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

Yea Shin. I was gonna suggest the message boarders sign up for the hike as a 'team'.

& mcpherson, I think that's about as gorgeous a shot of Baldy as I have ever seen. Where was it taken from?

-cat b.

I'm in.

Should we wear red white & blue?

I started a new thread about the CLIMB FOR HEROES event. Thought it might help getting people involved in the hike.

As much as I would love being part of the hike, I'm stuck here in Kentucky.

On the Icehouse Canyon Trail, up near the top of the switchbacks there's a sign asking hikers not to cut the switchbacks, and nearby a little clearing with the best view of Baldy on the IC trail. There are also some great panoramas higher up on the Ontario Peak Trail.

Hiked Baldy on 3/15. Went up the Ski Hut trail and down the Backbone Trail. Both trails are almost snow free and can be done without crampons. We used them on the way up just to shortcut directly up the hill but other stayed on the trail and didn't need them.

I went up Mt Baldy for the 1st time yesterday, we started at the Manker Campground area and passed the Ski Hut to the top, then returned the Devil Backbone route and down to the car. I must say it's steeper than the Whitney trail, and just about as steep as the Cactus-to-Clouds trail, but not as long and hot. No snow on the trail, only Lizards.

Hi 49'er,
It was a very nice day for me up on Mt. Baldy yesterday.
I ran into legendary Mr. Bob Rockwell and his friend Jay on the trail. What a surprise to see them in big city mountains. The last time I met them was on the trail of near the Gilbert lake last year.

Mario,Ellen,and I shared the summit with nice cool breeze.
Mario has been training for his hike in south America.
Ellen was warming up for the moonlight hike on Skyline this weekend.
I have been training for Mt. Whitney hike in June.

The rock windbreaker was destroyed again. It was just perfect last week.

Photos are member photo link.

Shin, Carole, Randy and I are up here...
No snow; light wind...
Hot!

LOTS of ANNOYING new signs all over the trees and the Hut...


Oh, and a new waitress at the Baldy Lodge Restaurant who ought to be given her walking papers...

Thank you gentlemen for a great rerecord & lots of fun.

Good to see us in the same room again. =)

My 'wingmen' & I are going up Bear Canyon Wed if anyone wants to join us. Shin?

Meeting at Manker at 0630 to leave a vehicle & pooling to the TH for a 0700 start.

CatB.

I think she's the one we had too.

We tried Three Tees on Sat June 8th. It was HOT. The trail through Icehouse Cyn was like a multi-lane freeway but thankfully most people adhered to the yielding to the uphill hiker "rule". We had driven up from San Diego, and left a car at the ski lift parking lot so we could take the chair lift down. Getting to the TH at 10:30 and then averaging 1 mi/hr just didn't cut it, though. We altered the plan to "One Tee", summitted Timber Peak, then headed back down. Gorgeous day, minus the heat, gnats by the creek at dusk, and too-close of an encounter with a rattler.

Hopefully we can get some higher-altitude experience before attempting Whitney on the 4th of July. I don't think we're going to be able to fit in Gorgonio.

Hi, NoUglyOneYet,
Our experience with a new waitress has been informed to the owner. The owner and his staff assured us for a regular friendly service on our next visit. I am very glad that we can enjoy good foods and rest up after the hike.
Shin

I went up the Register Ridge route today. As long as I was in the neighborhood I continued to the summit of Mt. Harwood before going on to the Baldy summit. There's an interesting GPS station near the Harwood summit. It measures movement of the earth at that spot within a few millimeters for measuring plate tectonics, earthquakes, magma movement, etc.

The Register Ridge route is a clearly visible track all the way. The 2(and only other)times I went up that way many years ago the route was pretty sketchy with sections I had to guess at. Although you can't go wrong if you just keep going up.

The only class 2 route in the San Gabriels and San Bernardinos that I know from experience personal to be steeper than R.R. is Iron Mountain. I'm planning on doing Big Iron in late October or November. (It's not a summer hike!) Anyone want to join me? I'm looking for a hiking companion, not someone who needs to prove how fast and macho they are.

Is anyone going up Baldy tonite with the full moon? I'm thinking my friend & I will be going, but still to be confirmed.

Went up/down ski hut trail yesterday. Ran into Joyce & her friend.

cat b.

It was great to see you on the mountain yesterday, Cat. We descended via the Devil's Backbone trail and stayed for some of the festivities at the Notch, had a couple of drinks and took the ski lift down from there. Ran into Pavel at the Notch and chatted for a bit. It was another gorgeous day on the mountain with perfect temps. I took the image below with my phone.

After a week galavanting around in the Sierra and it's back to Baldy and holy hotness! Easily the hottest day I've been on that mountain...100 at Manker this afternoon and 90's on the upper mountain.

Passed no less than 91 people going up, half of them looked ready to pass right out! Summit 4 Hope going on too...tough day for it.

They are there because people continue to ignore the rules, and fail to recognize it is private property. The area and the hut upkeep are the result of volunteer work. I would argue the entitled people are more annoying than the signs!

I overnighted above the switchbacks last night, had to have been one of the warmest overnights on Baldy. There was another camper up the trail a bit, and then a group of guys in hammocks 15mins below the summit.

I hit the summit last night to catch the sunset, some yahoos were collecting wood for a campfire on the summit. I explained the dangers and effect on the environment of such activity. To my dismay, when I summited again this morning the evidence of their ignorance was evident with a pile of charred wood. Not sure what action I could have taken.

No wind on the summit, and warm as you would ever want. Sunset and sunrise below.

I did the Ski Hut trail today. The weather was fine when the sun was behind clouds but pretty hot when it was blazing. Not a real problem, though. There was almost no one on the trail and I had the summit all to myself.

This was my first outing since the MWMT last Monday and I felt great. I always said that Whitney was a good conditioning hike for Baldy.

Climb Whitney a few times and Baldy does become easy...
As hot as it was at 13K' in the Sierra, I can imagine how hot Baldy was...
Anybody do Bear Flat, with a late start, over the past few days?