Hike Log

12 of 18 Mount Baden-Powell Straight Up

Trailhead:

Vincent Gap

Type of Hike:

Day hike

Trail Conditions:

Trail difficult/impossible to navigate

ROAD:

Road suitable for all vehicles

Bugs:

No bugs

Snow:

Trail snow-covered at times – Gear and expertise recommended

Awesome hike in the snow today! Basically, this hike turned into a straight up the side of the mountain for 2.5 miles to the summit of Mount Baden-Powell, instead of the normal route which is about 4.5 miles to the summit. I stepped off at about 0640 wearing microspikes, as the beginning of the trail was pretty icy and snowy. Still lots of snow on the trail. Some packed, some not packed. Prior to reaching the bench (about 1 mile in) I decided to put on crampons and pull out the ice axe. After the 5th switchback, the trail was pretty much covered and hard to follow, so it was straight up from there, hence the reason it was only 2.5 to the summit.

I saw no one on the trail on my ascent and spent about 40 minutes at the summit all by myself. There is easily still about 2.5 feet of snow at the summit. The snow on the way up was hard (icy) in spots and soft in other spots, so post holing up was a slow battle. On my descent, I ran into at least 10 groups and solo hikers. Some prepared, some not so prepared. I saw some hikers with crampons and axe, some with just microspikes and a couple with no traction devices at all. I’m 100% certain that the individuals with microspikes had a slippery descent and the two with no traction at all, had a very difficult time on their descent. I highly recommend, if you go, wear crampons and a helmet and use and axe. Can you make it up and down safely without, sure, but why risk it.

Responses

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  1. Sounds, well… Awesome! Did you sink through the softer snow much or was it fairly manageable? Is ACH open from Wrightwood to Vincent Gap? I keeping finding conflicting closure information. Hoping to summit this Thursday. Thanks in advance!

    1. Early in the morning the snow was fairly hard (packed). As the morning progressed and I got higher up there were several spots where the snow got soft. Postholing, in most areas, was about calf to knee deep. Coming down was challenging, since there were several areas where the snow was still hard and soft. So you had to be careful with each step. Yes the road is open all the way to Vincent Gap parking area. I posted pictures in SoCal Hiker Facebook page. Keep in mind too, that if it snows again, they will most likely temporarily close the road.

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