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.

jspeigl wrote:Not exciting?

If I'm not mistaken, they're talking about the north side of Baldy, that pic looks like its from the backbone, south-east of Harwood and Baldy.

EManBevHills wrote: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.

I arrogantly passed all the sissies at the gate putting on crampons. I then preceded to biff it big time half way up the road.

oh well.

At the 1st whiff of even thinking about needing to put the 'pons on, I put 'em on.
That simple.

A thin layer of "Black Ice" is one of a mountaineer's worst nightmares when caught unprepared. Unfortunately, it's taken some of our finest...

Hey fellas,

I put tracks up Register to San Antonio on Saturday... looking to do the full Backbone after this weekend's snow.

Anyone else heading up either Sunday or Tuesday?

Have a TR up here http://thetentsblowingaway.blogspot.com/

My friend and I took our A/T skis and tagged along with the group that joined Kurt Wedberg on Friday. It snowed and rained with the beginning of a new storm moving in. My friend and I cramponed up with the group along the west rim of the Bowl. At about 9,000 the two of us put on our skis and made a challenging descent through the near white-out limited visibility. Aside from the visibility, the snow was pretty good. We're gonna give it another try in March.