Alpine Scramble - Old Baldy Mountain

Led for mountaineers on a beautiful sunny day. No running water after the trail turn off

Started at the lower then off ( as there were signs of no trespassing). Glad there was no logging on the weekend. The turn off has enough place for 4-5 cars along the road

We walked the road for about a mile till we broke off trail, the first 400-500 feet off trail is actually through trees, but steep. Glad the slide alder was not blooming yet. The snow in these sections might have melted recently allowing for good purchase when kicking steps, as the dirt was still wet

From there, we traverse to another ridge, the vegetation gets thicker, but only about 300-400 feet. If you stay on the ridge, there is some respite. Lots of broken trees and fallen ones, we thought either wind or avalanches

From there we enter a Tallus field, we opted to get into snow as early as possible and avoid all the cornices. So we stayed the contour line and got to a spot, where we saw no cornices above us and aimed for the ridge

The final summit ridge, is narrow and has mini cornices, with avy debris on the norther slopes as well. But enough space to rug between trees and the ridge

Downhill was uneventful. Glad to run into Liana and Dennis on our way down, as they were heading up

Pictures can be found here https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMXMjpHYnddDaIdZe0ZTHCxdJUae5kJbPOzGHFnk3LxF2SRVBRJBEOyYkr8JlEc-w

(Since its annoying to post pictures on trip report on the site)