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Home › Forums › Ask a Question › Can I even hike peaks right now?
Hello hello!
Question I’ve been wondering for awhile: While I assume that different peaks in socal have different climates because of altitude differences, are there places around LA that are generally okay to climb in October? I’ve been particularly wondering about Mt. Wilson or Mt. Baldy, but I’m kind of assuming that Mt. Baldy might be a no-go at this point.
Assuming that these are definitely not doable until spring/summer, where you would go to do some similar training?
(Silly question I know, I’m semi-new down here and am still getting the lay of the land.)
(Feel free to ignore! Jeff basically answered this in the Mt Baldy thread already, yay.)
Hey Lindsey,
I’m going to answer this here, too. Just because.
The weather in the local mountains is unpredictable, especially this time of year. But don’t think that snow = “no go.” It just requires extra care and flexibility.
That rain we had last Wednesday? It generated snow in the mountains. SoCal Hiker Martha tried to hike up Cucamonga Peak on Friday and didn’t make the summit because of the snow. But she had a wonderful hike and saw some awesome scenery. If that’s good enough, go for it!
The caveat is that traveling in snow makes navigation tricky. You really need to have a map and compass and the know-how to use them.
As for Mt. Wilson, if you check our Mt. Wilson page there’s a link to the observatory webcam — that’ll give you a great idea of conditions at the top. It’s below 6,000 feet, so while it can (and does occasionally) get snow, it’s less likely. So that is generally a pretty safe bet.
Baldy is much higher, but if you check with the ski lift, they can probably tell you what the conditions are like.
Thanks so much for the info! I might get out and give one of these peaks a try in the next few weeks and see how it goes. I appreciate the extra resources! I enjoy looking at the Mt. Wilson web cam just for fun, but I can see how it would also be a good resource to gauge the snow.