I only get to play in the snow about twice a year if I am lucky. I don't have enough time to go anywhere with real snow, so it's pretty much Baldy or nothing. With the recent storms that passed through, I though I would go up and take a look around. I got on the trail about 6:00 AM and was at the hut by 8:15. The trail was in pretty good shape. I didn't use my crampons at all. The sun hadn't hit the trail yet so it was pretty firm.

Once I left the hut, the story changed. I decided to head for the ridge to the right from the hut. After I crossed the creek, I hit waste deep snow. This got a good laugh from the other guys who were still waiting at the hut. I was the first one to hit the bowl that morning. I struggled with it for about 20 minutes and then finally got to some more solid snow, or atleast it was at that time. It was averaging 6-12 inches and I was going almost to the rock with every step. Snow shoes would have been a plus. At this time, the other group had started up behind me. They weren't laughing anymore.

Here is a good picture of what I was dealing with.

It was still fun. I have yet to summit in the winter. I have an agreed turn around time with my wife so she doesn't worry since I am going solo all the time. In the summer I can summit before the turn around time. The snow slows me down to much. A little further up I found a rock out cropping and just hung out for a while and watched a few people pass me. I got this picture of the bowl in case you were wondering. The snow conditions were not great. Night ascents may be good. If the sun keeps shining, the bowl probably won't have much snow in it in about 2-3 weeks. It wasn't very deep.

Hopefully we will get a few more storms. The glisading was fast atleast.