THE SAN GABRIEL Mountains form a massive barrier between the Los
Angeles basin and the Mojave Desert. With peaks rising to 10,000 feet, the San Gabriels are geologically recognized as one of the steepest and fastest growing ranges in the world. Anywhere in the world but L.A., where “big” is accepted as a kind of norm, this range would be regarded as a significant alpine feature. (Mt. Mansfield in my native Vermont Green Mountains would hardly even create a bulge in the list of top peaks in the San Gabes.)
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| [the crystaline l.a. skies] |
As of early February, my reliable Wasatch crash-pad is no longer available and I have had to relocate my base of operations to my home in Pasadena, better known as the home of Tournament of Roses. However Pasadena, with its not-so-untypical January 70 degree temperatures, is also at the foot of the San Gabriels, which comb high altitude weather currents and can pile up significant heaps of snow during the California rainy season.
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| [spiny yucca darts] |
This year has been a record breaker for moisture and cool temperatures and snow has been stacking in the San Gabriels, most notably on the flanks of Mount Baldy (10,068), which is about 30 miles as the crow flies from the parking lot of my neighborhood Starbucks, where I fueled up early on February 27th. Up to three feet of new powder had stacked up on the higher elevations, with temperatures on the peaks in the teens.
The first challenge, arriving at Manker Flats 6,000 feet above Claremont, was just finding a place to park. Hundreds of families had already arrived, jammed and double-parked on either side of the road, turning the shoulders into a slick and sticky white rave.
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| [Dave Braun's smooth sweeps] |
I have summited Baldy at least ten times, in every season, but this was the first time I have been able to skin directly from the Manker trailhead. A track was already in place by 9 a.m. A good thing because I wouldn’t be breaking 4,000 feet of trail. But it also meant I wasn’t here with an original idea.
The air was crystalline and the snow deep, making prickly puff balls of the succulent yucca plants. Note to self: do not fall on one of these dagger balls on the way down. It’s a long way to the nearest ER.
At 8,200 feet, the flat spaces around the Sierra Club hut were crowded with arrivals from a couple of hiking groups, working on their snow travel skills. Baldy Bowl rises in a huge sweep above the hut to the summit and I only counted a half dozen sets of tracks. Close to a mile in diameter, Baldy Bowl is so huge that it would even stagger Little Cloud Bowl and the Ballroom chutes. Though the air temperature was in the high 20s, the radiant heat off the snow made it T-shirt weather and I knew the snow would turn to sticky mush by afternoon.
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| [resting, summit ridge] |
On the way to the summit ridge I ran into a guy from La Canada who had already turned a few laps and was moving fast on a light set-up of free-heels and Goode carbons – not the kind of advanced gear you would expect to find in the So Cal mountains. Dave was scrolling beautiful turns, systematically ticking off the series of chutes that channel down into the bowl from the summit ridge.
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| [the oscar for best...] |
I picked one of the chutes that Dave had already tracked, a 50 degree couloir pinched at two choke points, less than a couple ski-lengths wide at the narrows. The snow was creamy and stable. The pay-off for three hours of climbing was a 90 second drop back into the bowl. A worthwhile return on investment? Damn straight!I looked back up the well-grooved track to the ridgeline for another lap. But it was nearly 2 and I had been invited to an Oscar party. I also knew the terrain below the hut would be melting, rocky, and cautious going. And, hey, it’s still Hollywood.
Day's Vertical: 3,600. Season to Date: 60,000
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