GR380492

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GR380492*

Trip No. 124

Elevation
2336m

Height Gain
942m

Distance (one-way)

6.4km to summit via Baldy Pass

11.3km for loop

Time to Reach Summit
2.0 - 3.5 hours

Degree of Difficulty
1.5 of 5

Scenery
3 of 5

Date of Most-recent Ascent
June 14, 2003

Download GPS Track

Park at the Baldy Pass parking lot just south of Barrier Lake (GPS reference 50d59m23s N, 115d04m31s W). Cross the road to the trail head on the east side of the highway. Note that the trail up to Baldy Pass is popular with mountain bikers, so you should keep an eye out for them as the trail is too narrow to accommodate both riders and hikers.

The trail enters light forest a couple of hundred meters and turns south. Keep straight until you arrive at an intersection (GPS reference 50d59m01s N, 115d04m10s W). It's a brisk 10 minute walk to this point. There is a fluorescent-orange marker further down the trail on the left. Follow this narrow road, which soon degrades to trail as it makes its way up the left bank of a rocky creek bed. The going is easy as the pitch is almost flat along this section.

40 minutes into the hike the trail crosses the creek bed and re-enters forest. Things get a little steeper from here on. The path is clear and as you climb through diminishing cover you should be able to pick out on your left a few of the summits and connecting ridges on Mt. Baldy.

No Nonsense Approach
Turn right once you get to Baldy Pass (GPS reference 50d59m19s N, 115d01m48s W). A well-worn trail wanders up easy slopes for the first few hundred meters. When the trail sneaks left around the ridge leave the path and strike up grassy slopes. There are no trails here so just take the most obvious line. Keep right of a large rubbly patch and pick your way through a short band of trees.

Once you exit treeline the summit is in sight some 150m above. No false summits here - what you see is what you get. The angle is not too demanding, and if not for the loose footing I would have classified this trip a hike rather than a scramble. You can either keep left near the skyline ridge or angle way right. If you opt to go up the middle there are a few pitches of down-sloping slabs that you'll have to work your way through.

More Direct Approach
It is not necessary to go all the way to Baldy Pass before heading up the mountain. Some 10 minutes before reaching the Pass a rocky, semi-overgrown drainage (dry) intersects the trail from the right (GPS reference 50d59m21s N, 115d02m08s W). You can also use this as an alternate return route to reduce some distance. If you look over to your left you are almost even with an orange-brown patch of rubble that covers the middle slopes on Mt. Baldy's south outlier. Head up this gully on the left bank. A faint trail will emerge as you exit treeline. Beyond this point the way to the summit is obvious. About half-way up a headwall requires some easy scrambling. If you prefer you can bypass this entirely by groveling up slopes on the left.

The scenery at the summit (GPS reference 50d58m46s N, 115d02m01s W) is a pleasant surprise for a Front Range mountain. As you top out the first sight you get is Mt. Bryant and Mt. McDougall rising in the distance above Wasootch Ridge. Behind you to the north is Mt. Baldy and a number of its outlier peaks. Yamnuska and Mt. Fable can be recognized in the distance. To the west, above the ski runs of Nakiska is Mt. Allan, backdropped by the 4 peaks of Mt. Lougheed. To its left is Sparrowhawk, then Ribbon Pk. Further south, check out the familiar Bart's Head profile of Fortress Mt.

*GR numbers are references used in topographic maps. The six-digit designation is split into two pairs of three: The first trio of digits reference the vertical (N-S) grid lines while the last 3 digits reference the horizontal (W-E) grid lines. For each 3 digit set the first two numbers are whole numbers, while the last digit is a decimal place number. For the peak named here, GR153311 can be found between the 15 and 16 vertical grid lines and 31 and 32 horizontal grid lines (see below). The object 'B' would have a reference of GR157317.

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