Went up with Marilyn from Manker yesterday -- started ~7 AM. Put microspikes on immediately due to snow/ice on the road. We went up Register Ridge and made new tracks all the way up to the Devil's Backbone. As we climbed higher, the snow got deeper. I was able to kick in good steps and needed no more than micros. The clouds were constantly moving and the trees were still covered in rhime ice. We went up to Harwood to avoid the "death slope" on the DBB.
The wind was annoying and bitterly cold (we donned face protection and our Camelbak hoses froze) but not dangerously strong. Eight days earlier, Sally and I could not cross Harwood Saddle without fear of becoming airbone. Made our way slowly up the ridge. Saw two fellows jogging down -- it was my desert friend David Jaurez and Rolando. They'd come up the Ski hut trail to the hut, then went up the waterfall to the ridge. Turns out we had all started about the same time but I didn't recognize David due to all of his winter clothing
Took several quick summit photos, then got the hell out of the hypothermia zone. As soon as we exited the summit plateau, there were no tracks and we started dropping in fresh snow to our knees. Uh oh -- the snowshoes were in Marilyn's trunk -- we'd opted for crampons and ice-axes. We were in for a long, post-holing descent. Had a nice lunch where the summer trail curves by a tree trunk. First sun, then swirling mist, then sun again. We were treated to incredible views of Ontario and the ridge through the clouds as we descended.
We donned crampons to drop down the 500 ft through the forest to the base of the bowl, traversing down and to the left. The crampons were probably unecessary, but I was concerned about punching through the powder to the ice. I kept looking up at the bowl as we crossed underneath. The coverage looked pretty good -- at least as good as when I'd been up earlier this season. Saw one set of tracks going up -- don't know how far the person got. Baldy continued to surprise us with her weather -- it started snowing. Switched back to micros at the hut -- at least the trail from the hut down was broken in. Got back to the car about 3:20 -- I think it took us as long to descend as it did to climb
Absolutely beautiful day with incredible changes in weather. The mountain made us work for the summit, but it was well worth it.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
The bowl was looking pretty thin, so we headed up Register Ridge to Harwood, then Baldy, then West Baldy and down. The snow melt was sad -- I didn't put on micropsikes until right below the summit of Baldy. We ran into my Baldy friends Edith and Martin on the way down the ski hut trail, which also had significant snow melt. Put on crampons to drop down the 500 ft through the forest to the base of the bowl (alternating ice and slushy snow), then booted it back to the car. The bowl looked even worse on our way down.