This route heads right up the north side of West Baldy. It follows a major gully from the head of Fish Fork up to the summit of West Baldy. Usually deep snow near the bottom, and some ice near the top.

Generally speaking, this is a fun climb similar to a section of Snow Creek but with a much better approach.

A good way to approach would be to hike up Ski Hut trail and climb up the Bowl. Descend to the col between Baldy and Dawson, and then head west and down into Fish Fork. Check the topo image attached to this page for a good idea on what's what.

Commando Couloir III AI2, 800M

Heels Please

Snake and Bake

North Face

Bifurcate

Ski Hut Boulder Left

Mt. Baldy Trail (aka South Ridge or Bear Flat Trail)

Cuidado couloir

The Tormentor

‘Narrow Gully’

Starts in Fish Fork  at about 7500' at the base of the main gully coming directly off the North/Northwest face of Baldy summit.

The crux starts at about 8300' in the bottleneck couloir. This is a narrow and steep 200' debris chute with waterfalls and a jumble of snow and ice bridges. Hug the rocks on the left and climb up mixed ice, rock, and snow to avoid falling through into the waterfalls. Some dry tooling may be necessary. You pop out the top of the chute at about 8500'.

Now you are looking up at the beautiful massive arena that is the the north face. Head southeast directly toward the summit. A small tree on a broad rock rib marks your direction. Once on the rib the slope steepens. Stay to the right to top out directly on the summit.

start on good holds to the right. Traverse lip to the right and top out where lip ends.

Surely been climbed before, but never named.

Tired of slogging one foot in front of the other up a long, moderate snow slope with the rest of the hikers and city folk? Well, welcome to the thunder dome!! Steep snow, mixed rock, and scintillating route finding conundrums await you on da Snake!! (it is a steeper, more serious route as the Bowl goes with some exposure, so make sure you're ready for it - as bailing won't be as simple as just walking downhill).

Adventurous, winding route (slithering, like a snake, get it) up Triangle buttress - the steep, broken rock buttress on the left side of the Baldy Bowl, just to the left of The Dare chutes. Very conditions-dependent, hit early AM around sunrise for ideal  conditions - will want solid, packed snow and a decent snowpack, otherwise will be a choss nightmare.

Approach from Manker Flats like with any other bowl route, and head to the left towards the steeper chutes. At the proper buttress, enter the bottom of "Taco Sauce" but climb a steep snow chute that branches immediately left. It is a bit of pick your own adventure but we found that the best line would meander up along with the snowpack and over the occasional rock step, with some occasional sustained few moves of 3rd class scrambling. It also involved a steep leftward rising traverse. The best line should present itself, but expect some slithering.

Eventually move right enough up high to hit an exposed rib with the steep Taco Sauce chute directly to your right. Requiring a few easy but exposed moves up and over a pointy rock outcropping with exposure on both sides.

Then make a short but adventurous, cramped, exposed traverse to the right under a tree towards the top of the Taco Sauce chute.

Head up another 100 or so ft on easing steepness up and to the top of the buttress!

Head towards the middle of Hourglass and Girly Man. As you get closer you'll see a snow, neve, ice, or chossy section going up towards a little chimney. When we did this route we encountered a mix of neve and easier alpine ice. In years of low snow you'll encounter chossy third class terrain. Stick left if there's choss. Proceed up towards the obvious chimney. Before the chimney you'll see a granite platform with large granite boulders with cracks to your right. Look further right and you'll see trees and snow going up. Follow the path a few feet up until you encounter the first thick tree (you may need to dig out a branch like we did). Start the first pitch here (anchor 1). This first pitch is the second easiest on the entire route, around an M4-. You'll go left from the anchor up towards an obvious overhanging rock formation. Use a stein pull to get over the formation and proceed straight towards the obvious dead end granite wall. Once you reach the wall look left, you'll see a tree and a boulder (anchor 2). Use these two as anchors (they're pretty solid and held a fall). After you set up an anchor on the tree and boulder and you belay your second, start the second pitch. Switch to climbing shoes and work your way up towards the first micro-crack. Use micro-nuts to protect it. My partner took a fall on a nut and it became part of the rock (it's yours if you can free it). This second pitch is the hardest pitch on the entire route. It's a slabby 5.9 with a few power moves. After you reach the top of the pitch, there is a tree and some solid cracks for a solid anchor (anchor 3). This ends the second pitch. From the top of the second pitch, switch back to mountaineering boots and crampons. Do not remove the anchor, use this anchor to belay your partner across the ridge-line. Treat this as a third mini-pitch. It's exposed and chossy, so for optimal safety we'd recommend you treat is as a super small pitch (hence the 4 pitches, one could technically do it in 3). As you near the end of the ridge-line you'll see a dead tree, an obvious giant granite wall filled with choss. Look to the left of the dead tree. You'll see a few cracks and a horn (anchor 4). Sling the horn with a 240 cm sling and use two or three cams on any cracks you can find. I ended up overcamming a yellow totem and a #2 C4 plus the horn for optimal anchor placement. This entire section is extremely chossy, test everything before you commit. Work your way around the horn and go up the chimney to the overhanging dihedral on the right, do not go left (the left cracks are all loose). The overhanging dihedral has incredible dry-tooling. Bomber tool placements. Overall this final pitch should be around an M5. Make sure if you're leading this final pitch to over place gear and test everything before you torque, pull, and grab. I set loose a 50 pound boulder when I was climbing it because I decided to grab and pull with my hand. I would advise climbing this final pitch with tools and avoid grabbing anything with your hands. Stem before you grab and torque with tools before you stem. Once you reach the top of this final pitch, you should be able to set up a bomber anchor (anchor 5). I took a fall on it and it didn't budge. After you both reach the top, take a picture on the obvious platform and traverse left up the snow ridge. I would advise keeping belay on as you traverse this snow ridge, the snow here was very slushy and didn't inspire confidence. If you decide to keep belay on via anchor 5, once you reach the top of the bowl go for the big obvious tree, sling it for anchor 6 and belay your partner. Congrats, you're both on top of the bowl with about 600 feet or so to the summit.

Gear placement and anchors on the route is pretty good over all. With the exception of the final pitch everything is a solid PG rating. Treat anchor 4 as a PG-13 maybe R until your partner places a few pieces in.

Named it Bifurcate from the fact that this route is forked (primarily) into two disciplines of climbing: trad and mixed.

Features left of route posted as "ski hut".

The Mt. Baldy Trail or South Ridge is the oldest and longest trail to the summit of Mt. San Antonio or Mt. Baldy. From the hamlet of Mt. Baldy Village walk west up Bear Creek to the switchbacks that wind up the lower reaches of the south ridge of Mt. Baldy. The Mt. Baldy Trail is 6.5 miles one way from Mt. Baldy Village at 5,000 ft to the summit at 10,062 feet.

Ended up Taking this on instead of the girlyman chute. The route follows a steep 60-65° couloir that has 2 distinct cruxes the first is the large bulge coverd in water ice that feels around M1 after that continue up the couloir I exited the face with the few shrubs that has a snow ridge connecting to the girlyman chute this is the main Crux. I exited here since I was solo. The rock was chossy and it was quite sketchy imo after that I descended into girlyman and finished up from there. The route is named since you need to watch out for all the loose rock. This exit is for this route if you continue to the top that is a different route I have not done it so I wouldn't know.

After the first obvious "difficult" ice move in the narrow gully, go up a few feet and immediately look right. You should see a very large granite slab and some chossy rock forming a dihedral. This is the first pitch of the climb. I'd say it's a good 30-40 feet of mixed climbing with terrible protection. It's extremely chossy, but doable. Try and keep your right foot on the slab as much as possible, it offers the best rock quality. For optimal safety have your partner belay you as if you were climbing ice or any other mixed route. WARNING, the amount of rockfall you will set loose here can and will kill your partner if you're belaying it the conventional sport climbing way. Another option for belay is you have your partner hide under the obvious rock overhanging at the bottom, it provides adequate protection. Avoid belaying too far into the snow as ice and rocks fly down the narrow gully often. This first pitch is the hardest. After getting to the top, look for the obvious large boulder. Directly underneath the boulder there's a smaller boulder propping it up with perfect anchor placement for a long 240cm dyneema sling. Belay your second from the right via the "knife" edge. Like all of the protection and rock in this first pitch, use extreme caution. Do not whip, fall, or commit to anything before testing it out. Do not by any means shock load the anchor. It seemed very secure, but I'd be reluctant to try and test out how secure it is. The second pitch is easier but still difficult to protect. It runs about a full rope length for a 60 meter rope. This second pitch is mostly covered in hard snow or ice with some easier 5th class climbing, up to 5.3 moves. However, again, use caution. There were several sections where the snow and ice had a hollow sound to it, making it unsafe. In any case, there's adequate room to avoid these hollow sections, or simply climb up rocks. Placing pro in this second pitch requires some thinking and creativity. The pro placement in this second pitch is far better than the first and there's little to no choss. Shoot for the farthest rock visible from the top of the first pitch, that is where you'll find good anchor placement. We used a sling, nut, and cam for this second anchor. After you reach the top of the second pitch, simply walk out towards the obvious snow field. You'll end up at the top of the bowl with another 700 feet or so to reach the summit.

We decided to call it The Tormentor because if you're belaying and seconding the first pitch the constant onslaught of rockfall and ice-fall is absolute torment.

Again, gear placement here is not bomber, it's the opposite of bomber. I wouldn't trust any gear you place with your life. Test everything before placing gear and test the anchors.

Taco Sauce is a narrow snow, ice, and easy rock couloir that splits a triangular buttress on the far left of Baldy Bowl, directly left of Dostie's Dare. It is critical that one climb this route when temps are very low and the ground is stable. I was soloing it a handful of years ago when the crux pitch dumped a ton of rocks onto me. I was saved when one of my ice tool tethers (not rated to hold anything) held onto me as I fell about a body length or so. My left arm is covered in thin scars from that day. One of the scarier moments I've had climbing. Would've been a much different outcome had both tools blown.

Route starts out as sorta steep typical Baldy Bowl snow, then narrows and steepens up into the buttress. Continues up and gets steeper up an iced up crappy rock step. Step continues for 30ft or so and eases up onto the plateau-ish area above the Bowl.

Note that 1,000ft includes snow climbing. Actual technical section is about 300ft up the center of the eastern 'Triangle Buttress'.

Description

Protection

Routes in Mount San Antonio (Mt. Baldy)