Monday, March 5, 2012

Mt. Baldy 3-5-12

I see the summit, time for jelly bellies!

Summit



Devil's Backbone
Today Cary and I hiked Mt. Baldy. We were hoping to get some climbing in with our crampons for the first time this season, but as we were driving up to the trailhead we saw the bowl mostly clear of any traces of snow. Ugh, it's been a really warm winter in California and we haven't had enough coverage to do any climbing in So Cal. Regardless, it's always nice to train and get a good hike in. We started at 6:30 reached the Hut around 8:15 and summitted by 10:30. There were patches of snow but nothing worth while, mainly just loose scree. We decided to hike back down a different route, the Devil's Backbone. We figured we would scout out any possible bc ski routes once we're more skilled at bc skiing. Unfortunately, the ridge is really steep and wont be an option for us for future skiing. We hiked from Devil's Backbone to the Baldy Ski area, from there we hiked back down the long dirt road to the trailhead. The hike down the road was too long and boring. It was nice to scout out the route but I think we'll stick with the Hut route up and down in the future.  We finally arrived back at the car around 1:45.  In all the hike was about 10 miles.

3 comments:

Holly Teetzel said...

Aaaaand, they're BACK! So nice to see a new post. Maybe it wasn't the most fun time, but just to do some hiking must have felt good. Devil's Backbone looks like a whale. You should re-name it. Nice video, too. Is the music by P. Simon? Sounds like him, but I don't recognize the song.

Holly Teetzel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Holly Teetzel said...

Love the ice axes! You can never be too prepared!