Mt. Baldy after a storm 4-14-2012

Cary climbing up the bowl

Love it!

Climbing in the fog

On Saturday morning Cary and I met up to climb Mt. Baldy.  On Friday Baldy got 2 feet of snow which was exciting, especially since it's been such a dry winter this season.  We got to the trailhead (Manker Flats) and start climbing by 6:30.  There were only a few people ahead of us so the trail was not packed down and caused us to go a little slower than normal.  By 10 we reached the Sierra Hut.  After a short break we started up the bowl.  We decided to climb a more direct route to the summit which involved breaking trail.  For 900 feet we were climbing up the bowl taking turns breaking trail.  We would sink in shin to knee high which is a pain when on a steep (relatively speaking) angle.  After 2 hours of climbing up we were beat.  At 9,100 feet and a mile short of the summit we called it a day.  The most enjoyable part of the climb was glissading down the bowl.  It was slow going due to the soft powder but it was still doable.  It only took 15 minutes to get back down to the Hut.  Once at the Hut the trail was packed down due to more traffic.  This made for a fast pace back to the car.  All in all we climbed 3,000 feet and traveled 5 miles. It was disappointing not to make the summit but it was still great to get out and enjoy some much needed snow.

Our route was similar to this post in 2009

Timber Mtn via Icehouse Canyon

Saturday Cary and I climbed Timber Peak from Icehouse Canyon Trail head.  We didn't set out to climb Timber peak, really we just wanted to climb peaks with lots of snow and elevation gain.  We started around 7:30 from the trail head and grudgingly hiked up the canyon.  The trail had a light layer of frozen snow/ice.  It was slippery and hard to hike on considering we didn't have crampons.  Our snowshoes would have done us no good on the narrow trail either.  After about 1.5 miles of hiking up we decided to veer off the trail and start our climb.  The great thing about climbing in the snow is that you don't have to follow trails and you can climb more direct routes.  Due to the frozen layer of snow that made the slopes slippery we put on our snowshoes and started climbing.  Crampons would have come in handy here but neither Cary or myself have purchased them yet(we're still waiting for our REI dividend).   With snowshoes on we had a tough time traversing so we basically climbed straight up.  This was one of the steepest climbs I have done.  At points I was on all fours climbing up.  It was really nice to effectively use my ice axe as well. The bottom picture show me climbing up the slope where we deviated from the trail.  After about 5 hours of climbing we reached the summit.  Unfortunately, I ran out of batteries in my GPS unit so I did not track our hike.  It would have been interesting to see our route up.

On the way back down we took the traditional trail down to the Icehouse saddle and then back to the Icehouse Canyon trail.  During that time we took the liberty to take a few short cuts by glissading down the mountain.   Cary and I put on our rain/snow pants and had a blast glissading down while also practicing our self-arrest techniques.   The video below shows one of my glissading runs.  

Along our trek, Cary and I took interest in Ontario Peak which is along a beautiful ridge off the Icehouse Saddle.  The peak is now on our to do list.  We are climbing San Jacinto next weekend so maybe the weekend after that.  Good times!

Stats:

Start Time: 7:30 Icehouse Canyon

Summit: 12:15

End: 3:30

Elevation start: 4,990 ft

Summit: 8,303 ft