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Edmonton, AB
Canada
216 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 02:04 AM
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Mt. Baldy (including South Baldy and West Baldy)
Date: Friday, June 1, 2012
Peak Elevation: 2,195m (South Baldy)
Elevation Gain: 798m
Distance Covered: 7.0km (as described)
Relaxed Roundtrip: 6-7 hours
Mt. Baldy is located an hour west of Calgary on Highway 40. You'll find the trailhead next to a small pull-off on the east side of the highway, halfway between the Barrier Lake picnic area and the kind of tacky looking O'Shaughnassey Falls. Of the two trails leading from the parking area, take the one on the left, which almost immediately branches into yet another trail that climbs a slope to the left after a few metres. That left branch is the ascent trail for Mt. Baldy, while the other two lead to the descent route described here. As I was just following the Kane route, I'll just elaborate on the technical points.
  
1. Mt. Baldy from Baldy South
2. The GPS Track
3. The Trailhead
Once you've hiked above the treeline, Mt. Baldy likes to ease it's scramblers into things gently by starting them off with the crux as the first hands-on section. I had read a number of reports describing the crux as a 2-3m downclimb with exposure, and had even seen some photos of it. These gave me the impression that the downclimb was fairly central on the ridge, that the exposure was to the sides, and that there was a small run-out area at the bottom. These impressions were very wrong. A better description of the crux is a 2-3m downclimb of the exposure to a shallow ledge, or at least a 2-3m downclimb directly towards an exposure. Either way, a slip there could easily result in a 40+ ft fall. I focused on what I needed to do, found that the holds were decent, and made it through without incident.
However, it was a bit of a strange morning for me. Instead of feeling elated or at least relieved, knowing that the hardest part was behind me, as I normally would... I felt kind of rattled... wondering what the hell was I doing and who would likely be mad at me had they witnessed this. Hey, at least my doubt had waited until the hard work was done. Small blessings...
  
4. Approaching the Crux from above (route: straight and then slight to the right)
5. A Closer Look at the Crux
6. Looking back at the Detour Route (climber's left)
Given that the crux route here won't particularly save you time or effort, I'd suggest taking the detour unless you're specifically looking for a challenge. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of what the beginning of the detour looks like, but I remember coming to a spot where I could see two distinctive high points on the ridge ahead, and said to myself, "I bet the crux is after the second one". Well, it was immediately after the first.
The next challenging area is the gendarme, which comprises of about 4-5 steps where you climb a few metres of slabby rock to a spot where you can stand, and then strategize the next move. I was still kind of out of it, so I didn't even remember that this could be completely bypassed (to the climber's right) until I was already on my way up the 2nd step. However, that turned out to be a good thing for me. Each step started timidly, then I'd work my way through it, and then I'd go "Oh, that was easier than I thought it would be". Repeating that process another few times was just what I needed to reset my confidence breaker and restore my general sense of control. I was perfectly comfortable with climbing, downclimbing and exposure for the rest of my trip after that point.
Both detour options for the gendarme are to the climber's right, with the first requiring a short climb to a goat trail, and the slightly ridiculous second requiring descending a scree gully, contouring around the bottom of the gendarme, and then climbing a second scree gully on the other side. The first detour's likely the fastest route through this area, while the traditional route's probably the funnest if conditions are good.
I believe I came across a set of cougar tracks just past the gendarme amongst the trees visible on the right of photo #9. I wasn't willing to posthole through the snow there to try to find the perfect imprint, but it seemed as though the claws were retracted.
   
7. The Gendarme (normal route)
8. Detour Option #1
9. A Comparison of the Two
10. Cougar Tracks?
The rest of the ascent to the peak of Mt. Baldy is an easy hike. According to the register, a lot of people had started ascending the mountain towards the end of May, including a familiar name or two and even a family of 6(!).
   
11. Summit Portrait
12. Mt. Kidd and Mt. Allan
13. Barrier Lake
14. A Familiar Name
You'll eventually come to a steep cliff when descending towards South Baldy, and where you need to go from there isn't obvious, as the particular spot looks like a sheer drop until you actually peer over the edge and look down. To make this part easier, I built a cairn next to the drop-in point and drew my route over a pair of photos below. Once you reach the gully I suggest angling your route to regain the ridge as quickly as possible. Once you do, the rest of the journey to the summit of South Baldy is an easy and pleasurable ridgewalk.
   
15. Downclimb Route from Mt. Baldy
16. Further Route Details
17. The Ridgewalk to South Baldy
18. Looking back at Mt. Baldy
There was still a reasonable amount of snow on the ridge between South and West Baldy, but its distribution was kind of strange. You'd have completely dry soil and then a perfectly vertical 2m wall of snow directly next to it. Not sure what combination of factors would result in such a thing there, but it made for some cool photos. The woods to the immediate south of the snow are pretty thin and it was easy to bypass the snow to the ascent route for West Baldy.
    
19. West Baldy from South Baldy
20. Awesome Snow Formation!
21. Baldy's Hairy Chest
22-23. Same shot, different cropping
Climbing West Baldy from this point is quite similar to climbing the gendarme on Mt. Baldy, only instead of 4-5 steps, you're looking at about a dozen or so. The routefinding isn't particularly difficult and the few times I didn't like the look of something, I was able to find an alternative route quite easily. I saw the registry at the top, decided that I'd get to it after taking care of a couple things and then completely forgot about it until I was following the pleasant descent trail back to the parking area. So it goes.
   
24. McDougall NW2 (centre)... which seems significantly taller than Mt. McDougall (left)?
25. Towards Kananaskis Village
26. Several named peaks including Lorette, Mary Barclay's, Skogan, McGillivray and Grant MacEwan
27. Mary Barclay's Mountain, "The Twin Towers", and the ridge connecting them
Visit my site for additional information, photos, and to download GPS/Google Earth coordinates.
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 Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13453 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 10:33 AM
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Really interesting ground, looks like great trekking.
K |
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
216 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 11:15 AM
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| It is. I met two individuals while doing the circuit and both asked me whether it was my first time on Baldy. The accessibility of the mountain plus the variety of its terrain seems to have made it a choice destination for many's "getting back into it" routines. |
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Edmonton, AB
Canada
467 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 11:23 AM
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Great TR! I saw my entry on your photo :)
When I did Baldy, it was pretty late in the afternoon. I didn't see any individual and dark clouds were threatening to rain. So I didn't do the traverse. Next time when I do the west ridge climber's scramble route, I will tick off the South Baldy as well. |
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Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
110 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2012 : 10:44 AM
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| Wonderful write-up :-) We just did the traverse this Sunday after fresh snow covered the downclimb onto the ridge. Provided a great opportunity to practice using a short piece of rope for security. Surprised by a young bear that appeared on the South/West pass and took off down our descent route! We later saw him trying to cross the highway in traffic but figured he made it when a bear alert was posted for Barrier Lakes the next day. |
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Calgary, Alberta
47 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 12:39 PM
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Just a note that "Detour option #1" is actually the standard route. Most never climb the "gendarme" unless looking for some excitement.
The downlimb on the way to South Baldy can be quite intimidating for many. The route on the East face of West Baldy can be full on under certain conditions and even a rope would be welcomed by some under these certain conditions. On one particular trip, I downclimbed this face (tight sphincter) with mucho snow on it and then dropped down into the Gully between the three Baldy peaks and out to the highway (3.2 hours car to car for the three summits).
If you are looking for a hard scramble (with some minor class 5) to the summit of Baldy, try my route that climbs straight up from the Barrier slabs climbing area and traverses under Amadeus and then climb the rib that drops straight down the NE face from the summit. I did this solo a few years back. A couple sections on the rib are likely 5.3ish.
Many other ways to climb to this summit too.
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Mt. Baldy - 6.1.2012
