3 hikers die on Baldy!
- Thread starter KonoctisWigwam
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Yes it is. I've never hiked up there, but my wife hikes it 2-3 times a year. She said this area freezes up solid, with a 700 foot cliff on one side, and a 200 foot cliff on the other side. It gets extremely slippery this time of year and she will only go in the heat of the summer. Me...I'll just look up and admire it from a distance!
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Tragic. I've hiked Baldy (back in the '80s). Lot's of folks aren't prepared for the weather change near the summit (high winds and temp change, even in mid summer) as well as the altitude and never bring enough water.
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I've backpacked, hiked, and skied Baldy area dozens of times. ALWAYS went prepared for the worst, or so I thought. Bears, Mountain lions, rocks slides, weather changes, etc. Got lucky a couple times.
Hiked Devils backbone a few times. Not a trail to lose your SA(situational awarenss) on.
Had a deer dart onto the highway when heading up the mountain to go skiing back in the early '80s. Avoided the deer, spun out, wound up against the hillside instead of off the cliff. Damn lucky! Not a lot of guardrails back in those days.
Hiked Devils backbone a few times. Not a trail to lose your SA(situational awarenss) on.
Had a deer dart onto the highway when heading up the mountain to go skiing back in the early '80s. Avoided the deer, spun out, wound up against the hillside instead of off the cliff. Damn lucky! Not a lot of guardrails back in those days.
I've never hiked up there. But I have skied several times up there, it's wicked steep runs with lots of rocks, but if you get it on a fresh snow, it has nice powder. I learned to ski at a place that used to be called Holiday Hill, a friend took me there the first time I ski'd, and he laughed after taking me down the main bowl, when I had to take my skis off and walk/slide down.
I think admiring it from a distance is smart!
I have also ski'd Baldy a number of times. There was a really steep run, just off of the lodge. I put a big gouge in my skis one year.
I've skied all over that area, Holiday Hill, Mountain High, Snow Summit, Bear Mountain, etc...but I haven't skied in at least 25 years. I have a set of K2 210cm Comps, they have wood cores. I learned on 180s...210 is long for out west. Mammoth was always one of my faves, and the best I've skied was Mount Baldy, in Sun Valley Idaho. Good memories...
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At Baldy there were a few ♦♦ off the the main lodge area that led to a canyon run that took you down to the parking lot. That area never got a lot of snow coverage. Thats when me and my friends came up with "Ski SoCal, Ski dirt!I've never hiked up there. But I have skied several times up there, it's wicked steep runs with lots of rocks, but if you get it on a fresh snow, it has nice powder. I learned to ski at a place that used to be called Holiday Hill, a friend took me there the first time I ski'd, and he laughed after taking me down the main bowl, when I had to take my skis off and walk/slide down.
I think admiring it from a distance is smart!
Started skiing at age 10 when we lived in Germany 1969-71. Got to ski in Austria, France, Italy, and Switzerland also before we returned Stateside. Needless to say I was a ♦♦ skier when I came home, so the Olympic bowl at Holiday Hill was the only fun run for me there. Hung up the skis and the scuba gear a couple of years ago. 50yrs of skiing and 30yrs of scuba created a lot of great memories. Two very high risk activities. Don't really need to wind up in the hospital or worse anymore. Still ride my motorcycle though
I can't remember it exactly, it's been too many years, but I did grow up in that area, first my parents lived on Notre Dame, I think it was 980 Notre Dame St, Upland, CA
Where else can you do that?
I also saw it snowing at Malibu beach in the 90s...me and my friends were more Ventura County Line, Sequit, 4 stairs / Heavens, et al...I lived at Lake Sherwood (three places), first place I learned to fish for large mouth bass. Clear Lake is considered by many to be the large mouth bass capital of America.
They get some pretty big fish. I don't recommend it right now, it's been raining for a couple weeks, but I think it's gorgeous here.
That's the bowl I had to walk down, sliding, with my skis. My friend thought that was hillarious...also, after the name changed to Mountain High, I used to night ski there with a friend. Wrightwood gets cold up there at night! I once surfed at County Line up at Ventura, and ski'd at Mountain high the same night!
Where else can you do that?I also saw it snowing at Malibu beach in the 90s...me and my friends were more Ventura County Line, Sequit, 4 stairs / Heavens, et al...I lived at Lake Sherwood (three places), first place I learned to fish for large mouth bass. Clear Lake is considered by many to be the large mouth bass capital of America.
They get some pretty big fish. I don't recommend it right now, it's been raining for a couple weeks, but I think it's gorgeous here.
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This is truly unfortunate news. It serves as a reminder of how important it is to pay attention to the weather updates.
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Mountains and big hills can be dangerous. With little skill sets My friends and I would hike around the Big Bear, Snow Valley area. There are a lot of cliffs up there. Young and dumb was our mantra.
The weather changes fast at altitude. For 30 years, I skied the local mountins never did Mt Baldy. Don't know how many times I got off work and went night skiing at Mountain High.
With my brother and sister, we shared a small condo in Season's 4 Mammoth. My kids grew up skiing it.
Looking back with family and friends at a fireside chat of the past, we did stupid stuff. Skiing the trees. What could go wrong? Ask Sunny Bono about that short run.
The weather changes fast at altitude. For 30 years, I skied the local mountins never did Mt Baldy. Don't know how many times I got off work and went night skiing at Mountain High.
With my brother and sister, we shared a small condo in Season's 4 Mammoth. My kids grew up skiing it.
Looking back with family and friends at a fireside chat of the past, we did stupid stuff. Skiing the trees. What could go wrong? Ask Sunny Bono about that short run.
I still remember that incident. Happened at Heavenly, up in Tahoe. One of the best backdrops to ski to , you can see the lake from the top...it is beautiful. I used to try and ski the trees in all the SoCal places, but it's easy to get in over your head. Skiing the trees is not for the faint.
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