Still pretty new to mountaineering, I jumped all over an opportunity to get more crampon experience from a Spring ascent of White Baldy. This invite also allowed me to knock off another Wasatch 11er, so I was super stoked to do this! Our adventure started from the Silver Lake Trailhead above Tibble Fork.
The first 2 miles of this route follows the typical trail up from Silver Lake Flat to Silver Lake. Easy.
At the time, I was not aware that the route we would take was visible from the banks of Silver Lake. I later learned this route is known as the “Kirkham Route,” named after Kelly Kirkham, whom I’d just met earlier this month while climbing North Timp from Cold Fusion.
Another half mile up towards Silver Lake Glance is where we hung a left to catch Kirkham’s route.
It’s pretty clear to see the first “ramp” that continues up this route in the direction of our destination.
Looking back at where we came from, we are now well above Silver Lake.
Up Kelly’s Ramp
Here is where we donned our crampons and pulled out the ice axe. Still pretty easy.
At the top of this short ramp, there are two ways to continue from here. We stayed to the left.
This picture was taken next to that Christmas tree at the top of the red line shown above.
As you round the corner after the Christmas tree, the first sight of today’s objective comes into view.
I love being the first and only tracks into an area.
The final stretch to the summit ridge was the only sketchy part. As a new mountaineer, this was definitely taking baby steps… which is how I believe it should be.
That last section was steep and icy in places but still relatively comfortable (for me anyway).
Views on the way up were awesome!
My favorite part was the last push to the summit ridge.
It’s just a short traverse along the ridgeline to the summit from there.
4.2 miles up in 4 hours with 3,600′ of elevation gain. Lovin’ every minute of it! (name that band)
Down and Out
Getting down was a tad tricky.
We traversed over a bit to avoid the steeper section we had climbed up.
Smooth glissading took place on the lower portion of that slope.
Such a perfect day for this!
More glissading fun for our descent…
I found a different ramp on my way down. It’s just a click south of the one we had taken up.
No one wanted this beautiful day to end just yet, so we did a quick detour over to Silver Lake Glance.
Looking back at Timpanogos, taking note of the route we took up Cold Fusion only a few weeks earlier.
Final stats for the day: 8.8 miles, 3,800 feet, 8 hours.
