Mount Baldy snow climb
April 2, 2011




The San Bernadino mountains are visible from most of LA and Orange counties on a reasonably clear day.
Mount San Antonio, commonly known as Mount Baldy, the leftmost peak in this picture is the highest at 10,064 ft. This was our goal for today.
See also Hike to Mt. Baldy, May -06

Parked and ready to hit the trail at 6.59 am

This is a very nice but strenuous day-hike in the summer, with about 4,000 ft of elevation gain to the summit. During the winter months the east slope - "Baldy Bowl" - is climbable on snow fields with mountaineering equipment. The Sierra Club maintains a ski-hut at the base of the bowl, visible in the lower right part of the image.

After passing the ski hut our plan was to leave the trail, put on crampons and follow the route marked here.




Arrived at the ski hut after 1hr 20 mins, and took a snack brake.

Then the serious climbing started...

Perfect Southern California day!






The LA basin under the clouds below us. Saddleback mountain coming out of the clouds behind Jesper's head.














Almost there...

Mount baldy ski area visible in the valley below us, and Mount San Jacinto beyond that.

The steep part of the climb is over - after this we had some 400 ft of easier elevation gain to the summit.
"Devil's backbone" behind Jesper, and snow covered Mount Gorgonio ( Mt San Gorgonio, Nov 2006 ) beyond that, over to the right in the picture.

Very windy at the summit, so we headed down quickly to cover for lunch.

Ready to descend down through the top chute into the bowl again...

...but first a cup of coffee!

Glissading down the slope was quick, and as we hit the trail again by the ski hut we also descended down into the cloud cover. Great day!

Garmin/Google view of our route.

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