My friend and I did the loop from up near the Manker campgrounds and proceeded up the fire road towards the ski resort.  We continued on towards the top part of the lifts to the restaurant.  We made the hike towards Devil's Backbone side where the winds were kicking up.  We came across a few hikers warning us of the intense winds.  A few hikers decided to turn back.  Suffering from high altitude and steepness, I nearly backdown with the addition of 60-80 mile per hour winds.  and ended taking the steeper, shorter route back down.  When we finally summit Baldy, I wanted to get off as soon as possible.  The winds were quite unbearable.  We took the shorter and steeper way down to avoid the gnarly winds, but that was no picnic.  I slipped and fell 8 times on the loose gravel going down.  Getting back to the car couldn't come fast enough.  Thinking back, I would do this hike again if the winds were more subdued.  I'd probably take the more difficult path up from the left and go down Devil's Backbone.