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

I think you got a new camera...
Cool photos.

Here's a visual/aerial Baldy report, from about 5 hours ago. A picture is worth, well, some words.

Nice photos as always Mark!


Has anyone been up Register Ridge lately? How are the conditions (any ice/snow, micros needed?)?

Time-wise, how does this route compare to a Ski Hut/Baldy Bowl ascent?

Chevy, went up R/R, with the weather lately all you need is low top shoes, shorts, thin long sleeve shirt, light wind breaker, water and snacks.

Thanks Mark. I may give R/R a shot this weekend.


Time-wise, can anyone tell me how a Mt. Harwood ascent via Register Ridge compares to an ascent of Baldy via Ski Hut/Baldy Bowl Trail?

I'm not sure what you're asking. Is it the time to go up Harwood via RR and back down the same way? I don't know the answer to that because I've never come down RR (and hope I never will). If it's up RR to Harwood, then across to the summit of Baldy by the Backbone Trail, returning back down to the Falls Rd. via the Ski Hut trail, I don't think it takes much, if any, longer than straight up and down the Ski Hut trail. RR is steeper but shorter than the Ski Hut trail, and Harwood is almost a freebie.

Thanks for the reply burtw. Sorry my inquiry is not more clear.

I want to ballpark how long it would take my friend and I to go up R/R to Mt. Harwood. As a reference point, I was hoping someone would give me an idea how this trail compared to hiking Baldy via Ski Hut Trail, possibly posting some times(ie "it takes me 3 hrs to hike Ski Hut Trail and 3h15m to hike R/R until it meets Devil's backbone") or similar info (ie "it takes me about 10% longer to make the climb to Devil's backbone via R/R").

I want to descend via Devils Backbone Trail and Mt. Baldy Rd (which I can estimate based on previous trips), assuming it is open to hikers this time of year. If it is not open to hikers, we would take Backbone up to the summit and then go down Ski Hut Trail.

Dan 608th Summit - Cat B 30th


Enjoying my new zoom I went from 3x to 20x Dan heading to Hardwood


Oh and BTW: If you do Bear Flat and park a car at Manker, when you park the other car at the village ask the other person if they have their keys with them only had to hitchhike for 5min and Kathy and I got picked up and taken down to the village to my car
Thanks Tracie for offering your car to us..

63Chevell it takes about the same time to hike up RR as the ski hut trail if you're not a complete animal...in which case you can do it about 30-45 minutes faster than the ski hut trail. My fastest time up RR was slightly over 2 hours which isn't going to set any speed records on this board.

Mark and CatB, nice to run into you yesterday. My first Baldy since getting pneumonia and I needed Talus on that leash so she could be the engine and me the caboose. We ran into Ellen, Sally and then Randy, who walked to the hut with us and convinced me to turn around there. We saw sheep below the hut, but no camera. Also ran into George, who wants to do Russell with the gang this summer and we have sort of nominated Sierra Gator as our group leader so I hope he is feeling better too.

<like!> Glad to hear the lungs are improving.

Thanks Tracie, that's exactly the info I needed!

Can hikers descend via Devil's Backbone and Baldy Rd during 'ski season?

I went up Baldy today with my friend, Mario and his dog, Lua.
There was one to two inches of snow above 7000 feet to the summit. The snow was firm in the morning but started to melt late morning at lower elevation. It was low 20s at the summit and very cold with a bit stronger wind. Ski hut was 28F late morning. No crampon or microspikes were needed today. It was cloudy and foggy most of the morning except near the summit.
But the view was fantastic.

Please take microspikes this weekend for icy sections.
Please be careful with falling rocks on the Mt. Baldy road early in the morning.
We had a very bad falling rocks around 6:00 a.m. before the tunnel but completely cleaned up within a few hours. The road is free of snow or ice.

Pictures are on member album link.

Thank you for the conditions update Shin. I would like your photos , but can't find the 'member album link.' Can you post a direct link or point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Hi 63 Chevyll,
The 5th title of main page of Whitney Portal Store Message board,
there is a tile to read "WPSMB member photo album links".Click it then scroll down to "Shin". You can find all photos.

Road/Trail Condition 02/07/2014
Mt. Baldy road is clear with no snow.
Ski hut trail:
There was thin snow between Manker to Ski hut but melting very fast except in the shade.
There was 3-6 inches of snow beyond Ski hut to the ridge under the trees. Nice to have microspike when you come down. No crampons.
The rest of the trail to the summit had very little snow.
We need more cold storm to keep the snow on the mountain.

Summitted from Bear Canyon on 2/17 and traversed down the Devil's Backbone. Beautiful clear weather. Absolutely zero snow although I believe a front is moving in this week...

I've been looking at the forecast and hoping I can hike Ski Hut or Icehouse this weekend or next.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php...14#.Uw9ygPldV8E


Assuming the forecast is correct, should I expect parking issues if I show up early Saturday morning?

Repeating what I whispered to Shin...

I'd be very careful about being anywhere near the Baldy Bowl after the DUMP happens...

Thanks for the 'reality-check' Richard. That's something I hadn't thought about.

Maybe I'll check out Icehouse - too bad there's that pesky requirement for a permit... kind've a pain when you want to start early and don't have permits ahead of time.

Yeah, what Richard said!
Don't turn you back on the Baldy Bowl............
Here's some dudes dodging a slide back on the west of the bowl in Jan 2011.
Luckily, no one got hurt