Believe it or not you can actually enjoy some snow and even do some mountaineering training a short distance from Los Angeles. It was a gorgeous sunny day at Mount Baldy, which had received a decent amount of snow so far this winter. I figured it was a good time to load up my crampons, ice axe, snow shoes and do a little mini mountaineering day trip. Baldy is not very high, a little above 10k, and they have a beginner route up a bowl, and even a more challenging route around the backside along Devil’s Backbone, which has seen its share of rescues and deaths unfortunately. I kept it simple, up the ski hut route and then in line for the snow staircase up Baldy Bowl. Lots of people with the same idea, but still a fun way to spend the day and get some practice in with some gear I don’t use very often. I even got to practice some glissading and self-rescue on the way down.
