[Trip Report] Red Baldy

[outsider]

Usually try to get to Red Baldy once a season... and with the season winding down early I figured this morning it was now or never.

First good view of the objective.


Lake Peak looked nice, less wind-affected; tempting, but I kept to my objective.



Starting around 10K the winds got nasty and failure was looming, but I pushed through and winds calmed a bit near the summit. Not the bluebird day I had hoped for, but not too bad.




Turns were OK, with a few hidden frozen clunkers lurking here and there. Down at 10K in the trees the skiing was very nice 4" dust on crust, down to 9K where it started to get a little sticky.



8K was full-on roller ball heaven.


Fun outing, for a season a little short on good ski days.

-john

[stefan]

great stuff, john, many thanks for postin'!

[tmartenst]

Very nice!

[accadacca]

Great stuff! Lotta snow up there on top.

[powderglut]

Beauty Man!! Nice little trip!!
Winter is disappearing fast here. We had the thinnest snowfall in March since 1910. Our hike across Rabbit Ears pass on St Pat's looked like late May snowpack. Bottom of the ski hill may not make it till Apr15. Maybe have to use the gondola to download if this 60 and 70 degree weather persists.

[outsider]

I was glad to see it was skiiable off the top, given the season we've (not) had. To compare with last season (which wasn't normal either), there was more snow early June 2011 in this area of LCC than last week...

On a totally unrelated note, for those of you who enjoy using tele gear in the backcountry... I've been a beta tester for the TTS (telemark tech system) binding for over a year and I suggest checking it out if you like to travel efficiently in the b/c. I won't get into details here since there is a good bit of coverage on other forums (e.g. TTips), but it's cut about 20% off my climb times (vs. G3 Targa T/9) while providing good control on the descents.