Skiing and outdoor adventures have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Growing up on a small lake on the east coast meant tons of winter ice skating and sledding, with weekend trips to our local Jersey ski resort for good measure. Since then I’ve slowly ventured into skiing and hiking bigger and bigger mountains, gaining a taste for more ambitious adventures. Now that I have a full time job, I have the money & desire to tackle some bigger challenges while having a blast skiing. This is also the purpose of the blog I’m writing now: to bring life to a journey of experiences in the mountains as I develop with them.
So why ski mountaineering? From my perspective, this is one of the most exciting ways to elevate my love of resort skiing, while challenging myself to learn new skills, improve my physical fitness, and find others who share my passions. I’ve also been inspired by the incredible feats of ski mountaineers in the modern ski touring & cinematic era that people like Nicolai Schirmer, Cody Townsend, and many others have defined. Schirmer is the king of steep, fast, and technical ski mountaineering in the northern Norwegian fjorns and documents his adventures on a staggeringly high cadence on youtube. Townsend has a similarly impressive resume of skiing & mix of online content, but with an incredibly ambitious goal of completing the “50 Classic Ski Descents of North America”. This list defines fifty inspirational and daunting ski descents ranging from straightforward couloirs in California to seldom achieved expeditions to the tallest peaks in Canada & Alaska. The idea of combining challenging mountain ascents with the reward of epic ski descents is incredibly motivating and will hopefully provide me a life long journey with some cool people at my side.
Round 1 – Scouting Mission
This past spring was the start of my journey into the winter backcountry. I took an AIARE Level 1 course and toured a few times into simple terrain in the Wasatch range of Utah. However the first real trial run begun with Mt. San Antonio (aka. Mt. Baldy) in the Angeles National Forest of Southern California, a lot closer to my LA homebase. It’s a fairly straightforward hike, starting with a ~3 mile trail of switchbacks from Mt. Blady village to a small ski hut at the base of a headwall 800 vertical feet from the summit. On April 13th, 2024, my roommates and I set out on a ‘scouting mission’ to first summit the peak and then learn more about the potential to ski some of the fantastic couloirs within Baldy’s headwall. Slight wind & rain was predicted on that Saturday morning as we left the Redondo Beach house at 4 o’clock in the morning. The alpine start kept us crossing fingers for a better outlook and as the morning’s first light appeared on the slopes above it was clear that we’d lucked out with pristine clear conditions.
While we took in the view, I quickly realized I was out of shape for a long approach with a moderately heavy pack for the day. Putting one foot in front of the other, we managed to make it to the ski hut by a quarter past 7. This gave us time to scope out the headwall ascent in more detail as we transitioned into crampons and took out our ice axes for their inaugural use. We eventually chose to climb up “Dosie’s Dare”, the Southmost couloir of the headwall. Slight southwest winds and a few hours of spring warming made for a daunting ascent, as small instances of rockfall plagued the climb. The three of us made sure to avoid the main rockfall trajectory, consistently scan for debris, and remind ourselves to avoid warming for successive attempts. Eventually we made it up the couloir, feeling tired but ready for the remaining few hundred feet to the summit. At this point I was exhausted and making slow steps, but still managed to make it to the peak about a minute or two behind my friends. The view was spectacular and presented a ~270 deg view of a sea of clouds in the valley below. After a brief pause, we glissaded our way down soft wet snow and down to the trailhead by about 1:30 in the afternoon. I was completely wiped out and found myself with a new appreciation for more demanding ascents of the mountaineers I find inspiring. Regardless, the adventure of the day was worth every step and had us itching for a repeat with skis.
Round 2 – Chute Skiing
Exactly one week later, we set off for a repeat ascent of Mt. Baldy’s headwall. This time Trevor and I packed an alpine ski kit, marking Trevor’s first time in the backcountry on skis and my 4th. Starting off at the trailhead I was nervous for my physical fitness while my pack was probably 15 pounds heavier than our previous journey. But in the week leading up to this hike, I did significantly more preparation in the gym (last time it was close to zero to be fair). Getting to the ski hut took a while, but the views of the San Bernadino valley with a repeat cloud layer inversion were fantastic. Shortly after the first light hit the top of the Baldy headwall and we swiftly made it to the ski hut at around 7:30 in the morning.
Matt and Trevor aimed to climb the Girly Man couloir, a narrow and steep classic of the headwall that made the most direct passage to the ridgeline marking our summit for the day. I was the only one in the group to have alpine touring bindings, so I took a stab at skinning up the larger open bowl to the left of the rocky headwall. While making some switchbacks up the slope, I was accompanied by a group of three slowly hiking with crampons and axes. While otherwise unnoteworthy, this was probably a signal I should have been booting along with them. Following some more sketchy kick turns and a near fall, I made my way over to a tree and transitioned into crampons. After another 30 mins and many groups passed, I made my way up to a larger triangular rock on the ridgeline where my group was waiting. Trevor and Matt had successfully climbed the couloir and seemed to have a blast doing so. Looking down the slope was quite intimidating, but it was also not on the table for a ski descent given its rock filled crux.
Following some hydration and calories, we were ready to make our ski descent and I was particularly stoked for it. The chosen line was called the Hourglass Chute (also called the Shit Chute) and was one over from the Girly Man ascended by Matt and Trevor. Ironically, Matt did not pack his snowboard and Trevor was an intermediate skier. While Trevor opted for the more mellow bowl I had partially skinned, I was going solo down the chute. Upon inspection, the upper snowfield was near perfect: prime corn snow, untouched, and a 40 ish degree slope. The first 10 turns were awesome and it was clear this chute was the perfect selection for the day. I was pumped with adrenaline as I approached the crux at the bottom of the snowfield and the center of the hourglass. At this point, the lactic acid in my legs from the vertical experienced throughout the day had fully caught up to me. Not wanting to risk any falls, I made a few careful hop turns and side steps through the narrow and steep choke. Soon after I was nested on a safe perch immediately after and decided to take a brief break. After that point was a short runout and right turn into the longer bowl apron. Linking a few turns at a time, I made it down the slope feeling sore but full of excitement. The only hiccup was some rockfall behind me that motivated my quick descent to a break point in the rocks below. While I waited for Matt and Trevor, I realized that I skipped my meeting spot (a small bush at the chute exit) and caused them a brief panic before we finally met up at the ski hut. Trevor had his own descent adventure while navigating his first backcountry ski down the Baldy bowl. He took a single tumble, but otherwise made some good turns visible from Matt & I at the exit. Matt on the other hand repeated our glissading adventure from the week prior.
The ski hut post descent was a great time for a break and chat with other skiers as our stoke was still high from the riskiest part of the day. We packed up after another refuel and headed down the ~2.5 mile descent feeling great but sore. The car felt incredibly far away and I was particularly slow moving and tired as I made the final few steps. Despite the soreness, I was incredible happy with our two part quest to ski the headwall. Both ascents felt like exactly the right difficulty to test our endurance and technical skills while navigating the ski mountaineering landscape. Onto the next trip!
Some bonus footage!
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