Day 29
Start: Vincent Gap
Finish: Islip Saddle
Daily Mileage: 12.1
PCT Mile: 386.1
I had no idea how today was going to go. There was a lot of various information about the trail over and beyond Mt. Baden-Powell, and it is hard to know what is most relevant to my skill level and risk aversion. All there was to do was start up the mountain and see how it went, knowing that I was able to make the decision to turn back at any time.
As I was packing up, Two Speed came down the mountain and stopped by to say that the route was too icy and steep for his tastes. The rest of his group continued up, but he opted for the bypass route on a closed road that paralleled the trail. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but I at least wanted to see the trail for myself.
Chaos Turtle and I started up the mountain at 5:45. We wanted the early start so the snow was most firm from re-freezing overnight. We needed to make as much progress as we could before the sun softened the snow making travel more difficult and potentially dangerous.
The first couple switchbacks up the trail were clear and snow-free, but that didn’t last. Soon we donned our microspikes. Then the trail completely disappeared, and the bootpath just turned straight uphill. No need to follow an arbitrary trail when on the snow everything looks the same.
We shortly had to get out our ice axes as well and put up our hiking poles. The straight uphill climb was steep. There was an array of bootpaths at first, and we tried the first one we got to. The path was pure hard ice, and we couldn’t get any grip with our microspikes. We had a quick discussion on turning back if this was how the entire route up was going to be, but Turtle noticed some variation in the snow. We decided to try a second bootpath to our left to see if it was any better. It was slow working our way over in the icy snow on the steep slope, but we made it and saw the fresh footprints of the others who left before us this morning.
The second bootpath seemed much more promising. It was still steep, but the footprints were good and firm, so we could much more easily clamber up them. We began picking our way straight up the mountain.
We made steady progress, though with the steepness and altitude we had to adjust our pace and pause to let our bodies catch up. As we ascended, the mountain gradually became less steep, and we knew that the trail would go. We were even able to swap our ice axes for poles for a stretch.
As we neared the summit, we had to once again grab our ice axes for some steeper stretches. There was a lot of snow built up on top in addition to cornices. We had to clamber up and stay away from the edges.
And then we made the summit. The mountain is not the tallest in the area, but it was still in a position of supreme prominence and we could see the entire area and a week or two back in hiking time. Los Angeles was below us, but it was covered in a perfect sea of clouds, giving the impression that there was no civilization there at all and we were in a relatively wild area.
We enjoyed the spectacular views from the summit for over a half hour. It was also a special mountain for me since it is the namesake of the founder of the Boy Scouts. I’m and Eagle scout, and was in the scouts for many years.
While I could have hung out on the summit for much longer, we needed to continue on before the snow became soft since we still had miles more of trail in the snow for the day.
The trail doesn’t go directly over Mt. Baden-Powell, but circles the peak just shy of the summit. However, trail is relative in the snow, and the trail stayed on the steep and snowy north side of the mountain, so it is easier to summit at 9,383 feet and then continue directly down the ridge the trail follows.
We found bootpath continuing on and began our traverse of the high ridge we would follow for the rest of the day.
We had some sections where the descents got steep and icy or very soft. Both were challenging to negotiate. Icy downhills are easy to slip, and on soft downhills the snow can give way and leave you sliding down. Turtle solved these problems by glissading down where he could. I did follow a few times where it appeared the easier way to get down.
A final steeper section looked impossible to downclimb in the steep, soft snow. It was apparent that people were sliding around, and that you would likely lose your footing and have to self arrest. We slid down this as well, but with our ice axes fully dug in in partial self arrest position. This worked, but it was still difficult to control our speed, and I almost needed to roll over and fully self arrest.
Through this last challenge, the terrain mellowed and soon we arrived at a snow covered campsite with a small open patch of bare ground and a number of hikers taking lunch that we have been around for a while. We took a break to relax. Turtle quite enjoyed the downhill portions, but they weren’t my favorite, so it was good to unwind.
After lunch, there were just a couple more miles to the road where Cookie Monster was waiting for us. More snowy traversing, but it wasn’t bad in the soft snow. I did go though a snow bridge over a stream, but it only got me to my thigh.
We arrived at the Islip rest area at the end of a closed road and took a break. We hadn’t decided what to do for the rest of the day. I was tired, so was leaning towards just staying. The next stretch of trail is supposed to be sketchy, so I didn’t really want to do it in soft snow. Some other hikers showed up and a few wanted to continue on the trail, so Turtle took off with them, and Cookie Monster and I decided to spend the night and decide what to do in the morning.
Then it became a lazy afternoon to relax following the beautiful but challenging trail. It was worth doing the hike, but I would not want to do it every day. Other hikers showed up and rolled through throughout the day, but we quickly retired from the exertion of the day.
