Mount Baldy Mount Climb Fundraiser Photos

Here are some of my best shots from the Mount Baldy hike in LA. I am still feeling the pain and the elevator is down in our office building so the pain is growing. Why are stairs so much harder than climbing a mountain?


Holly and Dylan preparing for the hike. They are official adrenalin junkies which is pretty obvious considering their career choices of Documentary Director and Cinematographer. This should have been the first clue that the hike would be, well, super difficult.

This green ski hut was the half way point of the climb. Imagine hiking this in the winter with all your gear and skis.

A fantastic twisted, fallen tree.

The Summit and a view of the surrounding mountains. The surface looks a bit like the moon but boy did I feel the gravity.

Here I am lounging on the Mount Baldy aka Mount San Antonio sign at the summit.

Holly doing a cheesecake pose. She was certainly at her happiest having concurred the mountain. Now to head back down.

Here's our group: Nancy (Producer) Dylan (Cinematographer), Holly (Director), Wendy (lawyer and triathlete), Rob (Holly's brother, cinematographer) and me (photographer).

Mountain men Dylan and Rob. They have that cinematographer looks. One of their recent projects was photographing Alaska.

Don't Panic

That's my learning from this LA weekend. I totally pushed myself way beyond stretch goals into panic and despite the extremes I was able to concur all.

Vising Holly, my roommate from Sophomore year of Ithaca College was the first hurdle. We hadn't seen each other in 20 years. The funny thing is that we both still look 19 and even a bit alike with our long blond hair.

The next challenge was camping out as we prepared for our early morning ascent of Mount Baldy. I do not enjoy camping: tents, dirt, bugs, cold, no bathrooms, no light, and weird sounds, I have turned into an urban girl. But the camping also worked out.

Then the greatest challenge, climbing, for it was not hiking but actual steep climbing, Mount Baldy. Holly taught us a fantastic way to stay energized. She calls it the rest step and what you do is every five steps you rest for a moment with all your weight on your back foot. As the killer climb pushed us to our limits the five steps became my mantra. Holly kept insisting I rest but I was in a groove. Plus, if I stopped I worried I would never start again.

The climb down pushed me to my limits. The terrain is all tiny marble rocks on totally steep paths exposed to the elements. The trail was called The Devil's backbone. We climbed along the narrowest ridges with just this crazy marble surface and sometimes trees and bolders to anchor our steps. The views were both amazing and terrifying. One wrong move and you were taking the fast route down.

The final challenge was the chairlift that brought us down the final 4,000 ft. I shared a chair with Holly's friend Nancy who is my hiking hero. she proved she could climb the mountain and her strength inspired me not to be scared on the chair.

I'll post photos when I get to a computer. We're driving back to Holly and Dylan's place for showers, drinks, hot-tubbing and kabbabs...and giving my blisters some TLC.

We Did It!

10,064 ft up Mount Baldy! Can you say challenging? Take a look at the terrain. That's what we hiked both up and down. Pure rubble.