Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Iron Mtn., Baldy Village church, Whitney comparison

I was wondering what you Southern California hikers think of the following comparison:

Which hike of these did you think was the most strenuous?

Mt. Whitney, Iron Mountain or Mt. Badly via the Village Church way.

Whitney is 6,200 elevation gain, the other two hikes are 6,000 elevation gain. I've done all three and think Iron Mtn. is the most strenuous. I'd be interested to hear other opinions.

Scotty:

I would rank the hikes in this order, from toughest to "easiest:"

1. Iron Mountain
2. Baldy Church village way
3. Whitney
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I am assuming that the person doing the hike has no altitude-related problem, then Whitney obviously becomes problematic. Just in terms of mental fatique, Iron Mtn. and Baldy via the church are absolute killers. Whitney is, in my opinion, a walk in the park compared to Iron (brutal!) mountain and Baldy via church way. I couldn't imagine doing the Baldy church way in the summer heat, either. I've only done it in October and that was vicious enough.

I agree with the ranking Candace posted. In my Southern California, experience, starting from the hardest, I vote:

1. Cactus to Clouds (Mt. San Jacinto from downtown Palm Springs)
2. 9 Peaks (Momyer - Vivian Creek route)
3. Iron Mountain
4. Mt. San Antonio from Baldy Village
5. Mt. Whitney (ok, it's in Central Califirnia and there are plenty of harder hikes there)

My ranking of 1 and 2 might vary depending on which one I did last.

Two I have not done but am considering:

One can do Iron Mountain and follow San Antonio Ridge over to West San Antonio, San Antonio, and descend to Baldy Village.

There is a challenging Mt. San Antonio route that originates outside of Wrightwood. I'll probably give it a try this year sometime.

I have done Cactus to Clouds, Iron Mountain, and Baldy Village in late June - July. Candace is right about the heat. On Iron Mountain in July, my son and I drank 8 liters of water and would have consumed more had we carried it. You work up a sweat!

where can I get info on Iron Mtn?? I searched the web and find no info....

Try this...

http://www.summitpost.com/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/964

Also <a href="http://angeles.sierraclub.org/hps/guides/15d.htm">http://angeles.sierraclub.org/hps/guides/15d.htm</a>

AlanK,
Yes, I agree- Cactus to Clouds is even tougher than Iron Mountain. Had Scotty put that hike in the mix, it would definitely be ranked numero uno in toughness. There's something about Iron Mountain which is just mentally debilitating, for lack of a better word. It's one of the few hikes I've done where my legs go numb after awhile, so I walk for miles without even feeling them. Maybe that's a blessing considering the difficulty of this hike!

Honestly, Mt. Whitney is far and away easier than any of these other hikes we've been discussing.

"There is a challenging Mt. San Antonio route that originates outside of Wrightwood."

This is the Blue Ridge route, which is impossible to do now because the Forest Service still has the Guffy campground road closed (at least it was 2 weeks ago). I think the winter conditions would still make Blue Ridge to Baldy impossible, especially since there was new snow on Saturday.

AlanK, I hope you do try this, but I am positive you'll find it easier than the other tough hikes in this thread. It's not nearly as difficult as the Village Church way, and not as exposed. The main problem with the Blue Ridge trail is: the trailhead is difficult to find without assistance, even with a map it's hard to pick up. The route also has several very dicey backbone areas with sheer drop offs on both sides and the path narrows down to about 12 inches in spots, much more so than the traditional backbone way to Baldy by the ski lifts. It's a beautiful hike and seldom done, I've only encountered a few people the 6 times I've done it.

But in terms of sheer difficulty, it's not in the same difficulty league as Iron Mtn., Cactus-Clouds or Village Church.

More Iron Mountain links:

http://www.digitaldrifter.org/sierra/iron/iron02.htm
http://www.dankat.com/advents/ironmt.htm

Plus a sad story about an attempt to traverse up to Mt. San Antonio:
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~rbell/ironmtn.htm

Finally, try this one, with some nice photos:
http://www.chayden.net/Iron/Iron.html

Candance,
The Blue Ridge route is possible now if you start from Wrightwood and go up the Acorn Trail. This is the only way this becomes anything like a full Whitney effort, IMO. I can RT Baldy from Guffy in less than 4 hours via the backbone and less than 6 hours from Wrightwood.

Regarding Iron Mt. I have done it several times but for comparison to Whitney I think the only way it becomes tougher is as a traverse including Baldy. Granted I'm using time to compare difficulty in these cases. I can RT Iron from Heaton in less than 6 hours. When I did the traverse it was in November and the snow level was at about 8500'. Starting at Manker Flats we went up Baldy and traversed to Iron reaching it in 6 hours. We shuffle ran down to Heaton in another 2:25 for a total of 8:25. This trip was done with a fellow ultra runnner so we didn't lolly gag along the way. No other running was used in any of these other time comparisons. Whitney is normally a 6-7 hour trip for me via either the main trail or MR.

Scott M. -- We should all make it clear that the relative difficulty of various hikes is a subjective matter. Whitney takes somewhat longer than Iron -- I give Iron the nod because of the overall elevation gain (significantly more than the net top - bottom difference) and the steepness of the last 3 miles going up. Actually, the worst part for my aging legs is those same 3 miles going down!

Gotta get around to that traverse sometime. Maybe when my son is old enough to drive -- right now, he's too young for car relays. I think we will try the Wrightwood route this year sometime.

Yes. All of this is very subjective. One of my trips up Iron was particularly hideous on a hot and smoggy day. The overall feeling on that day did not compare favorably to one that took place on a nice cool day. Same route, trail, and mountain but the heat and air quality made it seem like a more difficult task.

I'm looking for some good So Cal climbs. Just curious how Iron Mountain and Baldy via the church compare with Mt. Williamson via the Shepherd Pass trail. I've done the latter, but not the first two. Anyone done all of them and can give me comparison?

Thomas

Thomas,
I think the trip to Shep Pass and back in a day, without Williamson, is more of a challenge than either of the two day hikes mentioned.

I have not done Mt. Williamson at this point, but have looked into it. I understand that one has to cover over 8000' (net -- the total elevation gained in the course of the trip is a fair bit larger) and the total distance is around 27 miles. My son and I did a version of the 9 Peaks hike in the San Gorgonio Wilderness last summer. The didtance was a bit over 27 miles and the total elevation gained was around 9000', with the highest point at 11500'. The Williamson trip sounds harder, if fof no other reason than the higher altitude.

Comparing to other tough Southern California day hikes, 9 Peaks is up there with Cactus to Clouds and harder than Baldy via the village or Iron Mountain (without the Baldy traverse).

I would be interested in hearing more about Williamson from people who have been there. Of course, there are some nice reports out there on the Web.

Alan,
You get to enjoy roughly 7k' of climbing just to get from the trailhead to the pass on this one. There is a nasty (especially on the way back) little 500' loss/gain section along the way. You still have another 2325' or so to the top of Williamson from the pass and that is elevation gain straight off the map with no accounting for any minor loss/gain error.

Scott -- I had not seen your 7:40 AM post when I posted this morning, but I would not argue with your statement "the trip to Shep Pass and back in a day, without Williamson, is more of a challenge than either of the two day hikes mentioned."

This is a great thread!

Ive done Thunderbolt as a day hike in October, starting in the dark and exiting in the dark. which brings up a question for Bob R. My brother and I are going to start planning a trip for next summer to bag Williamson and Tyndal. We dont want to attempt these peaks as day hikes. We think its realistic for us to complete our quest in 3 or 4 days. Could we hike to a central camp location on day 1, then bag Williamson and Tyndal, one peak per day on days 2 & 3, then return to our vehicle on day 3 or spend one more night and exit on day 4? What location could we camp at and be within approximately equal reach of both peaks?

I have a second question regarding Baldy for Scotty, Candace or AlanK. I have done Baldy from the ski area a couple of times and now we want to get some better training for our upcoming Sierra trips. What are the directions to the trailhead for Baldy via the Village? Is this the route that is referred to as starting at the church?

Thanks, -Rick

In regards to Alank's previous post about the San Antonio ridge from Iron to baldy and then down to the village, has anyone done this before? I'm thinking of giving it a try, What I am really curious about is trail conditions between Iron Mtn and West Baldy, from what I understand there's not much of a trail.