South Sister

For my latest adventure, I chose to go solo. Solo of any kind has its risks and rewards, and I thought deeply about both. The mountain and route that I chose were low risk, somewhat non-technical, but still enough of a challenge (solo) to keep things interesting and inspiring. I chose to go it alone to gain perspective, and to experience the mountain 1 on 1. My feet, its slopes... the understanding that the mountain made with me and I with it... Its a delicate relationship where I have to stop and think more than usual.

South Sister, the third tallest mountain in Oregon, stands at 10,358 feet above sea level. It hosts numerous glaciers and vistas that lie to cameras.

The specific route that I chose (which is commonly referred to as the South side) is roughly 11 miles from car to summit to car, and it gains around 6,000 feet in elevation... the last mile of walking is roughly 3,000 of those feet.

I started out the day before memorial day, and I walked in the woods alone on the approach. Footprints and intuition set me on my bearing. I was following a topo map, and all I had to do was travel uphill and shoot between two butte's in the forest. Easy terrain led me past huge, 600+ year old Hemlocks and fir's. As I kept moving, I ascended a large, snow-covered plateau which led to the shoulder of the mountain. The plateau was mostly treeless, and was about 2.5 miles long. It was nearing 4:00, and the tent in my backpack was telling my shoulders to think about setting up camp soon.

South sister was shrouded in clouds, which is somewhat typical for spring in the cascades. Just last weekend I had attempted Mt. Hood and visibility was about 20 feet the entire way.... more on that in my next post.

I worked for another hour, chugging my way up the shoulder of the mountain, all the while trying to find an appropriate spot for my near 13 hour sleep tonight. Finally I stumbled upon a wind-blown flat area behind an island of trees. I was about 300 feet below the cloud line, and the wind was steady but not violent. I set up camp, and hastily began freezing my ass off. I stripped off my wet climbing clothes and layered up with long underwear, insulating layers and a down parka. I was still shivering and my toes were starting to get uncomfortable. It was only in the 40's (so I thought) until I took my altimeter/compass out and saw that the temps were in the upper 20's. I had only brought a 20 degree down sleeping bag with me, so at this point I was hoping and praying that my bag was going to be warm enough. I cursed out loud remembering standing in my living room with my -5 degree bag and my 20 degree bag in my hands. Light and fast..... that's what I got.

After shivering through a dehydrated meal, I zippered out the cold air in my Bibler tent and cocooned myself in my sleeping bag for the night. The clouds were still moving just above my head and the wind was whispering as the zipper's of my tent. Slowly I dozed off into alpine sleepy land.

I awoke at 3:00 AM to a pounding in my bladder. I unzipped my bag into the cold, still air of my tent and noticed a startling figure standing shrouded in light on the wall of my tent. I quickly grabbed my glasses (as I'm blinded without them) and heart throbbing.... looked at the shadow cast on my tent. It was a Fir bough gently moving in the wind in the light of a nearly full moon. Nothing to be scared of.... but it did mean that the clouds must have moved on. Like a child getting up for Christmas morning, I threw off my sleeping bag and unzipped my tent and stared into the glory of a bright cascade moon. The summit glowed above me, and I was happy to know that my morning would be clear and crisp.

The climb the next day was quiet, bright and alone. Walking on steep ridges and near corniced edges my boots made a solid crunching noise in the snow. The sun was quickly warming the mountain, and slushy mashed potato snow was on the way. The climbing was uneventful.... South Sister via the South side is more of a back country commitment than an alpine test piece. About 9:00 am I had summited, alone on the third tallest peak in Oregon in utter and complete blaring sunshine. South Sister is a volcano, so the top is flat and acts as the perfect solar collector. I went to the tallest point in the crater and I could see from Washington state all the way down to California. Being at a summit alone in a remote area is an exhilarating experience, and it went perfectly as planned. I felt strong, confident, and elated that I made the joinery on my own.

On the decent, I passed by many parties that were going for the summit. When I got back to camp, I cooked up the rest of mt food and packed up as the day's heat creeped up the mountain.

The rest of the walk out was uneventful, and I made it back to my car in one piece. It felt good to sit down in my car and have that one under my belt.