Bogley

[Corey]

On Saturday, March 08, 2008 I decided to do a snowshoe hike to the top of Big Baldy. Big Baldy is the minor peak just southwest of Timp. The elevation is 8756, quite a bit lower than the summit of Timp, but I thought it would be an easier hike than trying something like Timp in the winter. I had rented some MSR Denali Ascent snowshoes from REI. I am looking for some new snowshoes and I wanted to try them out before I dropped $200 on them.

I got to the Dry Creek trailhead about 7:30 am. I started to get my stuff ready and another car pulled. Out jumped 3 super-mountaineering type guys jump out. I thought, “oh great, these young guys will beat me to the top”. I hurried and took off up the trail. There was no snow for the first ½ mile and the ground was frozen. After the trail went through the limestone gate the snow started to cover the trail. I had downloaded the trail up Dry Creek to the top of Big Baldy to my GPS so that kept me going it the right direction most of the time. The three mountaineers caught up to me after about a mile, but they turned up the southwest ridge of Big Baldy. That looked a little too steep for me. I continued up the canyon. The weather was overcast, and it finally started snowing.

There had been a few others up the trail before me and the trail was packed, but once they stopped I had to put on the snowshoes. I was still waking up the bottom of the Dry Creek. I got a little spooked when I saw what looked like avalanche debris in the creek bottom. I couldn’t see where the avalanche had come from. I stayed a little higher on the canyon side and got passed the debris. It looked like 3 feet snow on the creek bottom had just slide 30-40 feet and piled up down lower. I was not too concerned about avalanche since the snow was pretty hard and it was too cold that day to melt and soften.

As I got to the top of Dry Creek, the trail was supposed to turn back to the west and head up the ridge to the peak. I realized I was one drainage south of where I should be. I decided to climb up the real steep side of the canyon to get back on the trail. This is where the Denali Ascent snowshoes really shined. I flipped up the “Televator” heel lifter and started up. This Televator really made a difference. It gives you something to rest your heel on as you climb. I really like these snowshoes and need to get some for next year.

As I got on the summit ridge the snow really started coming down and the wind was howling. It was pretty much a white out and I was glad I had my GPS. I snowshoed up the ridge towards the top. The snow was 4-6 feet deep and too soft in some areas. I was trying to stay away from the cornices and edge, but off the ridge the snow was too soft. I decided the ridge was the place to be. It took me 3.5 hours to reached the top. It was a blizzard and I couldn’t see a thing. I quickly head down off the ridge to get behind a tree for some shelter.

I figured the super-mountaineers would have been to the top and back by the time I got there. I had planned to follow their tracks and descend down the south-west ridge. But there weren’t any tracks anywhere. It looked like I was the only there since the last snow. I decided to head towards a lower peak that was the top of the south-west ridge. Again I got off the ridge and was struggling through 3-4 feet of really soft powder snow. Going up hill was a real struggle. The snowshoes were some help, but it was two steps forward and slide one step back.

I could see a flag on the top of the lower peak. As I got closer I could see it was a worn and torn US flag. When I got to the flag I saw the footprints of the super-mountaineers. They stopped at the lower peak, I went to the top. A win for the old guys. Of course they had probably been home for hours.

I started down the ridge following the footprints. It got steep real fast. I did something that was not real smart. I thought I would just sit back on the tails of the snowshoes and glissade down the mountain. Things quickly got out of control. The snowshoes would not slow me down and I was a train wreck heading down the mountain. Fortunately, a scrub oak decided to give me a hand and stopped me hard. Both the tree and I were okay. Is it still called glissade if you are on your butt and screaming like an 11 year old girl?

I took off the snowshoes, shortened my trekking poles and sat on my butt again, but I was able to use my boots and poles to maintain a little control. It was a lot of fun, except for the ice wedgies that I had to stop and clear out. After the snow and slope ran out, I was almost to the trail. I quickly made it to the parking lot.

[Summit42]

nice TR
I really enjoyed the pics :2thumbs:

[Jaxx]

That is awesome. I have been trying to get my brother in laws to shoe up with me and ski down. I have been worried that we will get up there and there will be too much brush and not enough snow for the south face. Great TR Thanks!

[Felicia]

Dang - that looks like fun!

Thanks for sharing. :2thumbs:

[Alex]

Looks impressive, were you hiking alone??? :eek2:

[Corey]

Yea, I went up by myself. It only took a few hours.

[kris]

Great pictures. One of the best snow years in a while, and I am missing out.