The Perfect Storm

On Sunday morning before the kids woke up, I decided it would be fun for all four of us to go up Mt. Baldy, a 10,000 ft mountain about an hour from our house.

After ski season, the Mt. Baldy ski lifts operate on the weekends for hikers and mountain bikers. We had gone up before when we lived in West Covina, probably with only DJ and Dorothy, and I remember it was a nice trip. I was hoping there would still be a little snow up there. “I’m not promising snow, but this will be fun”, I told the kids.

I had them all find their jackets and wear long sleeves because I figured it would be sunny, but cold. They had to wear real shoes, too. We ate a quick breakfast and jumped in the car.

The mountain wasn't visible from the freeway so I told the kids that we were either going to be in the clouds or on top of them. It started getting cold on the way up and DJ and Holden were intentionally fogging up the windows to draw on them with their fingers.

When arrived at the bottom of the lifts, the kids were excited to see some snow gently falling out of the sky. It melted as soon as it landed and there was no wind. The lady who gave us the tickets said it was a dry snow and quite surprising since it was May 23.

We got on the lifts – Riley with me and Holden with DJ – and started up the hill. It’s always a strange feeling sitting on a park bench with no seat belts suspended fifty feet above rough terrain. During the 15 minute ride, Holden and DJ were two chairs in front of us saying hello to hikers down below. Holden, in particular, would keep yelling “Hi! Hello! Can you hear me? I said Hello!” until they looked up and waved. He wasn’t being rude, so I didn’t stop him. I began to wonder why I was sitting next to well-behaved Riley while trusting Holden to remain in his seat the whole way, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it at that point. DJ is sometimes more concerned about Holden’s safety than I am, I rationalized.

On the way up it got colder and the snow came down a little harder but it was still beautiful and fun. The tops of the trees were white and a fog was moving in between us and the restaurant at the top. This must be the cloud I was telling them about, I thought. Still, what a great dad I am, taking my kids on this adventure! Their friends are probably at home playing Playstation or on Facebook.

When we got off the chair lift, snow was everywhere but it was a fine powder like Dippin Dots, DJ said, and Holden started playing in it right away. Our thin jackets weren’t keeping out the cold, so we all went inside the restaurant. I offered bottled water to everyone and Riley bought herself a large hot chocolate. I looked over the gloves and hats they had for sale, considering a hat and a pair of gloves for each of us would be well over $100 I decided against it. I thought of the box of snow clothes somewhere in the garage back home.

With only a dozen people in the restaurant and I let the kids horse around a little. They kept going out into the snow to play, then coming back in to warm up. DJ shot a video of Riley not sharing her hot chocolate.

When it was time to go we all went outside I could tell the weather had changed. Now the snow was coming down hard and from all directions. It seemed colder and windier, too, but maybe it was because we had been inside the warm restaurant for so long. I had all the kids zip up their jackets for the ride down.

This time I chose to ride with Holden because I would think he would get more daring about moving in his seat on the way down and, in general, I try not to make the same mistake twice. Riley and DJ got on first, then an empty chair went by, then Holden and I jumped on. The chairs were covered in snow but we didn’t have time to wipe them off before we hopped on. But that was just the beginning.

Once on the chair we could feel the wind coming up the canyon from down below. The wind carried ice which hit our faces directly and stung like needles. None of us had gloves or hats. Holden had a thin hoodie. DJ had my Hustler hoodie and Riley had a similar jacket. We couldn’t look away from the stinging wind because of the way we were sitting. My body, hair and face were pretty much covered in ice and Holden started complaining immediately. He was in pain. My hands and face went numb and my head started pounding. DJ and Riley up ahead were screaming as if they were being boiled alive. I yelled at them to just hang on but they couldn’t hear me over the wind and their own screams.

I turned to Holden and told him he has to deal with the cold and pain but that we would be at the bottom soon, but at the same time I seriously wondered if anyone would need medical attention at the bottom? How long does hypothermia take? Why do I only hear DJ screaming now? How’s Riley? What are the symptoms of frostbite again? “Holden, we will be at the bottom soon, put your hands in your pockets.” He said his pockets were full of snow and I believed him. I held his hands in mine for a few minutes and then put mine back in my pockets for a few minutes, and then did it again.

The chairlift stopped a couple of times on the way down, probably for a good reason, and only for a moment, but it made me think how long we would last in these conditions if they left us up here. I would say an hour, tops. The cold was already going all the way through my body and the kids are so much smaller. I, personally, have never been so cold as that day.

At the bottom we rushed to the car to get the heater on. The snow was still very light at the bottom but everything was wet and slippery. I turned the heat on over the cries of DJ and Holden. As the feeling came back in their hands and faces, their pain intensified. I know because I experienced the same sensation. Most of the way down Mt Baldy Road DJ was screaming from the pain. I had them focus on the blue sky in front of us.

Turns out we experienced a freak snow storm so late in May. We were there from 9:30am to 11:30am. You can see the temperature drop around 10:30am and the wind picked up at 11:00am.

Before we reached the freeway, we stopped at a Starbucks. The sky was completely sunny, but the kids chose to remain in the warm car for the first ten minutes. I couldn’t get the cold out of my bones either. Even though it was warm outside and I had warm clothes on I couldn’t stop shivering occasionally for at least an hour.

On the way home, the kids said they would never go to Mt Baldy again, or on a chairlift again. Holden said it hurt more than brain cancer, an homage to his Nana. The kids thanked me sarcastically for taking them there to be tortured, which was fine because that’s the sense of humor we all share. They were back to being happy kids by the time we got home and we all went in the Jacuzzi to finish warming up.

Holden ended up jumping off the patio cover into the pool for the first time (a serious milestone for a 6 year old boy) and Riley set up her first web site. You can see her version of this day on her web site.

I will put together some of the video from that day and upload it soon. Look for an update here in a couple of days.