SummitPost.org

Wondering what the conditions are like up there these days...

Thanks.

I just hiked to the hut on Saturday. It's currently a nicely packed down track to the hut; snow is firm but soft enough that you don't need crampons. Beyond the hut, it looks softer and more powdery with probably a good staircase track to the top of the bowl.

TacoDelRio wrote:Good with crampons, OK with skis, bad with boards.

Nice Shot!

You guys boarding down the backbone?

Gusto

I went up from Baldy Village on Sunday. Continuous snow begins before Bear Flat. The snow conditions were mixed: the snow on the summit was well-packed, along the ridge the snow was somewhat soft and fluffy. No icy sections at all. I postholed a lot in the afternoon at lower elevations.

Booted up and skied down the eastern bowl Saturday. Perfect boot track headed up the ridge above the hut. A bit icy off the top, but then the most perfect snow for turns all the way down. Traversed into the main bowl and got hit by a cloud, sat on my ass for 10 minutes waiting for a clear spot, then ripped back down to the Hut. My friend Joan was walking, so I threw the skis back on the pack and hiked down with her from there.

AWESOME!!!!

-L

redneck wrote:Yus: http://sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.org/about2459.html

I wonder if it was warmer Sunday? We went down from the hut around noon on Saturday and the snow was still relatively firm; we kind of boot skied down a lot; it was fun.

Yeah, it was unseasonably warm!
Bowl started turning to mush by 11:00.

There were more skiers on the mountain than I've ever witnessed before.
The bowl was a bowling alley of small rocks and ice just as the sun came over the ridge.

The crux, however, was the black ice on the road to the falls early in the AM.

EManBevHills wrote:The crux, however, was the black ice on the road to the falls early in the AM.

LOL Very true. Not sure who came up with the plan to plow part of that road but it was a bad one LOL. They would've been better off just driving on it to pack it down.

redneck wrote:Yus: http://sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.org/about2459.html

Very nice report.
I used to live down there as a kid, in Montclair, and would often look right up at Baldy, so clear in the winter and usually obscured by the thick smog layer in summer.
Now, I'd like to go back and explore a bit up there sometime.
Good job on gettin' out!

TacoDelRio wrote:

MCGusto wrote:

TacoDelRio wrote:Good with crampons, OK with skis, bad with boards.

Nice Shot!

You guys boarding down the backbone?

Gusto

Fritz boarded down, I walked. I can't afford those kinda toys.

What up Taco. I was thinking about hitting it this week. If we went down the North Side of Baldy where would be the best place to leave a car, Lytle Creek area I assume?

Captain Beefheart wrote:

TacoDelRio wrote:

MCGusto wrote:

TacoDelRio wrote:Good with crampons, OK with skis, bad with boards.

Nice Shot!

You guys boarding down the backbone?

Gusto

Fritz boarded down, I walked. I can't afford those kinda toys.

What up Taco. I was thinking about hitting it this week. If we went down the North Side of Baldy where would be the best place to leave a car, Lytle Creek area I assume?

Just in Wrightwood. Traverse to Dawson, Pine and then down to Wrightwood

TacoDelRio wrote:Depends. If you want lame-o traverse on well trodden ground, go to Wrightwood.

I honestly doubt that anyone has traversed over the full ridge this winter. I went up Pine once in winter and didn't see a soul. Pretty remote out there.

Not exciting?

TacoDelRio wrote:Maybe not this winter, but there are typically a few parties doin' it. By well-trodden, I just meant to imply that route is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Haha, well, if you mean technical, not really. I just enjoy the solitude of being out there.