Mountain High
While my friends and I continue to find scattered patches of wintery snow here and there in our top-secret skiing stashes, conditions appear to have reverted to the more familiar "dry" phase of SoCal winter.
Ridging remains in place for now. Time will tell how long it persists.
Here's Baldy's north face from Highway 2 at Inspiration Point—there is snow, to be sure, but most of the spines and chokes look a little boney. As always, if you decide to climb up there, beware the possibility of deadly-dangerous ice masquerading as snow.
Never trust Baldy's north face—that's my motto.
As an alternative to long grindy approaches and possibly-sketchy backside ice, there's always the resorts. Yesterday my daughter and I went to Mountain High.
The base was thin, but it skied well for the first few hours—especially considering it's early December. I think at this point Mountain High has proven they can operate on thin bases, and it is quite a bit closer than Big Bear.
No Snow Valley for now. Summit sounds marginal. Baldy is Baldy. And Mammoth reports a 12" base at Main Lodge. For now I think I'll stick to my secret stashes. :)
— December 9, 2025
Andy Lewicky is the author and creator of SierraDescents
Dan Conger December 10, 2025 at 6:59 am
That north face is simply amazing. I still believe Baldy would be a great site for a major ski area, with lifts all the way to the summit(s). Could be real big mountain skiing in LA's backyard.
Norman Clyde December 12, 2025 at 5:55 pm
No roads to north face of baldy. Access only by skimo or helicopter
Frank Terry December 12, 2025 at 11:27 pm
Baldy is Baldy- that could be the best sum up of Baldy I’ve ever heard 😂
Dan Conger December 13, 2025 at 10:10 am
My idea would be for the access to be on the south side. Eliminate the hassle of the road by putting some kind of tram or other thing up the canyon to the current parking lot, lifts would radiate out from there.
Were I a multi-billionaire I would absolutely put money into that, even though the 100" of average snowfall is quite low.
Andy December 13, 2025 at 10:14 am
Dan, when you become a mad billionaire, please re-start the old Bridge to Nowhere project. That would get me close enough!
Dan Conger December 13, 2025 at 3:36 pm
How funny, I was just looking at that road on Google Earth the other day. Since we're dreaming, how about I do the Mt Baldy resort and hire you to be the PR Director?