May 18-20, 2006, Broken Top, Middle and North Sister OR

Long approaches.  And feel even longer when alone and see no one else out there.  Great snow coverage as in WA.  Still only winter access for the Broken Top/S. Sister area.  Started from the snowpark 6300' across from the Mt. Bachelor parking lot.  Evidence the snow had refrozen the night before but with a late 1:30 start this was a mute point.  Told that if you start in the morning could hitch a ride for a couple beers to the wilderness boundary from snowmobilers heading out.  Intermittent thunder storms as I skinned 7 or so miles to approach Broken Top.  Grateful for a Nordic background to make the approaches easier.  Skinned to the ridge 8600' just below the false SE summit by 3:30. Sunny views all around. Fun steepish ski back down.  Then climbed the south ridge to the false SW summit.  Saw that if I had stayed low could have skinned nearly to the top of Broken Top from the west side.  next time

Originally had thought to do South Sister.  But with only winter access this would have added several more miles to the approach for Broken Top.  Instead came from the north end to explore North and Middle Sister starting at the Pole Creek TH 5300'.  Hiked the trail to about 5600' and began skinning.  Less straightforward approach to North Sister.  Rain the night before and warm weather amid light showers created those natural slow moving hissing sluffs off the Willard Glacier on the east side.  So headed up the NE ridge between the Willard and Linn Glaciers.  Booted up the 2nd half to top out at 9600' just north of the rocky summit.  Skied down this 30-35 degree slope cautiously as I was alone and didn't want to create my own sluff to take me out.  Again wet almost corn.  Below 7000' the wet snow and rain unfortunately had melted my skin track away completely.  The low lying clouds and featureless undulating thick tree terrain down low made me very glad to find a boot track out from earlier that day.  Told myself I wasn't going to do that again.  However a few hours later in the warm car I decided I'd go ahead for a 3rd day.

To approach Middle Sister on snow had to stay low to circumnavigate the east rocky flanks of North Sister.    Skinned up the north rib edge of the Hayden Glacier to the saddle between Middle and North at 9100'.  A centimeter of new snow above 8200'.  Good snow coverage made skinning look doable to the summit of Middle.  But due to time and questionable weather instead skied back down a fantastic 2000' run.  Kam style skied within 1/2 mile of the TH :).  Overall  faster ski conditions than I expected given that it wasn't refreezing at night.     



(would post some pics but haven't yet successfully figured it out)


addendum:
okay kitty and I put some pics on this cheesy site; just enter this defunct email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to view http://www.clubphoto.com/memberservices/login.php