West Baldy Report
No photos this time, but yesterday I climbed up West Baldy with a partner and then skied down to the hut. We started the day around 7:30 at Manker Flat, carrying skis on packs to the hut, for a nice 2000 vertical foot warm up hike. From the hut, we were able to skin up the rest of the way, zig-zagging up the south side of Baldy Bowl to the ridge and beyond.
Conditions were quite warm. Even in January, solar radiation on the Bowl’s easterly and southeasterly aspects had triggered a few wet slides. With current temperatures, you probably wouldn’t want to be up there after 2 p.m. or so. More interestingly, we observed numerous slab avalanche remains from the past storm. These formed overwhelmingly on northeasterly ridgetops where wind-loaded snow had piled atop an obvious and very slick ice crust in the 9000′ to 10,000′ elevation range.
Based on our very informal tests, the snow has since bonded well to the ice, making for a stable snowpack until the sun nukes it. But this would likely be a layer worth watching as the season develops. Perhaps more importantly, it was certainly eye-opening to see so many naturally-triggered slabs. I don’t expect that when I’m in the San Gabriels. To be fair, these slabs were all quite small in both volume and area, and very localized. But there were many of them, especially along West Baldy’s southeast ridge.
Atop West Baldy’s summit, we peeked over the edge to scout the North Face. Here, we saw spotty but skiable coverage that was very icy—possibly life-threateningly so. A fall on this steep, icy aspect could easily be nasty. Neither of us felt any temptation to try to drop in. Also worth contemplating is where that ice crust is relative to the north facing snowpack, and whether or not subsequent layers are as firmly attached.
We skied west for one or two hundred vertical feet to enjoy making turns with downtown L.A. in the background. I’ve long wanted to grab a complete descent of Baldy’s western face (the side seen from the city), but conditions turned essentially bare just beyond the summit ridge. Still, check out this steep and rugged drainage if you get a chance. It’s a very wild side of the mountain, skiable or not, and the view alone is worth the extra climbing.
Until more snow arrives, expect good coverage but hard snow on Baldy’s upper slopes. Lower down, including Baldy Bowl, expect worsening coverage and highly variable conditions that will test your ability to stay upright. The chutes, including the Girly Man, do not have enough snow in them for safe descents.
Posted in Current Conditions | 0 Comments
Shameless Bay Area Crew Targets Langley
On January 13 at approximately 0800 hours, a renegade band of NorCalers drove to the Tuttle Creek drainage, spent the night, and then proceeded to ascend 14,027′ Mount Langley, in the Southern Sierra, the following morning.
These shameless individuals, traveling under aliases (and one using an alias for an alias) climbed and skied Langley’s East Couloir. One of them reportedly vomited. Afterward, as if unsatisfied, they clearly expressed their intent to return and ski more of California’s fourteeners.
For complete details on this shocking and sordid affair, please see the Teton Gravity Research Report.
Posted in Skiing | 0 Comments
Telluride Poacher Video: ‘We Gotta Get Out of Here’
It’s not exactly cutting-edge Gonzo filmmaking, but this helmet-cam video (edited by the Telluride Daily Planet) is certainly a poignant reminder that sometimes those annoying “cliff” signs really do mean…Cliff.
Earlier this season two young skiers from Texas decided to duck under the rope at the extreme west end of Telluride’s Gold Hill, tempted by the sight of untracked powder. Being members of the tech generation, they naturally decided to video themselves, which was no doubt of great value to the sheriff’s department. Both were subsequently charged with Reckless Endangerment.
The video does run on the long side, at eight-plus minutes, but the moment when they break through the trees to discover their line is completely cliffed-out is priceless. Soon after that, they trigger an avalanche that knocks one of them over the cliff (this part of the mountain is closed, after all, not only because of the cliffs but also the extremely high avalanche danger).
Incredibly, neither kid was seriously injured, though their effort remains a potent entry for this year’s Darwin Awards.
Posted in Avy News | 1 Comment
Spot Satellite Messenger Review
I’ve just uploaded a preliminary review of the new Spot Satellite Messenger.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Spot, it is a very intriguing alternative to a Personal Locater beacon.
Spot regularly accesses the GPS satellite network to fix your current position. Upon prompting, or automatically if you choose, Spot sends an email/cell text message via satellite to the accounts of your choice, telling them your GPS coordinates with a link to Google Maps™, plus a pre-formatted ‘OKAY’ or ‘SEND HELP’ tag.
Since this is a satellite-based system, Spot is capable of sending messages from virtually any location on Earth, provided you have a clear view of the sky. And all of this happens in real-time. Based on my experience, Spot emails your location within about ten minutes of activation, with an accuracy (measured) as high as 10-20 feet!
That kind of functionality makes this a revolutionary safety device—potentially. Check out the review for more details. I’ll keep posting information as I gain more in-the-field experience with the Spot. Also, comments are enabled here, so you can add your own thoughts as well.
Posted in Gear | 6 Comments
NYT: Owens River Returns
‘What Los Angeles took a century ago — a 62-mile stretch of river here in the parched Owens Valley — it is now giving back.’
Posted in Nature | 0 Comments
Politics Alert: Fascism not a Liberal Movement
Tired of getting tongue-tied when the subject of Benito Mussolini comes up? Looking to impress your friends with your knowledge of the roots of Fascism? In the interest of public service, here’s an amusing little history lesson.
Posted in Politics | 0 Comments
Scouting Baldy’s North Face
Here’s a look at Mount Baldy’s north face (Mt. San Antonio) as seen from the summit of Baden-Powell on Saturday.
Compared to last year’s bare rock, the sight of all this snow in the San Gabriels is surely cause for celebration, though in truth you’re probably looking at about 2′ of coverage, so let’s keep hoping for a few more big storms.
I zoomed in on the north face to try to spot any natural avalanches. I didn’t see anything at all, though I have to say Baldy’s north face strikes me as one of the most likely places in the entire range where skiers or snowboarders could get into trouble. This shady, high (10,000′) face is big and broad, windswept, and just possibly cold enough to build a layered snowpack instead of the usual mank-on-its-way-to-doom Southern California snow.
Posted in Current Conditions | 1 Comment
“I am a Lucky Man…”
“I am a lucky man,” Hillary told an interviewer after the Everest climb. “I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men.”
National Geographic has put together a Photo tribute to the life of Sir Edmund Hillary.
Posted in 8000m Peaks, Quotes | 0 Comments
BioShock Review: No Segue Possible
What do backcountry skiing and pc games have in common?
We’re still working on that, though it seems fair to assume a great deal of crossover when it comes to the participants. In any case, I enjoy browsing the titles at the local BestBuy now and then, though as a rule I try desperately to avoid buying anything, as I rarely have a free month or two or three to spare.
Still, every now and then something irresistible comes along. And there’s always the off season, or an injury break, or playing through the night ’till your brain turns to pudding. So into my Christmas stocking last December came BioShock
My own impressions of the game are certainly more mixed (high marks: the artwork and Ayn Rand references). Rather than bore you with my own way-off-topic review, I’ve got to link to writer Yahtzee Croshaw’s clever video review, which is funny enough to send you into fits of laughter whether or not you have any interest in playing the game. To top it off, I agree with his take. Is BioShock one of the Best Games of the Year? Sure. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also love to hate it.
Posted in Off Topic | 0 Comments
Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)
Few goals captured the imagination like the first ascent of Mount Everest, at 29,035′ the highest point on Earth. Early attempts to climb Everest were turned back with a vehemence than soon had many believing the mountain could not be climbed. And then, in May of 1953, a New Zealander named Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay became the first to stand atop Everest’s summit.
Hillary’s accomplishment brought worldwide fame and recognition of the sort rarely experienced by mountaineers. Like all of History’s greatest adventurers, Hillary and Norgay expanded the limits of the possible on that day in the Himalayas. After Everest, Hillary remained active as a climber, though he did not summit the world’s highest peak again. He also established the Himalayan Trust, dedicated to helping the Sherpa of Nepal.
Hillary died on January 11, 2008, in Auckland. He was 88.
Williamson - Bairs Creek Cirque
Bloody Mtn - Bloody Couloir
Shasta - Hotlum-Wintun Ridge
Volkl Gotama
Langley - Northeast Couloir
