CA: Mt. Baldy

[Sean Clancy]

FKT for Baldy (Mt. San Antonio, 10,800)?

Of course there are a few routes, but from the red restaurant parking lot to summit?

Round trip?

[hilrnrbob]

Sean, You might check and see if you can still bring up the Baldy Peaks 50k website. The splits might give you an idea of the range. The race went from The Village to the top and then down to the park by the parking lot below the notch then back up via the trail that goes by the Sierra Club cabin. Then out to Thunder Moutain and then down. This was one of the best and for sure toughest ultras around and I don't know why they quit having it. Bob Moses

[Ze]

From the visitor's center front gate to summit (~ 6.5 miles, 5800 ft gain), I did it in 2:03. Someone could undoubtedly do it in 1:30 or less.

[Peter Bakwin]

Tony Krupicka just (Feb. 5) did the ascent in 1h37m22s, as posted on his blog:
antonkrupicka.blogspot.com/2012/02/week-summary-jan-30-feb-5.html

Here's the entry. Note that the 2h26m is RT time not including hanging around on the summit for a unspecified period of time. I.e., he ran up in 1h37m and down in 49m.

"Sun-AM: 2:26, 5800' ~ Mt. Baldy
Up and down Bear Canyon from Baldy Village (4300') with Dominic and Katie again. Started off slow and creaky, feeling yesterday's run a bit in the hip flexors and hamstrings. Just didn't have good pop or strength all day really. Eventually found a rhythm, though, and ground out this remarkably sustained, long climb. It's just a really good, direct line up the mountain; not a lot of messing around. Hit a 1:37:22 ascent from the Bear Cyn Drive/Baldy Village junction to the summit plaque (~6.4mi). Waited around for Dom, just enjoying the super clear day on the summit and then descended in :49. Again, really nicely-flowing singletrack with stunning views the whole way down. Awesome mountain. I've been really impressed with the 1010's performance this weekend, too, on mountain trails. Soaked in the frigid stream afterwards before some pretty stellar french toast at the Baldy Village Lodge."

[Anton Krupicka]

Just wanted to make a few comments about this run, mostly because I think it's a super-classic route that would be fun to make some serious attempts on.

-Last Sunday (2/5/2012) was my first time up the Bear Canyon trail and only my second time ever to the summit of Baldy (summited via the Ski Hut trail from Manker Flats back in December 2011 the other time).

-I started my watch at the green road signs for the intersection of Mt. Baldy Rd and Bear Canyon Drive. Basically, directly across the road from the Mt. Baldy Lodge. My 1:37:22 was the time from there to the summit plaque.

-This was an exceedingly casual effort. The day before on Mt. Wilson had been the first time in almost 12 months that I'd run continuously for 2h30 (due to injury) so I was understandably tired and tight for the run up Baldy. Started off really slow and mellow (no official pre-climb warm-up like I would do in a true FKT-effort) just easing into the day and the continuous 5800' of vertical and wasted at least a minute stashing my t-shirt along the trail in Bear Canyon (I was warm enough shirtless on the climb and just a light shell on the summit). The entire way I was at casual training pace effort because I didn't know the route and didn't want to blow-up or anything, plus I wasn't feeling particularly strong. Basically a scouting, baseline effort with very little focus on truly going hard (though I was definitely working). I would've gone harder if I'd felt better--I generally just had a tired/off day and wasn't climbing very well at all (relative to what I'm used to). I felt way stronger the day before on Mt. Wilson.

-Splits were 22:40 to the stream crossing at Bear Flats, ~:47 to the "twin" rocks just below gaining the ridge, 50:30 to the ridge at ~7400', 1:15:45 to the ridge crest at ~9200' or so (where the trail flattens out/rolls down onto the barren knife edge ridge of scree).

-This route is great: nice steep trail, steady ascent until ~9500' or so where it flattens out considerably for the last bit to the summit, great footing/tread almost the entire way, just a touch loose lower down when you first start climbing out of Bear Flats.

-Peter is right, I got to the summit, hit my watch, and then waited around for Dominic Grossman to summit ~27min later. We then took some pictures before descending. So I probably spent close to 40min with my watch stopped on the summit before descending in :49 back to the Mt. Baldy Lodge in Baldy Village where we'd started. That, too, was just normal training pace, not pushing, though I had decent energy on the downhill as compared to my low energy on the climb.

-I kinda hate idle speculation but with a fit, focused effort I think I could hit this in the 1:25-ish range up and close to sub-40 on the downhill (I took some pictures on the downhill). 2hr would probably be my holy grail on the roundtrip.

You SoCal mountain runners should all give this a shot! It's a great run!

[Brett Maune]

I had been itching to try and break the FKT (as far as is known on this site) for a couple months now but repeatedly kept postponing an attempt because of the weather. I was tired of canceling attempts and decided to do it this past Thursday even though there were forecasts for 30-35 mph wind gusts for the summit plateau. Surprisingly, the winds were nonexistent all day…

Based on recent training data and an analysis of the route I had a target time of 1:30, but this did not include any penalty for the altitude. I assumed such a penalty would not exceed five minutes and so thought I had a comfortable margin to break Anton’s time. I started running at 6:35AM from the street signs and ran at a steady pace and reached the creek at Bear Flats in 20:03, 3 seconds behind my projection. Then I was upon the beginning of the steep and relentless 4000 ft climb and was forced to power walk up the steep switchbacks. I didn’t remember the trail ever being so steep! I reached the saddle at ~7450 ft in 48:08, 2:08 behind the projections (though the projection assumed the saddle to be at 7400 ft). I did not expect to already be 2 minutes behind my target splits at this point. Two minutes was already a significant fraction of my 7 minute margin. This was a bad omen. I forged ahead up the second steep portion and eventually reached the upper ridge, but there was some ambiguity as to where Anton’s split was taken. I reached the point where the trail winds around to the SE facing side of the ridge at 1:13 but I think Anton’s split is taken a bit past this. Where the ridge levels off is somewhat ambiguous but my guess is that I reached it around 1:14-1:14:15. Using the latter times, I now had less than a 2 minute buffer left and I knew I was steadily losing ground. I expected Anton to have a relative advantage as I ascended due to the altitude and his better acclimatization, but I was hoping to avoid the situation in which I found myself. I was in serious jeopardy of falling behind during the final summit plateau segment and I knew every second would count. So I pushed as hard as I could all the way to the summit and hoped I could hang on long enough. I ran as much as I could but frequently had to power hike steeper sections. As I approached the saddle between Baldy and its sister summit to the SW I saw what I thought was the summit of Baldy and was delighted when I thought I would reach it in 1:34:xx. As I approached, however, the true summit came into view and I was horrified when I mentally estimated that it would take at least another two minutes to reach the summit. This is essentially the nightmare scenario for an FKT mountain ascent attempt--push hard all the way and get close to the summit with little margin for error, and at the very end be surprised by a false summit and come up just short. I had already been going quite hard ever since gaining the summit ridge and was in serious distress by this point, but I kicked it up another notch anyway. Even though I could see the end and the final approach to the summit was not that steep, I was not able to run the full stretch—such was the effect of the altitude. After about 15 seconds of walking I made a final surge towards the summit for the last minute or so. When I was about 10 steps away from the plaque I noticed blackness starting to form at the periphery of my vision. By the time I reached the plaque, the blackness spread inward and consumed most of my vision. Fortunately I could still see a small region around the center—wherever I focused--and so was able to read the time on the watch (1:36:44) before controllably collapsing on the ground. For me this was anything but an exceedingly casual effort. I gasped for what seemed like an eternity for air and eventually recovered. I lay on the ground for about three minutes before standing. I then consumed a gel and started walking from the summit after about a total time of 3:55. Since I nearly blacked-out, I was in no mood initially to run on the descent. After a couple minutes I began to jog and gradually picked up speed as I descended. I didn’t start bombing the descent until about halfway down. I had no specific goal for the descent or the roundtrip time but when I got to Bear Flats and checked my watch for the first time I was surprised to see that I was probably not going to break 2:30. I never thought doing sub 2:30 roundtrip was going to be a problem, but I didn’t expect the ascent to take as long as it did and I definitely didn’t expect to spend four minutes on the summit. Despite my best efforts I finished in 2:30:34.

Based on my training data and analysis of the route, I thought I had a comfortable margin but in the end only beat Anton’s time by 38 seconds. I’m glad he stopped to stash his t-shirt! I hope he will give it another shot and I hope to as well, but with more red blood cells.

Splits:
Bear Flat 20:03
Saddle at ~7450ft 48:08
Where trail wraps around SE side 1:13/where trail flattens out ~1:14-1:14:15
Summit 1:36:44
Roundtrip 2:30:34

[Andy Roth]

As a point of reference, it is worth noting that in the 1997 Baldy Peaks 50k, Gabriel Flores ran from the race's start (in Ice House Canyon) to the Notch, via Baldy Village, the Bear Canyon Trail and the Summit, in 2 hours 13 minutes. This was en route to his 5:36:22 course record:
www.run100s.com/results/bp97.txt

It is a bit more than a mile from Ice House to Baldy Village and approximately 3.2 miles from the summit down to the Notch. Quite possible that Gabe Flores (and Dan Meyers, who was close behind) covered the route under discussion here even faster than 1:36 -- bearing in mind, of course, that this was en route to a 50k finish that entailed a subsequent trip to the Baldy summit via the Sierra Club Hut.

A FKT is, of course, the fastest *known* time. It's a shame we don't have more specific splits for Flores' 1997 time from the base of Bear Canyon Drive to the summit of Baldy. Alternatively, it might be interesting for folks interested in an FKT on Baldy's classic West Ridge to try the route going from Ice House Canyon to the Notch. Any one having a crack at Gabe Flores' 2:13 mark would appreciate how fast he was running that day.

Andy Roth
Co-RD, Baldy Peaks 50k, 2001-2004

[Brett Maune]

I just learned of a phenomenal ascent time by a coworker who requested to remain anonymous. Apparently he did the ascent starting from the road in ~1:26! Personally I think this is a borderline legendary performance. I don’t know how feasible it is for someone to match this time without being near/at the top of some sport. The few [professional] athletes who could break this time would likely be famous for what they do. A bit more background I know is that my coworker was on the US national cycling team in the 80’s, though he did this run several years after that point in his life and ~20-25 years ago.

He also did the Iron Mountain ascent in ~1:36(!) (he’s less sure of that precise time), and started the clock at the parking lot (which would add ~3 min compared to starting it at the trail). This is arguably even more impressive than the Baldy time.

Lastly, although he never did the San Jacinto Skyline ascent, I can’t help but speculate that he would have done it sub 2:15 or possibly even 2:10 had he tried.

I wonder how many more fast/er/est Unknown times there are…

[Evan Hone]

I ran a 1:34:35 this morning from Baldy Village Road to the plaque at the summit. 

A couple weeks ago Chris Price and I went to the top in 1:46.  We started extremely slow and did not have any kind of time goals (the weather was also terrible). After our run it got me thinking that I should just take a shot at a fast time and see what happens.  I was confident I could run at least ten minutes faster than the 1:46.  I wanted to put a bit of pressure on myself so over the past two weeks I have been telling Price and Billy Yang that I was going to try to go under the current record. I have a busy schedule and a race next weekend so I decided today was the day.  Last night I googled a race pace calculator and saw that a 1:34 time is only 14 minute miles. I even texted Billy and told him about it (it was actually pretty hilarious that I ended up going 1:34!).  I also decided that I didn't want any weight for my attempt so I would not bring any fluids or food. I even wanted to start slightly dehydrated so I wouldn't have to stop and take 10 pee breaks like on all of my normal runs. My goal was to get to the top as fast as possible. 

I do not own a running type of watch (just a nice bussiness watch for work) so I borrowed my wife's pink Armitron and lined up in the dark and took off at 6:20 this morning. I know in AKs report above that he started super slow to loosen up. I shot out like a cannon. Looking back..I should have run a bit of a warm up before the start because I was hyperventilating within the first 200 yards.  It was actually embarrassing when I past a couple hikers about a mile in because I was breathing so stinking loud. Luckily, once I was past them I didnt see another soul until well into the descent. I hit the stream in under 19 minutes but was already feeling terrible. I had to start some hiking to get my breathing under control.  Anyways the rest of the climb all the way to the top was painful. I felt like I was going so slow and was actually feeling dumb that I had told Billy and Chris that I thought I could run under a 1:36. Half way up the mountain I was feeling so bad I was worried I wouldn't even break a 1:40.  I just wanted to sit down and it was frustrating that I was powerhiking very runnable terrain. 

I haven't run with a watch in a couple of years in any training runs or races and I hated the fact that I was wearing one.  I could not stop looking at it. It was playing with my mind because time was passing so quickly and I had so far to go. At around the 1:20 mark I mentally threw in the towel and eased up a bit and spent a couple of minutes feeling sorry for myself. Then at the 1:30 mark I realized I was actually almost finished!!  I was well under the 1:36 pace I was hoping for. I reached the summit in 1:34:35 and was pretty stoked. 

I ended up up just jogging on the descent. I even stopped to admire some sheep that were on the side of the trail. The entire round trip took 2:39 to get back down to the road (that included a couple minutes hangin out at the summit). I should of run the downhill much harder but I just didn't have any desire.

So anyways..I know this record is super soft and there are better climbers out there so I am not going to get too excited about this.  I am pretty confident that I can run closer to a 1:30 on fresher legs and once I have another month or two of consistent training under my belt.  I took a lot of time off of running this past fall and I am now just starting to feel like I am starting to get into shape.  Also, now that Timmy Olsen lives here I bet the record will be well under 1:30 by summertime. I am pretty sure with a nice attempt Price would take a couple minutes off of my time too. It will be fun for all of us to see how low we can get our times. 

[Rutger Brouwer]

As a flatlander on vacation in the U.S.A. i wanted to run the course from the lodge to the summit. Being from the Netherlands makes me not used to the elevation. Back home i am always looking for places where i can find as much inclination as i can. Thursday january 30th would be the day. It started of as a beautiful morning with Sunshine and mild temperatures. I ran up the hill to the water tower and was enjoying. I reached bear flat in 23.36 and was doing very well. as i got higher it got colder and since i was wearing just a shirt and shorts it started to become a little unpleasant. i rwached the vertical k mark in 1.05. By then it had gotten really cold with a strong and cold wind but i wanted to reach the summit really bad. after an hour and a half my fingers were swolen and numb my arms and legs were red. I started to think if it had been such a good idea. I went on still wanting to reach the summit. eventualy i reached the summit in 2.10.11 and made a picture of the plaque. It was an emotional experience for me. On my way down wanting to get to warmer and less windy places i took a wrong turn and spent an extra 3 miles out there. But it didn't matter. I made it ot the summit.

[Evan Hone]

I went out last Tuesday May 6th and lowered my time down to 1:32:52. Timmy Olsen had been taking quite a few attempts at the FKT over the last 2 months and lowered my time down to a 1:33:44 around 2 weeks ago. I have spent time on the mountain with him and know he is a super strong climber and just a flat out amazing runner. I was excited that he finally broke it because I have been patiently waiting for someone to bring down my time so I could get the motivation needed to go all out and see how low I could get.



Over the last few months I have been averaging consistent 30k gain weeks and I knew I was in much better shape than the last time I did the 1:34. I was hoping to possibly be able to crack the 1:30 barrier but I didn't even come close. I live in Thousand Oaks and I am a pure sea level guy (no altitude tents or anything like that) so I have a super hard time moving fast the higher I go up. I am starting to think that a sub 1:30 is not in the cards for me. I might give it another attempt later this summer if I feel like I keep progressing with my climbing. These attempts just hurt so dang bad.

[A. Oph]

Hey - I am curios about the FKT on baldy from Manker Flats up the Ski Route to the Summit and down?  I ran from Manker to the Top Via Ski Hut in 1:30 and have the 7th best time on the Strava CR behind some very notable ultra-runners (including Dom).  I think that the current Strave CR is beatable but was hoping for info on that FKT before I make an attempt on the Strava CR.

Thanks!

[Chris Price]

Went up today, April 27th, in 1:31:03. Was pretty good weather for running except for the strong wind which hit once I got to the intersection where you can go left to West Baldy or Right to Baldy. Had to hike and get as low as I could the last little pitch before reaching the sign. Kind of an anticlimactic way to reach the top, oh well. I reached the halfway "V" rock at 42 minutes, so I decided I should probably try to break Hone's 1:32. Looking forward to trying to sneak under 1:30.