Skiing South Sister
DATE HIKED:5/26/24
TOTAL MILEAGE: 12 MILES
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 5,400’
Long weekends allow me the opportunity to head out on a trip that is just a tad too ambitious for a weekend trip. Last year over Memorial Day Alex and I went on a three day ski mountaineering trip to Glacier Peak with our friend Sander. This year the three of us had our eyes on a couple different destinations in the North Cascades but unfortunately the forecast for the entire state of Washington was looking cloudy and wet, so we set our sights on a sunnier locale: Bend, Oregon. Cascade Lakes Highway was scheduled to open over the long weekend which meant easier access to the Devils Lake Trailhead and the south route on South Sister, a volcano we have been wanting to ski for a few years now. The snowpack was also still substantial enough that skinning from the road was possible so the objective seemed like a no brainer, South Sister it was!
We hit the road early on Saturday morning and after a seven hour drive we finally made it to Bend. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) all of the campgrounds near the trailhead were still buried under multiple feet of snow so we found a spot to pull off near the trailhead and settled in for the rest of the day. As the afternoon progressed into evening more and more people arrived. Soon all of the pull-offs and every space along the roadside was filled. It was going to be a busy day on the mountain, but given the great forecast and road opening we had expected that. We had a lovely evening chatting with the groups who filled in around our parking spot and bounced ideas for starting times off of each other.
We decided on a 5AM start to give us ample time to make it to the summit by 11AM and take a break before (fingers crossed) prime corn-o-clock.
It felt great to be able to skin right from the road, I felt fast and light as we moved through the forest during blue hour.
There had been a solid refreeze overnight and the forested section was slick, especially the snow that had been skied over the day prior. We tried to avoid the icy luge as we zig-zagged through the trees, but in my head I was already looking forward to skiing down that luge later in the day, it looked fun.
After about 1,000’ we broke out of the forest and into an alpine scene that looked like something off a postcard. In front of us towered South Sister, still looking much higher and farther away than I would have hoped. To our right was the jagged ridge of Broken Top and behind us was Mt. Bachelor ski resort whose runs appeared like white tentacles reaching for the mountain’s base. We enjoyed the views as we skinned a flat mile-long plateau. It was great to take in the views from this easy section but I knew on the way back that plateau would feel interminable.
The higher we climbed the better the views became, we had a great perspective of the half-frozen Sparks Lake sitting below Mt. Bachelor. There were also so many skiers on the mountain but everyone was in a great mood despite the crowds. The beautiful, calm day seemed to buoy everyone’s spirits.
Once we reached ~9,000’ the slope steepened and we switched to booting for the remainder of the climb. The entire climb reminded me of a combination of Mt. St. Helen’s and Mt. Adams complete with a very small version of a false summit. We reached the crater rim just after 10:30AM. From the rim we just had about a quarter mile and another one hundred feet left until the summit. The summit already looked crowded with climbers so we decided to take a quick break before the short final push.
The view of Middle and North Sister and Mt. Jefferson from the summit was beautiful. We all looked dreamily at the steep, snowy south face of Middle Sister and added it to our “to ski” list. The summit area ended up being much bigger than I had thought it was when looking up at it from the rim. There was plenty of room for people to spread out so we decided to take an extended lunch break and wait a bit longer for the snow to thaw before continuing down—the top was still a little too icy to descend yet.
After a refreshing break we were ready to start the descent. Unfortunately, there is a crater between the summit and the rim, we tried to straight-line it but we quickly ran out of speed and had to resort to skate-skiing and poling our way back up to the rim. Suddenly all the energy I had regained during our summit break evaporated and I arrived back to Sander and Alex absolutely winded. Luckily it was all (or very nearly all) downhill from there.
The top 500’ were still pretty solid and chattery but then the snow softened and became very enjoyable, not quite corn but close enough! Despite how many people were on the mountain I was happy that we were alone in our descent. A few groups had descended ahead of us but as we worked our way down the mountain, skiing one by one to each stopping point, we were on our own.
At about 8,000’ the snow got grabby and slow. There had been a dusting of fresh snow that had fallen the week prior and the wind swept in and deposited the snow into concentrated pockets of sticky snow that caused me to lurch forward each time I encountered them. But interspersed between those pockets of snow was some great skiing.
We arrived to the dreaded mile-long plateau and transitioned back to skinning. As we made our way back across the plateau I was surprised by how long the stretch of trail felt on the way back. On the way up we were fresh, excited, and seeing everything for the first time. On the way back I was only looking forward to taking off my boots and found that same stretch dragging on and on.
Finally, we made it back to the forest and made one final transition to downhill skiing. I had been looking forward to skiing the forest since the morning and it was just as fun as I had envisioned. We whipped around trees and cruised through a luge that was formed by the turns of previous skiers. It took barely ten minutes to get back to the road but those ten minutes were a blast, all three of us were whooping and wooing our whole way down.
Just after 1PM we hit the pavement. Eight hours had passed since we first started uphill. Looking back up at South Sister it was hard to believe that just a couple hours prior I was standing on top of the summit, I am always amazed at how far and high my feet can carry me.
It was such a joy to finally check off South Sister and in such great conditions to boot. It certainly will not be our last time touring in the Three Sisters Wilderness!
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