Cascade Lakes Highway opening today!?

Per "Gapertimmy" on CascadeClimbers.com, ODOT has been plowing Cascade Lakes Highway for the past week and the gate should open later today or tomorrow. Timmy works at Mt Bachy in their IT departmnet, his reports on conditions are good, though to understand them sometimes requires the ability to decipher the unqiue CascadeClimbers/ TGR stoke nomenclature and emoticons. Timmy also recommends that we, "Get out there and get some!".<br><br>Cascade Lakes Highway traditionally opens immediately prior to Memorial Day<br><br>PS: Strangely, I can't seem to find on ODOT's website any detailed report of the status of that road, other then on the incident map which was last updated in early April stating the road is closed.

That's good news. The Deschutes NF website stated on May 4 that the road would open within 2 weeks, but perhaps they completed plowing a week earlier than they thought. That site hasn't been updated yet this week. Lots of new snow up there, Mt Bachelor reported 5" new today with temps right at 32F, but probably much more fell higher up and farther west (like on South Sister).<br><br>Now that access will be easy, I'd like to try skiing something less-travelled on South Sister, such as the Clark Glacier via Wickiup Plain and Rock Mesa, or the West Ridge, or Lost Creek Glacier. Any of these routes appear feasible as long day trips from the road, or easy day trips from a camp near the north end of Wickiup Plain. Anyone interested?<br><br>I'm also wondering, does that stretch of road access anything worthwhile for skiing except South Sister?<br><br>

I'm also wondering, does that stretch of road access anything worthwhile for skiing except South Sister?

<br>It gives a bit easier access to the west side of Broken Top.<br><br>I'm pretty limited on hallpasses, but do you have a photo of the west side of South Sister? I just checked Oregon High, it contains a photo of every aspect of South Sister except the West. <br><br>Lately the Sisters objective that's been holding the most interest for me is the one-day Three Sisters traverse sans the sketchy traverse and bowling ally pitch to the true summit of North, starting from Pole Creek and exiting at Devils Lk, maybe w/ Bachelor added for fun (w/o Bachelor the traverse seems roughly 500 vft shy of the 10k figure).

Right, I guess the west side of Broken Top is closer from Green Lakes than Dutchman Flat. I'm also wondering if any of the other small mountains (and thousands of lakes) SW of South Sister are a worthwhile ski tour (probably not for me, I guess).<br><br>That's funny, I was looking at Oregon High last night too, trying in vain to find a west side photo. I've wanted to take my own western photo for a number of years, the ideal viewpoint is Substitute Point, an easy 5 mile trail starting from logging roads off Hwy 126. Just haven't made it up there yet.<br><br>I think the west side of South Sister is needlessly ignored and underappreciated, which is why it interests me. Hundreds of people ski (and thousands hike) the South Ridge route every year, but few people bother to take the extra hour to loop west past natural wonders like LeConte Crater and Rock Mesa. Reaching the West Ridge would add more time, but it could also be skied down from the crater rim after ascending the south route, followed by a descending traverse back to Rock Mesa.<br><br>The Three Sisters Marathon has been on my list for a long time, although I've been thinking perhaps of going the other direction. Going south to north gets you gentler climbs on all three peaks (South Ridge, SE Ridge, SW Ridge) and steeper ski descents on all three too (Prouty Glacier, North Ridge, Thayer or Villard Glacier), with the further advantage that the descents face away from the sun and might have better skiing conditions on a warm spring day. However, I don't know if I have the conditioning to complete that marathon right now (after being sick for over a month with allergies, then a cold). The snow might be gone before my fitness is back where it should be.<br><br>