The Goods!
My Baldy report:
Left San Clemente at 6am and was on Mt. Baldy Road just after 7am. A good omen! No freeway problems at all! A few mid-level clouds, but Baldy was pretty much enshrouded in clouds from the wrap-around moisture coming over from the NE. Not long after the tunnel, the road was starting to get icy, so I pulled over with everyone else and chained up. I have a Tacoma Double Cab 2WD. I reached Baldy Village and the road was now snow and ice-covered and I had a large truck in front of me going 5mph as I approached the switchbacks. Damn! I’d hang back a bit and wait for him to get up each switchback and then I’d catch up after making the turns. I knew if I lost momentum going around the corners I was done as my wheels were still slipping even with the chains on. Finally found a chance to pass him and continued on. Got to the last 400 feet of uphill before the parking lot and just couldn’t make it. Tried everything for 1/2 hour. Low gear, zig zagging up the hill, even going in reverse facing downhill. I’d wait for traffic coming up to be clear before I’d try again, but I just couldn’t get the tires/chains to grip the damn road! Saw 3 other vehicles in the same predicament. Arrrgggg.
I decided to park it at the first hiking trail turnout just down from the parking lot. There was a sign mentioning displaying adventure passes, but I figured I’d put my State Park Pass in the window and hope for the best, hopefully not getting a ticket.
Walked up the road into the lot and some Baldy employees were spreading gravel on the parking lot and offered me a ride to Chair 1. I waited a few minutes while they finished and hopped in the back of their truck. I doubt any other ski area would do that because they’d be too worried about liability. Ha, ha. Another Baldy classic! Ticket line was a solid 40 minutes!
The ticket line!
Finally got my ticket at 9am and they had just opened Chair 3 and the runs down under Chair 1 after avi control. It was snowing lightly and blowing fairly decent, so kinda cold!
Started out heading to Chair 3. 10 minutes in line, but got a decent run with some untracked (see video).
Then, headed over to Chair 2 and did a short run under that lift and then back up. Then, I started hitting the runs on the Chair 4 side of the Notch (Chair 4 wasn’t open yet). Some fantastic untracked over there. Not the lightest snow of my life, but pretty damn good for SoCal! Maybe knee-deep in places, but there were a couple of rare spots that were scraped down to ice. My second run, I hiked up about 500 yards and dropped in for yet another run of untracked. Did that again, and then Chair 4 opened. Every time I’ve been to Baldy (right after a big storm each time) 4 would never open, so this was my first time up that chair!
More goodies
Did a run down 4 and then back up and this time, I went all the way down to the parking lot. By now, the sun was out below the Notch, so once you got down lower, the pow took on a mashed potato consistency and was getting a bit heavy. Time to go for me as I had a PBJ and a Coke back in my truck calling my name.
Came out in the upper parking lot and there was a movie/TV crew there shooting something. Hiked it back down to my truck thinking the only thing that could ruin this day would be a ticket from the Forest Service. Alas, I got lucky! Meanwhile across the street, a guy was arguing with a CHP officer about the ticket that HE got. I figured I’d better get the hell outta there as soon as I could, so I de-chained my truck, changed clothes and took off. Now the roads were melted off nicely and were simply wet. I was back at my house in south OC before 2:30pm.
It’s days like today that I LOVE living in SoCal! Got to ride knee-deep pow and 90 minutes later I’m at my house near the beach with sunny weather in the ’60′s. Not many places in the world you can pull that off!
Baldy is not longer the best-kept secret in SoCal as the crowds are on it, but as long as they don’t have live bands and set up giant terrain parks, and keep their rickety lift system in place, hopefully it will retain it’s charm!
