The Climb

I made a commitment this year. New years resolutions are fine, but I made my commitment in October. The commitment was with the 16-18 year old boys in my Ward at church. We actually committed together that we would climb Mt. Baldy once each month for the entire year. I had been climbing fairly regularly before that so I was in pretty good shape, for the shape I was in. Our home happens to be on Baldy, and according to Google Earth, the elevation at our front door is 1912 feet and the top of Baldy is 2992 feet. For those of you who are Google Earth inclined, there are grid coordinates for the house and the top of Baldy at the end of the post. Instead of hiking the traditional trail, we start at my front door and go up. The trek is considerable steeper this way, but the climb is more interesting. In this photo taken from my office in Eagle River, you see Mt. Baldy and our house is the one on the extreme right side. We begin climbing up through the woods for several hundred yards and come out into a saddle where you get the first view of the city. There are beautiful blueberry bushes there and in September, Robert and Bethany and the kids and I picked a bunch right there.

Our first hike was up through the frozen blueberries. There was no snow and we stopped to eat several times, but made the summit, enjoyed the view for a few minutes, and came down again. The trip up was about 30 or 40 minutes and down was about 15.

The next hike was in November and it was getting dark by then. We were hiking on a snowy evening in the dark. Headlamps are useful, but everything is white and the reflected light from the city and the sky makes it reasonably well lit even without. The night was beautiful and it was ghostly beautiful with the snow and the clouds and the fog and the light. Two adults and three young men made the ascent that evening. We adults were fortunate that the young men are patient with us. The lights of Eagle River and Anchorage make a beautiful sight from half-way up the mountain.




In December, we had a hard time finding the right day, but finally did on the 30th. Actually, only one young man was available, but Nathan and I were undaunted and Nathan on snowshoes and me with my crampons slogged our way up through snow that was hip-deep in places. It was really cold, like 15 degrees below zero, and my toes got pretty cold.

Nathan and I soldiered on through often hip-deep snow and not only were my toes cold, but I was getting a bit tired so I suggested to Nathan that perhaps we should consider turning around. He then uttered those immortal words, "Bishop, I didn't come this far to turn around half-way to the top." Totally humiliated, I kept climbing for another half hour, but it was by then getting late and my toes were really cold. I prevailed on his better judgment and he saw the wisdom of not having to carry me down, so we turned around and came home.

February's climb followed a thaw and a freeze so the surface was crusty and crampons seemed right for two of us, the other two choosing just boots with ice axes. The summit was breathtaking and the whole trip took about two and a half hours, and sliding down was a carnival ride. Unfortunately I forgot my camera.

The March climb with the boys hasn't happened yet, but my son, Robert, and I decided to give it a go last Saturday. We donned our crampons and after trudging through the soft snow through the woods, we came out on the sunny, crusty south-west face and crunched our way to the top where we spend some time admiring the view and refastening the crampons which had had some problems staying on. Retying crampons in foot deep snow with icy fingers isn't much fun. Anyway, from the top I could hear a far-away voice and when I looked down toward the house, I could just make out a pink object on the front porch. I called Beverly on the cell and sure enough, she had seen us and wanted us to know it. From the top the house is due south and here is a close up of it from there.


These other three pictures are to the north of Blacktail ridge.....



And to the west of Eagle River and the Knik arm of Cook Inlet. We made the trip down in short order using ice axes to self-arrest and control our slide. The year isn't over and the differences on each climb are interesting. It is sometimes difficult to predict what the proper gear is, but we have found on each occasion that it is way too easy to overdress as climbing straight up is a workout.

Grid Coordinates for our home are :
61°19'54.39"N 149°30'1.88"W

Grid Coordinates for the top of Mt. Baldy are:
61°20'9.53"N 149°29'34.81"W

If you paste these coordinates in to the Google Earth search bar, it will take you right there.