Home > Trip Reports > May 17, 2014, Mount Baldy, Tushar Range

May 17, 2014, Mount Baldy, Tushar Range

5/17/14
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Posted by jtrue on 5/19/14 2:15am
The plan had been to head to Jackson and ski the Grand this past weekend.  However, the weather didn't look like it would line up for a summit attempt.  We made a last minute decision and decided on the Tushars, outside of Beaver, UT.  The plan was to check out a gated road that led up to Big John's Flat, thinking it would be open.  No dice, gate was locked so we turned around and headed further up to Eagle Point ski resort.  The approach from the ski resort is 7 miles one way to the objective, Mount Baldy 12,090 ft.  We had read nohow's blog about a trip a couple weeks prior where he approached from the Manderville resevoir, but he scared us off when he mentioned that it was some of the worst bushwhacking he had ever done. 

We arrived at Eagle Point ski resort and threw down our sleeping pads to get some sleep.  Waking up around 6am we ate a quick breakfast then started skinning.  Skinning from Eagle Point, Baldy in the distance.  Lot's of brown between us and the objective.


After no more than a mile we realized this approach was going to suck, it was up and down across multiple drainages, linking iso-thermal snow patches.  We turned around and headed back to the car.  We didn't drive ~200 miles to get skunked, so we headed to the resevoir to test our luck.  We arrived to the main gate, which was closed due to some new road damage.  We would find out later that a small concrete bridge had partially collapsed.  It looked like there was another way in that should bypass the damage.  I have a Cherokee with a small lift and aggressive tires, glad I did, because the road in was pretty beat up, with climbs full of baby heads and slick downhills.  We slowly worked our way through the technical sections and arrived at the fork that would bring us to the reservoir, whew!

Walking on dirt


Making progress above the reservoir


Mark a little further up


After ascending on dirt we finally hit the mellow ridge and started skinning, N face of Mount Baldy in the distance


Tossing the choss that was previously a handhold on the scramble up to the summit ridge


Booting up the ridge


Dropping!


Mark making some turns through avi chunder


Farming down low


Tracks


Now for the hike out


Fun day in the moutains, exploring new terrain
Yeaaaah J!

That's some obscure stuff. Cool adventure.

You Utah guys get away with the tiniest of packs!
I didn't know there was a 12'ers in Utah outside the Uintahs and La Sals.

Thanks Drew, snow wasn't great, but it was an adventure for sure.  Looks like you've been getting after it out in the PNW.  Still haven't made it out that way somehow.  Hopefully hit Rainier later this summer.

Jonn-E 3 peaks over 12 in the Tushars, formed by volcanic activity.  Would be cool to do some mid-winter descents on a stable year, but access is tough.

Tough access is pretty common up here in the PNW; seems like an overnight from the ski area or a sled to the res could open up the goods in the winter.

Thanks for posting stuff from Utah BTW. This website wasn't intended to be PNW-specific but somehow it ended up being that way; it's refreshing to see people get after it in other states after the lifts stop spinning.

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may-17-2014-mount-baldy-tushar-range
jtrue
2014-05-19 09:15:34