With headlamps on, we started at around 6am from Manker Flat parking area. Parts of the road leading to San Antonio Falls were covered with ice. So some caution was needed until we got to the rockier portions after the hairpin going away from the falls.

At the register, we shed some layers, ditched our headlamps, and carried on. The snow coverage on the trail itself was mixed until about a half mile in. Then it covered everything. There wasn’t any ice, and the snow was already a little slushy. So crampons weren’t needed. Just a little extra caution.

Charging up to the Ski Hut, we med up with the group from the San Gabriel Mountains Discussion Forum group who were holding an informal training clinic. We hung around for about an hour here meeting others and just waiting around for the last group members to get up to the Ski Hut. Unfortunately though, the group started up past our cutoff time of 9am. So Tim and I decided to leave the group and do our own thing. First off, we should his friend how to self-arrest. This was made difficult with the warm sun softening the snow a lot.

After about a half hour of this, we started our climb up the center. I’m not sure on the names of the chutes, I’m going to have to find those out later. But our goal was to head right up the center chute (where the rock formation comes to a saddle in this picture).

We were making some pretty good time up it too. Tim did a good job creating the path for us to follow. After about 40 minutes, we were three quarters or so up the Bowl. This is where Tim wanted to change course and start another approach up a different chute. I decided to stick to the original route, while Tim broke left and went about his approach.

Truong and I went up the intended chute. In the chute, the snow was just powder. I was pretty much post-holing mid-calf or up to my knee with each step. This got pretty tiring. On top of that, the snow was doing a good job of balling up on my crampons. This was extremely tiring and annoying. But at least at this steep portion, I wasn’t worried about a painful slide down the mountain if I messed up.

Finally at the top of the chute, it was pretty gusty. We Baldy looked like a chimney with the way the snow was coming off of it. Baldy itself looked pretty miserable too.

We were done for the day. No summit today. Been there, done that. Instead, we traversed the lip and started the glissade down.

Second half of the glissade:

~ 22 miles, 8000 ft gain

damn 4 minutes

Photos are geo-tagged
Click for more stats & gps files

In the book The San Gabriels: The Mountain Country from Soledad Canyon to Lytle Creek, John Robinson mentions offhand about some football player being able to summit Mt Baldy via the Old Baldy trail in under 2 hrs. Sounds like a great challenge? I agree.

With 9 days till the Baldy Run to the Top Race, I thought it would be a great time to give it a go. The weather had thankfully cooled down, and I was at the Baldy Visitor Center in tank top and shorts at 7 am ready to go.

Instead of the normal 60Csx GPS I usually bring, I brought my Forerunner 305 with heartrate monitor that I have had for maybe 4 months but haven’t used much “in the field”. Based on many bouts of training with heartrate monitors, I had a good feel for what heartrate I could sustain for a 2 hr hike. I wanted to use the Forerunner for 3 purposes, 1) make sure I don’t go out too quickly 2) check my pace and 3) make sure I’m getting up to the the right heartrate at the right time. I expected I could stay between 165 bpm and 170 bpm for the duration. Seem like a bit too much? Yes, yes it is

Things were going good up to Bear Flat, with a mixture of hiking and a bit of “running” if you could call it that. The switchbacks out of Bear Canyon seem to be the steepest part of the hike, and my quads and especially my calves were really burning. I hadn’t hiked up anything steep at a fast pace in a while and I think that bit me in the ass a little bit. I felt okay at the top of the switchbacks and thought I was on pace for my goal although I didn’t really know. I was about just under 1 hr in and my heartrate was at 165 so it seemed all good.

I kept chugging up along the ridge. The weather was really good for this, nice and cool with some breeze. Higher up, the wind got fierce and become more of a nuisance. My heartrate was starting to drop into the low 160′s – I wanted to it to start getting up near 170 so that wasn’t good. “Just go faster!” you all say. Well if it were that easy! My legs didn’t want me to go faster.

Eventually I got up to the part where the ridge flattens out a bit and you can see West Baldy and Baldy ahead. Only 20 min left and they seemed so far away. The grade lessened enough for me to get caught in the Walk/Run Vortex – you know that area where it seems just a little too much energy to run, but too little energy to walk? That’s where I was. The running was too much so I walked as fast as possible but I wish it was a little steeper. Finally, it flattened out enough to run for a good 1/4 mile and I was at the base of West Baldy with maybe 10 min left. Can I make it? 3 min left and I am ascending toward Baldy-West Baldy saddle. Not looking good. I try to run but its just too much. I finally make it up in 2:04, 4 minutes too late. Damnit!

Well it still was a good try but I felt the effort was lacking. I don’t know if it was the lack of training on steep slopes, the fact that I ate too much late in the day on Friday, altitude, or a combination…but I knew via heartrate that I wasn’t at the right intensity I know I could do. The funny thing is that if I didn’t have the heartrate monitor, I would have felt like it was a better try!

Anyways, it was freaking windy on top. 50, 60 mph? I had the summit to myself (9am) and ducked behind one of the rock-stacked walls. I didn’t stay for very long as it was kinda cold with the wind, so I headed down Devil’s Backbone.

Refilling at Baldy Notch, I decided I needed to put in some more effort, so I went ahead and did the 3T’s trail. From before Thunder to just before Icehouse Saddle I had the trail to myself. I forgot how nice that area is.

I got down to Icehouse parking lot 6 hrs after starting, not too shabby in halving my days compared to the last 2 weeks. I was going to hitch a ride (turned off GPS), but didn’t see anyone leaving, so I jogged / walked the 1.5 miles back to my car.

I don’t know what goal to set for the Baldy race. 1:25 seems too low, I don’t think I can do that at 192 lbs. I’m shooting for 1:28.

Shooting for a PR up Big Iron’s ‘trail’…

Final Stats:

14 miles, 7100 ft

Click for more stats

I knew if I did Iron ever again via the standard south route, it would be to try to see how quickly I could get up. Otherwise, I would prefer to take on more exploratory routes.

Well that day ended up being yesterday, partly because I knew a meetup group was heading up there, and I was able to get a few hiking buddies to go with me who wanted to try the same thing. The day was reasonable in temperature as it ended up being around 50-60 degrees the whole way up, so I was able to pare down to a reasonable 5 liters of water for the hike.

My general goal was to get under 3 hrs, but really just try to goal all out while ‘hiking’. So my stipulations were to 1) stay on the established trail and 2) not run. And I did have Rick Kent’s time in the back of my mind.

Steve, Fernando, Scott and I left the parking lot at 7:15 am. I maintained a brisk walking pace, and continued up to the first saddle non stop ~ 30 min later. Here we took a brief stop.

I really didn’t want to stop to long, so we continued on shortly after, switchbacking up and going across the undulated ridge that eventually hits Coldwater Saddle 4.4 miles in. This ridge was even more annoying this time only because I wanted to get done with it as quickly as possible to start the real pain up Iron’s south ridge.

We got to the saddle in 1hr20min, and stopped for a minute. Scott wasn’t feeling well and decided to rest there; us 3 left kept going. I didn’t look at the time again until the top; I knew I just wanted to push. I was feeling pretty good up to this point. Of course it gets really steep immediately after the saddle, but I was able to keep my legs chopping at a seemingly good pace.

Eventually I was just breathing really hard, perhaps for the last 2000′ or so. It all looked like this at that point!

Heading up Iron Mountain from Zé Apelido on Vimeo.

My legs were starting to feel it pretty bad. My right calf and a random ankle dorsiflexor were stiffening up almost begging to cramp, but they didn’t. I felt like I was slowing down a little. I met up with Dave G 500-1000 ft below the summit very briefly then continued up. I couldn’t wait to be done moving. At that point, I started to get a little extra push and was back at my pace. I finished off the last few hundred feet very hard and breathing VERY deeply. When I got to the summit I just dropped my bag and just stared at the ground for a second. Zach was there; he heard my breathing just before and was probably thinking “WTF is that?”.

I looked at my GPS and got Moving Time: 2:35 + Rest Time: 2 min = 2hr37 min. I was pleasantly surprised!

Fernando summited perhaps 10 min later, and Steve after that (included taking care of business along the way up). We hung around for a good while as the meetup group hikers made it up.

Zach and Dave G were planning on heading over to Baldy. While people were chatting I took a jaunt along SA ridge going down and over a few bumps. There was snow on the north side but it seemed mostly avoidable. I took some scout pictures and headed back up.

After some brownies, we headed back down.

Descending Iron Mountain from Zé Apelido on Vimeo.

Today, for the first time on an Iron hike, I’m not sore. For me, it’s time to retire the south ridge.

The plan was to meet at 6:30 and head up at that time. But with some traffic and other delays, we did’t start until 7. I haven’t started a hike this early since before summer, so I was feeling tired right off the bat. But once we crossed snow on the trail, that all changed. The snow on the trail was already semi-paved for us so crampons weren’t necessary. Although we did break out the ice ax early.

We got to the ski hut at about 8:30, had a quick breakfast, and tied on our crampons. What a difference those make. From slippery snow to instant stability. I was loving it!

Our first order of business was for me to learn how to self-arrest. I had watched this video the previous night to supplement what Tim was teaching me. Check out the video, it’s pretty educational.

We did this for a good hour and got whizzed by a few rocks rolling down the mountain. Those things are scary. You don’t actually see them until you hear them flying by. And by then it’s already almost past. That’s when we implemented the rock watch.

Once the training was done, we started up. Our route would be the far western slope of the Bowl. All the other groups had taken the eastern approach which intersected with the Backbone Trail. We saw only 2 people going directly up the center. Those 2 must have been experienced because the view from the top looking down was insanely steep. Not quite vertical, but close to it.

As for our route, you can see it in the first picture. From the bottom of the Bowl, things looked pretty easy. It’s awfully deceiving though. Once past the halfway point, it gets steeper and steeper. At one point about 40 feet from the top, I lost Tim’s tracks and panicked for a few seconds. At a time like this, this is where experience comes in. The only other time I felt this kind of apprehension was in Falling Rock Canyon. Except this was worse.

With FRC, if you fell, you could probably count on slamming down on a outcrop of rocks after maybe a 10′ fall. Here though, as I looked down, I could actually visualize my path down. Looking left didn’t help either. This view gave me an excellent view of the slope in all of its steep glory. Therefore, I could calculate roughly the speed at which I would be travelling. And by my calculations, it would be fast.

So anyways, the panic that came over me was subdued with some mental focus and going over the fundamentals in my head. Which for me was, step, pick, step, repeat. Then it got really dicey when I noticed an ice patch that I was a few feet from. I hadn’t done any side-to-side practice, so I figured I should learn quickly.

I avoided the ice patch. Strafed my was over to the proper path. Then eventually got to the top. Upon reaching the top, I was absolutely elated to see a down slope. Not 5 minutes after reaching the top, Kathy from Socal Hikers & Peakbagger shows up out of nowhere. Well, not out of nowhere. I saw her and her friend at the bottom of the bowl while we were breaking halfway up. But still, I didn’t realize she was that close.

After getting to the top of the Bowl, there wasn’t anymore real high drama or excitement. Now it just becomes a matter of getting to the top. Which means a good workout. We trudged along as best we could but had to stop every 50 feet or so. Hiking in the snow isn’t exactly easy.

We finally reached the top at about 1pm. Funny thing about Baldy, it was nothing but ice. Anything other than crampons, and you would be slipping and a sliding.

The way down was pretty uneventful. Except for the SAR helo’s looking for some lost or possibly injured hikers. Turned out to be a false report though. Hopefully it was.

Here’s the gallery from the day. Pics taken by Tim, Kathy, and myself.

Lastly, as crazy as it sounds, I’m tempted to try the eastern route. I said I wouldn’t, but the excitement is just too much. Although this time, I think I’ll wait until conditions are better.

9/19/09: Mt. Yale Loop – Starting from Sierra Madre trail will head up and connect to Jones Peak and go along the newly carved fire break to the Mt. Wilson Toll Road. From there head on up the ridge to Yale. Depending on time or how I feel, may just want to come back down the same way.

9/27/09: No hike – Will be busing/boozing it up with Ze. Will most likely end up biking somewhere with hills to work on cardio.

10/3/09: Mt. Wilson via Santa Anita Ridge – haven’t done this one. Will probably not do this one though if it’s hot. If it is hot, will probably do Mt. Wilson from Chantry Flats.

10/10/09: ?

10/17/09: Hike in the back country. Not sure where exactly. Also depends on what areas are burned out.

10/24/09: Baldy via Bear Flats – The warmup hike for C2C.

10/31/09: Baldy via Register Ridge – sneak in one more weekend at elevation.

11/7/09: The big day!!!

10.5 miles, 5900 ft

Baldy from the Village at EveryTrail

The girlfriend and I ‘took it easy’ today (relative to the many others doing the baldy / 3t’s loop) and ‘only’ hike up to Baldy from the Village. Nothing too exciting, we did a steady pace and made it up just under 3 hrs.

Saw a woodpecker pecking

and one of those gliders

as we got to the summit, some guy (George?) recognized me and lets me know he doesn’t think it’s a good idea that I post my hikes / maps online as they promote people getting to things (i.e., Allison Mine) and ruining them. He felt free to share many hiking ideas and also that hiking poles are ‘crutches’, lol. Anyways we decided to leave the summit early (sorry George) and headed down the ski hut trail, and hitched a ride back down to the village. That made an ideal hike.

I’m not going to rewrite this, you can read Ze’s previous report. All that I’m going to say is that once at the Backbone trail and at the top of Harwood, the wind from the north really kicked up. This just made things really really cold.

Check out the pics and vids below:

There’s a small rock portion which can be avoided by going 30′ feet to the left. But after all the leg charging uphill portions, this was a good change.

Miriam had the bag, Eric said “why not?”

Part 2 of Eric trying on the second attempt.

Jack heading down.

Paul’s turn.

Tim had some good runs and pretty much setup these paths down. I was just too slow with the camera.

That’s Register Ridge and Baldy.

You can check out my pictures here.

Final Stats:

Gain: 6500 ft
Distance: 12.4 miles

First Baldy ascent of the year!

GPS track here

KML Google Earth file

Mt. Baldy and Lookout Mt via Bear Canyon at EveryTrail

I couldn’t hike this weekend, but had the opportunity to take a Monday hike. Given that the snow is melting away and some good reports of conditions, I decided to take the Bear Canyon trail to Baldy.

I left about 7:30 am from the Bear Canyon rd parking lot, following the creek and the houses perched up on the sides of the canyon. The first 1.5 miles gains about 1000 ft and brings you to Bear Flats. At this point it was shaded and reasonably cool. I hit the switchbacks and remembered how annoying they are. It seems the switchbacks when facing toward Baldy are steeper than the ones facing toward civilization. On top of that, there were strong gusts of wind blowing toward the south.

Once getting past these switchbacks, it is a really nice hike along the ridge. The sun was out, but I was gaining elevation quickly enough that the temperature was mild. Snow finally crossed the trail at about 8500′, and more consistently above 9000′. Parts were hard while others soft, but this was at like 9 – 9:30 am so it would soften up after that. I followed the footsteps of those who made the trek recently which helped gain level traction, though the snow still slowed me down a little bit. Finally I made the summit at 9:50 am, so it took ~ 2:20 which isn’t bad.

Summit temperature was great, but cool with intermittent winds. I checked out the views for a bit, and ran into two others who came up from the Ski Hut. Then I headed back down.

At about 8400′, I veered off the trail and generally followed the ridge that eventually heads to Lookout Mt. This ridge has a few bumps but nothing terrible (although I was swearing at the steepness of one). This ridge drops quickly down into Cattle Canyon to the west. I brought binoculars and was able to get some great views of Bighorn Ridge. My assessment is the the brush is gone after about 7000′. The portion of the ridge between 6300′ and 7000′ I am not sure about. However, this gives me confidence in the chances of successful ascent.

Following the ridgeline I eventually made it to Lookout Mt. Maybe it was just the day, but what a worthless peak. There is manzanita everywhere, and like someone mentioned, the bees are out in full force.

Couldn’t really get any views west unless I wanted to fight through manzanita. Luckily I found an amazing piece of optical equipment that was obviously used in Michelson’s experiments:

I descended down the east ridge to the saddle at ~ 5500′, I then found a use trail and descended north back down into Bear Canyon. I hit the creek, crossed over and climbed a boulder and found a use trail that led me back to the Bear Canyon trail maybe 0.25 to 0.5 miles from the start.

If I did it again, I would do the loop in reverse, keeping the steep off trail portions for uphill than down.

Since I was under some time constraints and ended up pushing myself more than normal, I could really feel the pain on my body. It started of minor, with some tingly sensations in my right leg. But then that soon was in my hands also. At the end, on top, I was feeling pretty terrible. Lightheaded, I wouldn’t say dizzy. I was almost there though.

This was definitely worth the second going. The path after Alison Saddle is pretty much well used now. All the yucca that stabbed me the first time and made the route almost unbearable has been cut away. The loose scree is still there though. Those steep sections are killer and a real time slower on the way down. Took us 3.5 hours just to get back to the cars.

Alright, here’s some more pictures, and then video are after the jump.

Update: StarTrekathon has moved to http://www.justin.tv/duplincountyman

There isn’t a video at the top or hereafter. I ran out or memory and only had 20 shots of memory available for the rest of the day.

You can check out all my pics from the day here.

Read the Meetup description here.

Dan Scott, a Wilderness Patrol Ranger in the San Bernardino National Forest, said hiking in deep snow, even with snowshoes, saps energy. And at an altitude above 9,500 feet, “it’s the perfect recipe for disaster.”

Legs become wobbly and what was a wide trail in July, has narrowed to the edge, with nothing but ice right to the valley below.

Read the full article from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.