Two years ago when I first started hiking and exploring I attempted Mt Baldy only to be turned away by various reasons and conditions. So this was my revenge.
Nestled directly behind the rainbow range in between other classic (but rarely climbed) peaks like Beartooth and Slide mountain, Mt baldy towers over Powell Lake.
Matteo, Felix, and I started our hike from Dianne Main - a deactivated FSR 15mins past climbers camp in the Eldred valley. We parked at the river crossing and begun shwacking our way up the old road. Nearly 1.5 hours later we reached a patch of old growth that would lend us easy passage into the forest. For the next few hours we trended left in the steep woods navigating several cliff bands as they came until we crested a col in the sub alpine. From here we bushwhacked up and over 3 insignificant bumps along the ridge and dropped into a bowl just Northeast of Baldys east ridge. We then got very lucky here and ran into two mountain goats very close to us. After a quick photoshoot with the goats. We crested the ridge at the first chance we could and started walking towards the peak. We shortly gained the false summit without much difficulty and headed for the summit. After the false summit, we slid down a scree ramp and crossed a heather ledge which led to an easy scramble to the summit. The day was clear and the views were sublime, we could even see Waddington!!! After a long lunch break we reversed everything we did until we got to the forest. We took a higher line trending left up and over all the cliff bands which saved us lots of time. We made it back to the car in just under 13 hours. Great day out.
