The North and Middle Sisters had been on my hit list ever since my Pacific Northwest trip of 2013. During that trip, I was able to ski South Sister. After my friend Zach and I skied Mount Rainier in May of 2018, a storm was hitting the northern part of the Cascades. But, heading south allowed for better weather. It looked like I’d be returning to Bend.

We drove from Seattle to Portland and then made our way over the mountains, making a detour to stop at Bagby hot springs along the way. We skipped going to Bend that night, ate dinner in Sisters, and set up camp at the trailhead nearby.

The weather had been cloudy and rainy most of the day, but as we headed toward our camp, the clouds parted and revealed our objectives for the next day. Middle Sister on the left, and North Sister on the right.

Home is where my camp is

All the gear that needs to fit on me or in my bag for the next day.

Knowing we’d have an early morning, we headed to bed shortly after the beautiful sunset.

We started in the dark, but it was not long before the sun rose. We made our way through the forest, which was dry for a ways. After a few miles, we left the trail and were able to start skinning. Before we knew it, we found ourselves at the feet of North and Middle Sisters.

North Sister was first on the list since we’d be skiing the south side. A view of Middle Sister on our ascent of North Sister.

I first laid eyes on Broken Top when I skied South Sister. She continued to beckon me from afar.

Mount Bachelor, the ski area.

A view of South Sister.

The east face of North Sister looked appealing, but not in the works for us since we also wanted to ski Middle Sister.

The ridge we used to ascend North Sister was rocky and loose, and took more time then we expected.

We reached the top of our south facing line and enjoyed some more views.

Now, Zach took pictures on that day. But, somehow I never got copies of them and at this point in time he doesn’t know where they are. So, this report is just going to have a whole lot of photos of Zach. Here, he’s dropping in to our line on North Sister with Middle Sister in the backdrop.

We skied down quite a ways before stopping and putting skins on for an ascent of Middle Sister. A view of our line on North Sister.

Zach ascending toward Middle Sister.

As we climbed the north ridge of Middle Sister, the snow became too firm to continue skinning, so we switched to booting instead. I do love a good bootpack

As we rounded the summit of Middle Sister, we gazed upon South Sister, and the clouds that were engulfing her, and headed our way.

Weather has a tendency to move in quick in the mountains, especially in the PNW. Before we knew it, we were descending in the ping-pong of the clouds.

Eventually, we descended below the clouds.

We skied a long ways down before putting the hiking shoes back on to finish out the trail back to our cars. Another successful outing among the volcanoes! North and Middle Sisters were fun ones to ski. It was another a long day – 14 hours, 14 miles, and 6600 vertical feet!

The post TBT: North and Middle Sisters Ski (17 May 2018) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

I got my first glimpse of Mount Adams from our camp spot before we began. Much of the lower mountain had sustained a forest fire in 2012, so the forest did not hide the mountain—she stood proud. My head cocked back, me eyes widened and my jaw fell open. There she blows!

The first day, we skinned about two-thirds of the way up Mount Adams. At the start our climb, we skinned out of the burn-zone into a green sub-alpine forest where the sweet taste of spruce and fresh cedar flooded every breath. The scent hung in the air like Christmas morning, conspicuously sneaking into your nostrils. Sadly, the smell was slowly replaced by sulfur as we zig-zagged up past tree line and entered ‘Volcano Planet’—filled with rocks and snow. Breezy, barren and home for the night.

After a pleasant night spent under a full moon, the three of us awoke at four to get started for the day. The sky was purple already—another clear, warm, sunscreen-every-hour type of day opening its eyes.

Donned with crampons and ice axes, we climbed and climbed that morning—the wild blue hills and the bustling world beneath growing farther and farther. As I neared the top of the first headwall, I began to feel weary. More weary than I would expect to be. I continued to pump water and granola bars into my body, knowing that with each step I was closer to the top and closer to the down. My feet hung heavy off of my legs, swinging almost carelessly into established tracks. As I crested the first headwall, the final thousand-foot climb stood before me.

I took a seat on my pack for a moment, gazing out to our beginning. “You’ve made it this far,” I thought, “The snow is still firm, the sun hasn’t touched it yet. You have time to make it to the top safely. You can do it. Slowly, you can do it.”

Zach and Cam sensed my fatigue and stayed behind me, allowing me to set the pace. I was burned, and beginning to feel light-headed. We trudged, we paused, I panted, we marched on…until I began to lose my balance. The first time I fell I snagged my crampon on my pant leg and tripped to my knees. “No biggie, it happens,” I thought, staggering to my feet. We marched on. Then I started stumbling more frequently, and my dizziness was not subsiding with water or food. At this point we had reached almost 12,000 ft in elevation and were within about 500 vertical feet of the summit. We were so close. “I’m from Colorado! I have spent my whole life at 8,000 feet! I don’t get AMS!” I joked. But apparently, I do. Zach was kind enough to escort me down a few hundred feet to a position where we could still keep eyes on Cam as he pushed for the summit.

Lucky for me, the top of our line, the SW Chutes, was a few hundred feet lower. After some rest, we geared over to skiing, which (of course) was instantly rejuvenating. Over 8,000 vertical feet of turns (okay, and some trudging too) back to the car!

Right off the bat, we dropped into 3,000 feet of perfectly warmed, wide-open corn. The snow was perfectly even, edgable, soft and stable. Bliss. It was the carefree, wind-in-your-hair, springing from turn-to-turn type of skiing that dreams are made of.

As we worked our way down and back into the trees, the skiing became a bit more sloppy…as one could expect from temperatures in the fifties. We wound our way through the burnt forest, grins as big as the crescent moon on our faces. Body aches and sunburns were no worry at all. The turns were spectacular, the climb was beautiful and dang it, I want to see that summit! I’ll be back for you Mount Adams!

The post TR: SW Chutes of Mount Adams, Washington (8 May 2014) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

After my solo day on Mount Bachelor, I headed down toward Oakridge in the afternoon to look for a campsite close to Diamond Peak. From Oakridge, there were over 25 miles of forest service road to travel before arriving to the trailhead. My partners would be coming from Bend, but due to other commitments, could not come the night before. We were to meet at the trailhead between 6:30 and 7 in the morning.

Along Forest Service road 21, there are a number of campsites. Some of them were crowded. But, the further I went “in to the heart of darkness”, the sparser the campers became. Finally, I pulled into a campground that was barely used. I found some friendly neighbors who invited me over to dinner. And I slept the night in the warmth of lower elevations and a canopy of thick trees.

I awoke at first light and was off fast. I was ready for an adventure.

The forest service road in the morning, canopied with trees.

I found the trailhead without much difficulty, except for the fact that the trail going up toward the west ridge is not labeled from the road. A view of the west side of Diamond Peak in the morning.

And there I sat, waiting for my partners from Bend. I waited. And I waited some more. I wondered if they had ditched me, or had some sort of car trouble along the way. I climbed the road higher to see if I could gather some cell phone reception and heard a message from Patrick, “We haven’t ditched you but we are wandering around on road 2154 and I think we are far far away from Diamond Peak.” 2154? Oh no! They were supposed to be on 2149!

I descended the road to try to see if I could find them. Finally, I saw a Subaru Impreza turning on to 2149. It was them. They’d made it. Long story short, they forgot the directions to the trailhead which I had given them two days before. While I was very thankful to have my partners, I knew our chances of reaching the summit were pretty low as they were over 2.5 hours late.

Eliza, Patrick, Ben and I (along with Eliza’s dog Dirga) began our hike through the forest along a trail for a little over a mile.

Eventually, after a little over a mile, the trail began to head more north instead of west. Here, we broke from the trail and gained the west ridge. A little before tree-line, we were able to switch from hiking boots to skins.

I always enjoy the views above treeline.

The west side of Diamond, looking white, but less so than all the other aspects.

Our climb continued.

The Middle & South Sister, as well as Broken Top, seen from a distance.

As we rounded out on a saddle gained by the West Ridge, we saw this northern subpeak, which we all agreed looked like fantastic skiing.

And then we looked at the summit.

It was big and white and awesome looking.

But, this day, was not the day for the summit. The 2.5 hour late start, plus some minor navigational issues through the forest, on top of a member of our group who was just plain tuckered out, and the fact that it was late in the day and the new snow was warming up quickly – all very good reasons to stick to a simpler plan. So, to the sub-peak we went.

But, even on top of the subpeak, we had concerns. The freshly fallen snow was gaining warmth quickly from the days sun and we knew it would slide on the old snow. The terrain on the northeast side of the subpeak didn’t allow for easy management of it. So, we opted for a fun-looking ridge line that went mostly north off of the subpeak. This ridge would allow us to manage the moving snow with little consequence. And it’s a good thing we chose that line, and the new snow moved easily and over some large areas. Ben on the ridge that we skied.

Lower down, the slopes lost some steepness and the new snow did not move. Patrick.

Eliza

As we skied, we gradually worked our way to our left, wrapping around eventually to the west ridge. We followed a west-facing ridgeline through the thick forest which popped us out on the trail.

Though it was a fun day, and worth the effort, we only tasted a small bit of what Diamond Peak has to offer. Though lower in elevation, this remote peak still offers plentiful ski lines on many aspects. I hope, in future trips, that I can return to this peak and get an encore. There is too much to ski on it to not go back

As I parted ways with my Bend partners and turned on my car, my heart turned heavy. My trip was over. Rain was once again lurking in the forecast and clouds were even beginning to pile up in the evening’s sky. It was time for me to head back to Colorado. So, I turned my car down the dark windy forest roads, beginning the 1000-mile drive home. And a sense of solace came over me. I knew I could come back, and would come back, to Oregon. But, after weeks away from home, and days of being largely alone, it was a warm feeling to be heading back to Crested Butte.

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post TR: Diamond Peak (22 June 2013) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

Mount Bachelor is home to the largest ski area in the US Pacific Northwest. As a dormant strato-volcano with minimal glaciation, this peak is very skier friendly. The lifts usually spin well into summer, but this year’s snowfall was less than normal and the ski area closed early. Lucky for me, as I wanted to venture out on a nice solo ski.

The lower 1/3rd of the mountain had sporadic patches of snow and plowing. It was obvious that the management was preparing for summer activities.

I was able to put skins on fairly early, and the views kept getting better and better as I climbed. The southern side of Broken Top.

South Sister.

Looking down the highway toward Bend.

The volcanic rocks were covered in rime from recent snowfall.

The clouds began to thin as I climbed, and I was hoping it would pop out to blue.

But then the opposite happened

At the top, I took a picture of myself.

I was hoping to ski down the Cirque, but not having been to Mount Bachelor before, the thick fog left me with low visibility and little to reference. I wasn’t sure if I was even in the right spot. I considered retracing my tracks down.

But, as if it was meant to be, there was a 60-second clearing in the clouds. I could finally see down. Yep, I’m in the right place!

And then I gazed over my shoulder and realized I was not on the summit at all!

Well, dang it! I have to go there! Along the way, I passed by some fumaroles.

And, alas, a true summit shot

By the time I started skiing, the clouds had socked in again.

I found the rock that marked the Cirque and began descending.

But, I was completely “in the white” after passing this rock. I had nothing for reference and could not tell which way was up and which way was down.

I was very happy when I finally found the tram line and descended below the cloud cover.

I wish I could have captured a picture of my tracks up higher, but I could not see more than 3 feet in front of me

As I continued to descend, the summit passed in and out of clouds.

With only a 2800′ climb, Mount Bachelor makes a short, fun ski, and one that is very easy to do solo, especially on a clearer day! I enjoyed skiing some of the fresh snowfall, and the occasional views of nearby peaks between clouds. It was a great way to spend the solstice.

Still, I was waiting for more. Saturday looked to be the perfect day for weather to try for something bigger and I had local Bend partners lined up to join me. So, I packed up my car and headed down toward Oakridge. Destination – the remote Diamond Peak!

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post TR: Solstice ski on Mount Bachelor appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

After South Sister, Pam and I were still trying to dodge the somewhat dicey weather to the north by heading south…. while staying north enough to have good skiing conditions. Thielsen caught our eye, being one of the taller peaks in the southern part of Oregon. Still, we were not impressed with the snow coverage as we caught a first glimpse of the northwest face.

Bailey, standing across the way at 8363 feet, seemed much more appealing.

But, something about Thielsen lured us. We decided to go for it anyway, knowing that the snow-coverage would be sub-par. We camped that night at Diamond Lake and woke at first light to prepare for our day on Thielsen.

We began at the Mount Thielsen trailhead. After two miles (which our guidebook called “a long mile”, we encountered two signs and a fork in the trail. Our guidebook said to turn left onto the Spruce Ridge Trail (not shown in the sign below).

We did so, but quickly felt as though we were going in the wrong direction, though it was difficult to tell in the thick trees of the Pacific Northwest forest with trees three times as tall as what we have in Colorado. Still, we followed the guidebook’s directions, hoping the trail was trying to wrap us around more to the north. But, after about a mile and a half, I busted out the compass and compared it with the topo map, only to confirm that we were indeed going away from, and not toward, Mount Thielsen. We returned to the original intersection and continued following the “Mount Thielsen trail” to a ridgeline where it intersected with the Pacific Crest Trail.

Thielsen is basically not skiable from the summit, especially in a year like this. Because of this, Pam and I decided not to actually summit the peak, but to go for the actual ski line, which was the one to the left of the rocky clearing in the picture above. Until the ridge, we had not encountered enough snow to warrant putting on skis and we were happy to find the northwest bowl full of snow. From the ridge, we skied down into the bowl and worked our way left to the bottom of our line. From there, we began the bootpack up to the top of the snow.

We enjoyed views along the way, including admiring the fields of white on Diamond Peak.

As is true of just about everything it the Pacific Northwest, the climb was a lot longer than it looked. Gradually, I felt myself slowing. My legs simply didn’t want to go. I was bonking hard and decided to take a food break. Meanwhile, Pam took over trail-breaking duties.

As I ate, I began to notice that Thielsen was chock full of colorful rock.

As we reached the top of the snowfield, Pam and I discussed climbing further to a notch just below the summit. But, rotten rock prevented us.

Finally, it was time to ski Me.

Pam.

The line was an enjoyable consistently steep pitch all the way to the bottom. Pam.

Pam with Diamond Lake and Bailey behind.

Though a bit on the shorter side in terms of vert, the run was high quality the entire way. At the bottom, happy

Despite the 3-mile detour at the beginning of our day, we still enjoyed the ski. Despite looking thin, Thielsen actually skied surprisingly well and we had some of the best skiing of our trip on this line.

What was next, we weren’t sure. The front that had been hovering off the northern coast was pushing it’s way south. The weather would be our determinant!

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post TR: Mount Thielsen (17 June 2013) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

We knew right away we were in for a longer day than originally anticipated as our guide book reported the route as 7 miles round trip, but the sign reported 6.25 miles one way…

Still the traveling was relatively easy. After about 25 minutes of hiking in one of Oregon’s many dense forests, we were on continuous snow and able to switching from hiking shoes to skins.

The route followed a gully for about 2 miles before popping out on the southwest ridge, where we were able to enjoy the view of South Sister under bluebird skies.

South Sister is geologically very young, with it’s last eruptions happening only 2000 years ago. Evidence of recent volcanic activity was everywhere.

Pam climbing, with Mount Bachelor in the distance and Sparks Lake (where we camped) below.

We caught glimpses of nearby peaks. Diamond Peak looked particularly white

Broken Top looked nice and steep. I’m putting this one on my list

The ridge took us to the top of the Lewis Glacier. We followed the snow on the edge of the glacier before eventually moving on to dirt.

But, near the top, we found ourselves on snow once again.

At the “top” we realized we weren’t exactly on the top at all. We still had to cross about 1/4 of a mile across the caldera to the other side.

With clouds and weather moving in, we dashed across the caldera. Pam.

But the views were worth it! From the northern summit we could gaze upon Middle and North Sister.

A close-up of North Sister, with Jefferson looming behind.

Even though the clouds were threatening, we opted for the summit shot.

Then we found ourselves engulfed in the clouds.

We waited it out for a few minutes for a window to open up where it was light enough for us to see where we would ski. Pam.

And the skiing turned out to be pretty good! Pam.

We skied down skiers right of the actual southwest ridge and the route eventually set us on the Clark Glacier, which seemed relatively benign. This photo was taken from the glacier looking up at part of our route.

Some ski shots of me.

Pam.

As we approached the bottom of the line, we had to traverse skiers left to gain the southwest ridge. The hike along the flat part of the ridge was a bit of an annoying slog.

Eventually, we reached the gully where we easily followed snow, skiing as long as we could.

After the snow ended, it was only a 20-minute walk back to the car.

While not quite as aesthetic as North or Middle Sister, South Sister does provide a quality hike and ski. It’s well worth the trek. Thanks to Pam for joining me on another volcano adventure

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post TR: South Sister (16 June 2013) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

The southern part of the more northern mountains seemed to be our best bet – meaning central Oregon’s Cascades. So, we decided to head to the Three Sisters. We took out my Van Tilburg book and decided to access the North Sister via Pole Creek Road.

So, north we went, enjoying the views of the many Cascade volcanoes along the way. Shasta and Shastina as seen from the northeast, with the Whitney Glacier running through the middle of them.

McLoughlin was one of the volcanoes on our list, but knowing that the southern Cascades had a low-snow year, we decided to head further north. Still, this picture of the east face seems to show that it could have skied well!

Then we finally saw them- The Three Sisters. The Three Sisters were originally named by the early settlers as Charity, Hope, and Faith. But, these names did not stick. Today, they are better known as South Sister, Middle Sister, and North Sister (left to right in the photo below).

Jefferson also loomed above us. This one is high on my list, but not a peak we wanted to try with the somewhat questionable weather in the forecast over the next few days.

The Three Fingered Jack is one of the peaks that is easily noticeable in the area, but better skied earlier in the spring.

From the town of Sisters, we turned toward the Pole Creek Road and access to the North Sister. We traveled miles down this Forest Service Road before we suddenly came to this:

What? The road is closed? Yes, it was closed 5 miles before the actual trailhead due to “public safety” and “restoration”. It didn’t take us long to realize that a forest fire had blazed through the area the year before. The forest fire began on Sept. 9th, 2012 with a lightning strike, burned almost 27,000 acres, and wasn’t contained for about 6 weeks.

In retrospect, we should have checked with the Deschutes National Forest about possible closures. But, closures this time of year are rare. We didn’t really suspect that there would be a closure, but there was. Still, we were determined. With sporadic access to the internet via our cell phones we began using Goggle Maps and the closure map to try to navigate our way around the closed areas and closer to the trailhead. We knew it was possible, but some of the roads were a little too rough for our cars. So, after admitting somewhat demoralizing defeat, we decided for Plan B- South Sister via the Southwest Ridge.

It took us about an hour and a half to drive our way back toward the southern part of the Sisters. On the Cascade Lakes Highway, we took time to admire the view of Mount Bachelor.

After checking out the trailhead at Devil’s Lake was indeed clear and good to go, we went back on the road a couple of miles to camp at the beautiful Sparks Lake campground. Who could beat this view, with South Sister towering over us?

In an area where so many campgrounds are caved under giant trees, it was nice to have an open and scenic view. The Soda Creek passes through the campground as well.

But, the best was yet to come. The sunset was truly amazing!

We knew South Sister would have good things in store for us the next day

Check out other TR’s from this Pacific Northwest trip!
Diamond Peak
Solstice Ski on Mount Bachelor
Newberry Crater
Crater Lake
Mount Thielsen
South Sister
Volcano Travel Day
Shasta’s West Face
Lassen Peak

The post TR: Volcano Travel Day (15 June 2013) appeared first on 14erskiers.com.