughter. Wish I could be there to see you two having a great day. Maybe sometime we'll plan a family hike and all the sons and daughters can make the parents look silly!
James

It was 70 degrees at the trailhead on Thursday ,yesterday.



I'm guessing it will just be a slush fest on Saturday, but I'll see some of you up there just the same.

Hi Tracie,
Bassed on what you experienced is there
any place to use snowshoes? Heading up
early Sat. morn. 7am ish...

Thanks for your input if you see this
Friday night.

Rick

Trail Report.. 3-24-12
Left manker flats PL at 6:45 about 40degrees. encounter
snow on the trail to the ski hut around 7K. Met Mark(southbay)
coming down. He spent the night on the top... came down the center chute.. southface.. said it was in xlnt condition so headed to the top via that route. Solid snow..no postholing.. one guy ahead of me but no rocks kicked loose. somewhat of a cold steady wind which kept the snow firm.. Near the top at the large pines it got a little soft and slick but no problems. Windy at the summit lots of hikers making the top and returning via the west ridge. returned via west ridge and then down the west bowl.. it was in great shape. boot skied most of it. Trail through the rock garden was soft but lots of boot prints to follow. Below the skihut was as Tracie predicted "slushy" and slick. Never saw Shin... all in all an almost "winter" day.

Happy Hiking to all.
Rick

Bear Canyon report from 3/24:

Nothing in the village, first signs of snow around 7000' or so and pretty steady from 8k up. Annoyingly slushy and surprisingly deep in spots. Awesome views, turned back just shy of West Baldy, friend hit a wall and wanted some beer. Another great trip (most of the way) up!

Add 15-20" from today for current conditions. Could be a great week to head up, if you have the time.



Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattifoto/sets/72157629668613783/

Hi Rick,
Sorry,we missed you. We were there on the trail.
We were playing with snow in the tree section,8600 ft, of ridge area.
We met Mark near the register. He hiked up Register trail night before to the summit and bivouacked up there and hiked down the main BOWL with micro spikes. He is the adventurer of Mt. Baldy.
GigaMike joined us and he and my friend Rik took off to the main BOWL. GigaMike hit the summit and hiked down east BOWL in lightening speed to joined us for a last minute photo session in time at Ski hut. "Speedy" is alive and well. Richard don't use "ExSpeedy" any more. Richard,Tracie & Talus,and Cori had a very relaxing time around the Ski hut. Thier bodies needed some rest,including mine. We had a nice lunch at the Lodge as usual.

Shin, that was a very fun day. Thanks!

I hope you don't have to wait quite so long for another family outing...

Shin,

Sorry I missed you, I was looking forward to meeting the legend "Richard". Was Gigamike in a bright blue softshell jacket? If so he was right behind me near the top of the bowl but then I think he went to the right and I looped around to the left to get to the summit. We'll meet up again soon I'm sure.

Happy Hiking to All,
Rick

Baldy looks really white up there right now !! gettin the itch for Friday.

Shin and I hit the trail at 6:15 up to the hut where we had a snack and he put on mircos. We headed up the main bowl where I put my mircos on. The snow was anywhere from 1/2 inch to a foot of snow on the bowl,with some dirt hiking,Shin had a bad knee so of course he was still well ahead of me,thanks Shin for kicking steps in that I used part of the time, the sun was beating down on us going up the bowl and I sure didn't need the 3 ply pants on that I brought.we hit the summit around 11am and there was a light breeze and around 38 deg..
Came down the West Bowl and did my first face first stomach glissade, it was a blast...

Thanks Shin for another fun day..

BTW:I didn't want to take my hiking poles up with me so I put them under the steps at the hut and when we got back to the hut they were gone, yea I know but I have done this a few times in the past this time it didn't work out for me,I checked the vistor center and no one brought them there. I hopeing someone was using them on Baldy and when they were done with them they would put them back. So I won't be up there for a couple of weeks if anyone goes by the hut can you see if my poles are under the steps and call me or take them to vistor center I will drive over to pick them up there or your place...
Cell (310)713-9157
I know, after what Richard went though twice at Baldy you would think I would know better, but I just trust people...

BTW:Please keep your hands off other peoples stuff...

mark

Baldy 3-30-2012

My Poles from two weeks ago


Shin today on the Bowl


West Ridge

Mark, I started about 8:30 when I got to the hut I had a snack and saw the poles under the steps. Saw you and Shin going up the bowl (did'nt know that was you) so I went way right to avoid rockfall. Conditions were so bad up near the top I hung further right and hit the backbone and went to the summit. Small world

Dave

PS how did you glissade in that mush?

Hi Mark,
Thank you very much for a fun day on Mt. Baldy today.
I posted the video of your Head Down Glissading on my photo album link. I didn't know what you were doing till I saw your face. You were crazy. But the snow was very wet and deep enough for some fun stuff. Everyone,please just enjoy the video.
At least we enjoyed the last good snow.
Looking forward to a next fun hike.
Shin

I wouldn't head out this weekend expecting a great snow climb up the bowl - the snow is pretty thin with lots of dirt showing.

Dave, nice holiday hike yesterday ...we left the hut at 8:00..

It was soft but not bad at the time,maybe worse when you were coming down...

mark

Sorry to hear about the missing gear.

I hope Shin-San was wearing a brace on that bum knee.

On another note: it was downright hot on Whitney yesterday. BP was comfortable enough to eat up on the summit. The wind was picking up as we were heading down. Couldn't have been fun to be up there overnight.

Nice report.

Its not over till mother nature says so! Nice TR Mark and Shin! It may have more snow after last night. I drove hone in the rain and WIND.

Hi all. I went up today and it was pretty cold. The thermometer in my car registered 34 degrees when I started at 0730. There was sporadic snow along the way until the Hut. After that I would say it was pretty much all snow. There was also some light dusting of snow from Saturday night. The peak was pretty much covered in snow. The wind breaks were also covered in snow. There were icycles in the trees still. For me the only real hard part was coming down through the trees. It was still very icy and slick. However it was a fun day. Get up there before it melts!!

So I called Shin Friday evening and asked if he wanted to do Baldy he said yea but he has a wedding to go to later in the day so we have to make it a quick one . Well I told him to pick a time and we hit the trail at 6:10 this morning. Took him up Register and for a change I was ahead of Shin all the way to the summit(I love it when Shin is hurting )

At the Backbone trail I told Shin we have 50min. left to the summit and told him after the notch going up I slow down, so with him creeping closer I pushed and we made it in my best time 35min from the Register/Backbone trail(just think if Richard was behind me...no way)

Got to the summit at 8:45 and told Shin he'll get home in plenty of time and be able to relax in recliner with a coke..

27deg. at summit w/light breeze,low cut shoes w/ankle gaters and light pants..

Thanks Shin for a great day of hiking...

mark

Baldy 4-7-2012



Testing Richards Chinas knockoff Mircos



Will be interested to here about Frank A. and friends Iron To Baldy today

Great job Mark and Shin! You guys are truly race horses. Thats fast.

Hi Randy,
The title of my day was "Chasing Mark all morning long on Mt. Baldy." Mark guided me into his domain,Register ridge trail,where he has been hiking at night for a few years. I chased him up to Devil's backbone and Mt. Baldy. I chased him down to west Bowl's scree field. He ran down like a bighorn sheep to the bottom of Bowl. He has been coming down main Bowl's scree field every time he climbed Mt. Baldy. I couldn't catch him all morning long. I can name him "Quick sliver Mark".

I gave a field test to Chinese knockoff of Micro spike.
1) It is very hard to put it on boots because no size option. One size fits all.
2) It handled well on hard snow.
3) One of the metal chain link separated after I climbed down on scree field consist of small gavels and wet sand.
I was able to fix it at home.
4) other side didn't stay on the boot properly after climbed down the scree field.
This may indicates poor workmanship or poor quality of metal.
But it is very reasonable price for what it is.

Please look the pictures on my album link.

Mark, thank you for the fun day again.

Shin