North Face

Starts in Fish Fork at about 7500' at the base of the main gully coming directly off the North/Northwest face of Baldy summit.

The crux starts at about 8300' in the bottleneck couloir. This is a narrow and steep 200' debris chute with waterfalls and a jumble of snow and ice bridges. Hug the rocks on the left and climb up mixed ice, rock, and snow to avoid falling through into the waterfalls. Some dry tooling may be necessary. You pop out the top of the chute at about 8500'.

Now you are looking up at the beautiful massive arena that is the the north face. Head southeast directly toward the summit. A small tree on a broad rock rib marks your direction. Once on the rib the slope steepens. Stay to the right to top out directly on the summit.

Approach either from Manker Flat, over Harwood saddle, across the Northeast face to Dawson Saddle and drop into Fish Fork from there. Descend via the bowl or ski hut trail...

Or, like we did, the longer and less populated approach from Wrightwood. We call it the San Tony Classic. Take the Acorn Trail in Wrightwood, to the Blue Ridge headed east-southeast. Drop into the North Backbone trail from the south side of Wright Mountain. Climb Pine and then down to Pine saddle. Taverse across to Dawson's southwest ridge and follow that down to a prominent rock overlooking Fish Fork. Take the gully on skier's left down to Fish Fork. About 1/3 mile down creek is the start of the climb. Descend via North Backbone or, like we did, take the San Antonio Ridge Traverse to Iron and hike down to Heaton Flat (keep in mind, to do this is over 20 miles one way, class 3-4 moves on an exposed ridge, a 7.5 mile 6000' descent from Iron, and requires a shuttle at Heaton. Overall: 8,178' of gain, 12,496' of loss, 20.5 miles)

TR here:

sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.…

Full San Tony Classic route:

San Tony Classic. Wrightwood - Pine - Baldy NF - SART - Iron - Heaton

Not necessary. Axe, helmet, crampons. Bring a light rope and pickets depending on conditions, maybe some screws if the chute is icy.