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hol571 - Jun 23, 2008 8:39 pm Date Climbed: Feb 9, 2008
Baldy Bowlgreat conditions, went up the ski hut trail, then straight up the bowl to the summit, then across the backbone to the notch and down the ski lift.
SoCalHiker - Jun 8, 2008 6:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 8, 2008
Beautiful mountainHave done it multiple times this year (2008) from Baldy Bowl, Devil's Backbone, and Baldy Canyon trail.
eikehugo - May 20, 2008 1:52 pm Date Climbed: Jul 8, 1999
great hikegreat hike in socal - just perfect for a day.
bruceg - May 19, 2008 4:38 pm
North, South East, and West10 times between 1984 and 2007. From Bear Flats, Ski Hut trail, Manker Flats to Baldy Notch, Blue Ridge. I have had the summit to myself, and shared it with 100 others.
jonmeek16 - May 3, 2008 1:06 pm
AWESOMESome of the funniest hiking locally in So Cal.
Sam Page - Apr 20, 2008 12:08 pm
6xClimbed by various routes in various seasons from 1999-2004.
Fins129 - Apr 10, 2008 2:39 am Date Climbed: Nov 18, 2007
great hikeUp the ski hut and down devil's backbone.
Fun during the winter too up the bowl.
citizen453 - Mar 16, 2008 10:31 pm
Great FunWent with the family, great way to get above the smog.
david whiting - Mar 15, 2008 6:59 pm Date Climbed: Dec 27, 1998
Don't do this at night in winterAfter being very kind to two stupid, inexperienced hiker-climbers, Baldy let us summit her after spanking us pretty bad on a crazy, snowy attempt in the dark. Learn - and live!
jmc - Mar 10, 2008 4:27 pm Date Climbed: Mar 9, 2008
Blue Bird dayA little windy on top. Good snow conditions.
JCarlson - Feb 20, 2008 5:13 pm Date Climbed: Feb 19, 2008
Baldy BowlMy first snow climb. Climbed to the skihut and went up the right side of the bowl. Had beautiful weather and only saw two other folks the whole day. Clouds covering the valley floor made for some great views! Excellent snow conditions in the bowl. It took 8 hours round trip. Not bad for a couple flatlanders eh?
Aaron Dyer - Feb 18, 2008 5:49 pm Date Climbed: Feb 18, 2008
Nice DayOnce you got above the smog.
Beaver1believer - Jan 31, 2008 4:16 am Date Climbed: Jan 30, 2008
A Night HikeSummited Baldy via the Bowl. Perfect conditions. Started at 3:30 pm, summited at 8:15 pm. Solo. Beautiful! Returned to car at 10:15pm.
Crampons/ice axe a must. No avalanche danger in bowl (7pm onward). Good snow. Superb view!
Uncleman - Jan 27, 2008 1:51 am Date Climbed: Jan 19, 2008
Ski Hut Trail to SBSAR RescueSuccessful ascent via the Ski Hut Trail. Great day, great conditions. Bumped into fellow SPer’s at the Ski Hut. Descent was capped off with a ride in a SBSAR helo. My trip report explains it all. Will be making another summit bid soon…
Day Hiker - Jan 25, 2008 9:13 pm Date Climbed: Jan 19, 2008
Baldy BowlGreat snow climb, not too difficult or dangerous, but a great workout, great photos, and a lot of fun. Went with Rick Kent, forjan, patrickfinley, uwjennie, and . . . sorry I don't know all names, but it was great to hike together.
forjan - Jan 20, 2008 12:48 pm Date Climbed: Jan 19, 2008
Baldy BowlClimbed with Patrick, Rick Kent and Day Hiker. Ran into uwjennie, her b/f and friend. Awesome day in the Bowl. Great glissade down too! Afterwards we all went for burgers & beers at the Mt. Baldy Lodge (thanks for the suggestion Rick!)
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Route Climbed: Traverse from Iron Mtn.
Date Climbed: January 21, 2007
Started the day hike from Heaton Flats trailhead to Iron Mountain. Then, traversed over from Iron Mountain along the San Antonio ridge to West Baldy and finally Baldy summiting at 4:08pm under 60mph to 80mph winds (almost got blown off the mountain!). Descended the Ski Hut trail to Manker Flats.
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Route Climbed: Bear Canyon/Bear Flat
Date Climbed: November 13, 2004
After meeting with Alex Gorokhov at 7:00am at the bottom of the ski lifts, I left my car there at the parking lot and Alex gave me a ride to the Baldy village church (the start of the Bear Canyon trail). Alex then went on to Icehouse Canyon as his agenda was to climb Cucamonga Peak. I started hiking at 7:30am. By 10:20am, I was taking my lunch break at 9080 feet. At about 9400 feet, the puffy clouds blowing from the northeast created a white-out. This is my 1st white-out on Baldy. It got cold quick and very windy (approx 40mph with gusts up to 50mph). The white-out was very persistant all the way to the summit and beyond. I had to slow down to hike through the white-out....and then, as soon as I gained the upper ridge at about 9800 feet, the snow was very very hard. In fact, there were patches of ice sheets. I had to take my crampons out and put them on with ice axe on hand. It took me like 1 1/2 hours to go from 9080' to the summit (10,064') because of the white-out conditions. I only stayed 15 minutes on the summit (sheltered against the ground) hoping it would clear, but it didn't. I decided to bag Mt. Harwood (9552') on the way down. I kept my ice axe out and crampons on all the way down the Devil's Backbone. I arrived at Baldy Notch (7800') by 3:00pm. Then, I took the ski lift down to save my knees, and at 3:30pm (8 hrs later after I started in the morning) I was sitting on my car warming up.
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Route Climbed: The Bowl
Date Climbed: December 30, 2002
Yet another great Baldy winter ascent. Sunny skies and generally not too cold. Went with fellow SCMA member Alex Gorokhov. We started at the Manker Flats trailhead. There was a bit of ice right at the trailhead this morning. We took our first snack break at the green Ski Hut. We then climbed pretty much the middle (more to the East) of the bowl. Snow was good for kicking steps. I personally did not use crampons but Alex did. After summiting, we descended about 100-200' from Baldy's summit towards the Devil's Backbone and found a nice run-out slope to practice self-arrest. Alex and I practiced all the self-arrest fall positions. We then continued down via the Devil's Backbone to Baldy Notch. We stopped at the restaurant there and had a beer. Got lazy and caught the ski lift down to the parking lot. All in all, a very nice day!
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Route Climbed: July 28, 2001
Date Climbed: Bear Canyon/Bear Flat
Day hiked with Tom McKnelly to prepare for the Vitesse Whitney day hike in August 2001.
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Route Climbed: North Backbone (Blue Ridge)
Date Climbed: June 17, 2001
Started from Guffy campground. Up and back on the North Backbone (Blue Ridge) trail. Ran out of water early on and had a slow day.
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Route Climbed: Bear Canyon/Bear Flat
Date Climbed: June 3, 2000
Backbacked up via Bear Flat with Will Felten. Slept at the summit. Next day descended via San Antonio Sierra Ski Hut. Will was tired so I walked from Manker Flats to the Baldy Village church to pick up our car.
Bill562 - Jan 13, 2008 11:06 pm Date Climbed: Jan 13, 2008
Baldy BowlClimbed with Dave Gonzalez. The snow conditions in the bowl were excellent. Winds made the walk to the summit above the chutes challenging. Had to fight traffic to get out of the trailhead. Sunday afternoon snow play for the LA crowd I guess...
Etaoin - Jan 12, 2008 1:30 am
Meant to be a Ski Hut to Backbone loopMy first substantial hike after a year living in Southern California and it was quite tough. The plan was to hike up the Ski Hut trail to the peak, then across the Backbone ridge and back down along the fire road (I don't think the lift was running). We ended up doing it backwards and the steep downhill on the Ski Hut trail cost me a toenail when all was said and done. It was a beautiful, cold day before the snow hit that year. It made be truly appreciate our wilderness areas. Let's hope there is plenty of rain and snow up there for the spring PCTers.
mtndonkey - Jan 3, 2008 9:17 pm
Fun SoCal HikeClimbed all seasons and winter is my favorite. On good snow years the most enjoyable route is directly up the bowl. In March 2005 I was able to snowboard all the way down to the Manker Flats trailhead via the ski hut trail. Weekdays are much better than weekends, sometimes you will have the mountain all to yourself.
Jackalopes - Dec 4, 2007 2:13 pm Date Climbed: Dec 20, 2006
Devils Backbone several times Ski Hut twiceDone it in all four seasons... Both routes are great. The Ski Hut trail a bit more challenging but easily done in 3/4 of a day. Devils Backbone give you the option of riding the ski lift down if you do it in winter, on a holiday or on a weekend.