Last March I trekked up Mt Baldy’s front side hiking and panting and okay maybe crying just a bit for three miles straight uphill. This was the Ski Lift Route and I thought it was the hardest summit up Mt Baldy I have ever experienced. Until Sunday when I discovered the long forgotten Mountaineer’s Route. I say this route was long, long forgotten as we haven’t had enough snow to make this route hike-able in ten years or so. Enter the winter of 2019 when our mountain resort towns in California received a ridiculous and amazing amount of snow. Suddenly the Mountaineer’s Route was back in business and skiers and back country hikers were attacking this tough as nails hike with a great attitude and a ice ax every weekend.
Normally I try to hike Mt Baldy a few times every March as it’s just such a gorgeous hike in the snow but this year we recived so much snow in southern California that hikers were literally sliding off the mountain and dying nearly every weekend. There were feet of snow at the top of Mt Baldy and ice chutes everywhere. No thank you, Mt Baldy I will see your snowy peak in the spring. Then on a whim I decided to drive up to Mt Baldy Village before dawn last weekend to just do a little hike before work.
I’ve summited Mt Baldy I don’t know how many times but hiking straight up the Mountaineer’s Route in the snow was by far the most incredible way to summit. I mean if I had actually summited, which I did not actually because my alarm did not go off on Sunday morning and I ended up accidentally sleeping in for forty five minutes. It kills me that I missed summiting, because not only did I miss an amazing pink skied sunrise but that forty five minutes probably would have been enough for me to summit this great mountain that towers above Los Angeles.
This past March had to have been one of the best times in recent years to plan a day trip up to Mt Baldy, but Mt baldy is a great day hike any time of year. Planning a summit in the coming months? We may be done with the snowy slopes for the time being but anyways, check out these, awesome ways to summit Mt Baldy before you plan your trip up to Mt baldy Village.
The good thing about summiting not via the snowy Mountaineer’s Route? You won’t have to come equipped with cat trax or cramp-ons for a summers day ascent up the mountain! Its definitely an easier hike when you are not carrying mountaineering gear.
