Since it's been a little warm recently we decided that it would be smarter to take a night hike. We started around 12:30 and got to the Ski Hut trail junction about 20 minutes later. Then a short walk to the turnoff to the Register Ridge route. RR is shorter, but definitely not sweeter. It's an unrelentingly steep slog, even the “flat” parts are steep. I hold the record for the slowest time up this route, probably via any route. Today was no exception. It was hard, but I persevered. I got to the junction with the Backbone trail after a couple of hours. It's only a little more than 2 miles from Manker Flat but 3,000′ + elevation gain. It took a while,  but it takes me a while. I got up to the junction about 1/2 hour after my friend, but she probably lied to me to avoid hurting my feelings. We decided to forgo Harwood and went up to the summit arriving just before sunrise. Then no peace for the wicked and no rest for the weary, straight down Ski Hut trail and back to Manker Flat. Back to the car before 9 and in the pool by 10:30. I'll do Baldy again before the year is out, but I'll wait until it's cooler.