[ozzy]

Well the plan was to go into work friday to get some needed overtime... That plan fell to sh## after i saw the weather forecast for friday lol! Sorry boss headin to the hills! I had scoped out Tyler and Baldy the weekend prior on Mt Towsend, never saw them before and they looked pretty sweet. I could tell there wasn't too much snow and figured conditions would be similar.( nice crustier snow, no post holing) I got a buddy(Bryan) to tag along as well. We hit the trailhead around 0830 at the end of the little spur road #120(as labeled on maps), right before the dungeness trails. This trail/climbers path gains the elevation rather quickly to put it lightly! Right away you hit a patch of the forest that reminds me of a hobbit land, lol. The trees almost seem like the tops were knocked off or maybe some kind of stunted growth. There was moss hangin off of all vegetation. It was pretty awesome. We made good time to the alpine where the forest ends in 1hr. At that point around 5400ft we ventured off trail NNE on steep slopes to gain the ridge that grants passage to Tyler. All the snow up to Tyler was easily avoidable. I was amazed by the little plateau area once you gain the ridge to Tyler! What cool little place. We lounged on Tyler summit for an hour takin in the views!!

In the hobbit forest

comin up outta the forest, Pk B in the distance

Tyler coming into view

dungie valley from Tyler summit

royal basin group, greywolf, etc.. from Tyler

cheers

We decided to hit Pk B on the way to Baldy. On the way towards the peak its east ridge looked kind of gnarly, i almost had some doubt. The closer we got the better it looked, we took the east ridge the whole way up ducking on the left/right sides when necessary. There were a few class 3 sections and we were soon on top of Pk B.

Pk B right, Baldy in back

Good day to be alive

Bryan loungin on northside of Pk B

Bryan with Tyler engulfed in clouds

Pk B on descent route

We went down the opposite side and found a nice ledge system down to the saddle that we would follow all the way to Baldy. Once down to the saddle we ran into a solo hiker, a hardened 74yr old mountainman that went by the name of Steve! Steve was out for a training/dayhike(with a 40lb pack) up Baldy! We walked with him until the snow started on the ridge leading to pt6537. At this point Steve put snowshoes on and smoked us the whole way up to Baldy! I would like to think that if we had snowshoes we might have been able to keep up lmao!! The only snow we encountered the whole day was on the ridge up to pt6537 and a little stretch 200yds or so on the backside. The snow was somewhat postholy in places but now there is a nice bootpack lol! The views of Royal Basin from this area are top notch! We sat in bewilderment for a better part of the day enjoying our time up there! We hit the Baldy summit about 15mins after Steve. Steve you're an animal, cheers to you sir! We sat on Baldy admiring the views of Royal Basin and Greywolf. Steve beat us down of course, what a sweet day!! Cheers friends!

Pk B to Tyler

ridge up pt6537

Byan

Steve puttin in work

Bryan climbin up

greywolf and royal basin

way back down

[awilsondc]

Life goals: Be like Steve! Love that shot of Steve hiking up the serrated corniced ridge. Nice trip. Good memories of that one. Keep on killin' it!

[Jake Robinson]

Yeah, love that area! Thanks for the conditions update

[raising3hikers]

Thanks for the conditions update, glad your buddy Jim was on the trip.

[RodF]

Thanks for sharing your views, ozzy!

[Hiking addict]

I am moving to North Carolina in June, and I want to do one last hike in early may that includes views but doesn't involve post-holing in any snow. Do you think Tyler Peak is a good choice?

[ozzy]