Snowboarding The Pacific Crest Trail - Backcountry Boarding In The San Gabriel Mountains

No better way to celebrate the start of Spring than to do a little backcountry snowboarding in the San Gabriels. I met up with fellow split boarder Jeff S. to ride the chutes of Mt. Baden Powell in the Angeles National Forest. We packed up at the parking lot at Vincent Gap then headed past the gate along Angeles Crest Highway. After a short walk along ACH we came to a north facing chute that was begging to be ridden. We stapped on the split boards and started to skin up the steep, steep chute. After a short distance we realized it was becoming too steep to skin effectively and it was time to put on the crampons.

After a few hours of skinning/climbing we arrived at a small knob near the summit of Mt Baden Powell. We had the entire area to ourselves, except for one guy hiking the ridge along the route of the Pacific Crest Trail. The snow was fantastic and soft, the trees were perfectly spaced for riding, and the chutes were steep and shaped like natural half pipes. Another well spent day in the mountains. - Dave

Hiking along Angeles Crest Highway

Posing at the bottom of the chute

Skinning up the chute

View of the Antelope Valley

Crampon time

The climb begins

North face of Baden Powell

Another great view of the Antelope Valley

Hanging out on top

Mt Baden Powell

Mt Burnham and Throop Peak in the distance

Jeff dropping the cornice

Perfect natural halfpipe

Jeff in the tree section

Yummy!

Double black at least

Baden Powell

Mt Baldy looking more like the Sierras

Another chute for another day