Quick Stats: 13.0 Miles & 4,810′ gain over 3 summits starting from Ice House Canyon.
At the last minute, Jaskiran and I decided we wanted to go on a day trip somewhere local, but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. Not long before bed, we were texting back and forth different ideas, and as I was going to sleep we settled on Ontario Peak via Bighorn Peak. The plan was set, but I didn’t put much thought into how intense this adventure would be.
With an alpine start from Ice House Canyon, we made our way up the trail that was completely dry until Ice House Saddle. It was now officially spring, but we were on a mission to try and squeeze as much out of the winter climbing season as we could; so we strapped on our crampons, grabbed our ice axes, and went up the north facing slope from the saddle toward the summit of Bighorn Peak. The snow quality wasn’t fantastic, but at this point in the day it wasn’t too bad either. Not long thereafter, we reached out first summit of the day: Bighorn Peak!
From there, we weren’t sure if we should try and drop down to find the trail (if it had been kicked in), or if we should just follow the ridge from Bighorn to Ontario Peak. When we got down from Bighorn Peak to the west, we saw no signs of the trail in the snow, so decided that the shortest distance two points is a straight line, and made our way toward Ontario Peak.
Ridgeline scrambles are my favorite thing, and a very close second is anything that travels along a ridge. The views are stunning, there’s usually some level of exposure, and it just kind of feels like you’re on the summit for the whole adventure. While it was mostly snow climbing with a little hiking, taking the ridge directly from Bighorn Peak to Ontario Peak was an absolute delight.
After a while we finally made it to the summit of Ontario Peak, where we got to relax and enjoy our snacks / lunch. We were facing north, staring directly at Mount Baldy and lamenting at how bare the slopes of the Baldy Bowl were.
It wasn’t long ago that we had gone up multiple lines in that bowl, and had an absolute blast doing it. Now it was done for the season, and we had to seek out adventure elsewhere.
Making our way back to Ice House Saddle was less than fun; or rather, a whole lot of type-2 fun. The snow had been baking for a while, and the unseasonably high temps meant the snow quality had plummeted fast. We were losing traction, post-holing, and having trouble retracing our steps at times. We were hoping that the return trip would give us a better view of a kicked in trail somewhere, but ultimately decided that following the ridge and doing a double traverse of Bighorn Peak was going to be the best possible course of action.
When we made it to the summit a second time that day, we literally paused for a single photo before continuing on since we were racing against the clock: we both had places to be and this adventure was very ambitious; and the snow quality was getting even worse. That north facing slope leading to Bighorn Peak that had held up so well on the ascent was now mush, and we found ourselves post-holing up to our hips on the way down. Arriving at Ice House Canyon Trailhead an hour later than we anticipated, we said our goodbyes and were looking forward to seeing each other again next week for our first overnight trip together! More to come! 🙂