teotwaki
Excelsior!
full story here http://suntothenorth.blogspot.com/2017/01/mount-baldy-snow-hike.html
Some pix of a great Sunday ascent of the snowy slopes of Mount San Antonio.
Sharp pointy metal on my boots went a long way towards dealing with ice and crusty snow.
The 1936 Ski Hut at 8300'
Wind sculpted snow on boulders
The red arrow on the right of this picture indicates an area where three climbers were injured by an avalanche. Not something that occurs often in our local mountains
Thursday the 26th rescuers were called to the Mt. Baldy Bowl area about 12:15 PM for a reported avalanche that injured three men. That is a time of day when the sun has warmed the upper areas of the Baldy Bowl and primed the steep slopes for an avalanche of any heavy loads of snow.
Cody Ayala was hospitalized with broken ribs and Chris Chung was reported to have a broken arm. Louis Wojciechowski was released after getting stitches for a cut leg. Wojciechowski commented that the speeding wave of snow swept the three men in different directions and he was briefly buried. Authorities say the men slid about 1,000 feet down the face of the bowl where they were ascending. Ayala and Chung were hoisted to safety by a San Bernardino County sheriff's helicopter.
Visibility was so good that it was easy to see all the way to Catalina Island. The snow transforms the look of the whole area.
I had a great workout and even met someone who is on the current Mars robotic exploration team. It was fun to compare notes from my days on the project. I might try to go back to Mount Baldy in two weeks if I can.
Some pix of a great Sunday ascent of the snowy slopes of Mount San Antonio.
Sharp pointy metal on my boots went a long way towards dealing with ice and crusty snow.
The 1936 Ski Hut at 8300'
Wind sculpted snow on boulders
The red arrow on the right of this picture indicates an area where three climbers were injured by an avalanche. Not something that occurs often in our local mountains
Thursday the 26th rescuers were called to the Mt. Baldy Bowl area about 12:15 PM for a reported avalanche that injured three men. That is a time of day when the sun has warmed the upper areas of the Baldy Bowl and primed the steep slopes for an avalanche of any heavy loads of snow.
Cody Ayala was hospitalized with broken ribs and Chris Chung was reported to have a broken arm. Louis Wojciechowski was released after getting stitches for a cut leg. Wojciechowski commented that the speeding wave of snow swept the three men in different directions and he was briefly buried. Authorities say the men slid about 1,000 feet down the face of the bowl where they were ascending. Ayala and Chung were hoisted to safety by a San Bernardino County sheriff's helicopter.
Visibility was so good that it was easy to see all the way to Catalina Island. The snow transforms the look of the whole area.
I had a great workout and even met someone who is on the current Mars robotic exploration team. It was fun to compare notes from my days on the project. I might try to go back to Mount Baldy in two weeks if I can.