Sisters, OR - South Sister Mountain

South Sister from Green Lake ~6600ft

(click to enlarge)

South Sister Mountain - 10,358 ft.

South Sister is the tallest of the Three Sisters, looming above Middle and North Sister and is also the third tallest mountain in the state of Oregon. It contains a lake that sits right near the summit, Teardrop Pool, which is the highest lake in Oregon and holds the distinction for hosting the largest glacier in Oregon, the Prouty Glacier.

The day after we climbed Broken Top we headed out in a clear blue sky to climb the South Sister. The long South Ridge route is joined by walking to the southernmost tip of the lake and crossing the outlet on a rock/log bridge. Then continue hiking west until you are able to see a climbers trail picking its way up a loose gravel gully. Climb up this for a few hundred feet and it will flatten out into a nice trail on the left of a small creek. This trail continues practically due west along the south edge of the Lewis Glacier for another two miles or so. Before long, you will be able to see the main trail on the south ridge several hundred feet above you. Eventually, the climber's trail reaches a small cirque lake at about 8850 feet and joins with the standard South Ridge route. A fun day but it definitely requires one to be in good physical shape.

Green Lakes variation to the South Ridge

C & C looking up the long slope to the ridge line

Taking a break on the South Ridge with Broken Top behind

Continuing on to the summit up the scree

Pope crossing through the crater and over frozen Tear Drop Pool

Summit ~10,385ft

Looking south from the summit - left: Broken Top; center: Mt Bachelor

Parting shot on the way down...

Sisters, OR - Broken Top Mountain

South Sister & Green Lakes from Broken Top Ridge
(click image to enlarge)

Summer was upon us and I had a list of mountains that wasn't getting any shorter. With the majority of Washington's volcanoes already climbed and never having been on any of the Oregon volcanoes I thought we'd go adventure in the state to the south. After ringing Chris Pope and getting him to sign up after years on the couch - well not really, lets just say he had an extended house project - we hatched a plan, packed and were off. First stop was to climb Mount Hood as a warm up but as we approached Government Camp we talked about how it would be a better winter ascent on skis and so we continued on into the night and headed south for Sisters and the three Sisters mountains. The plan was to head up into the Green Lakes area and knock off South Sister and Broken Top.

Broken Top Mtn, South, Middle and North Sister Mtns
(left to right - click image to enlarge)

Unpacking and packing at the trail head

The weather was cool but sunny and there weren't many cars at the trail head so we were in hopes that it would be a quiet time up in the wilderness. The trail was easily followed and after about 5 miles or so we found ourselves up at Green Lake. On the way in we passed some massive pumice fields which were remnants of active volcanic flows of the SE side of South Sister Mtn. It was fun to find pumice with such a low density that the rock actually floated when we tossed them in the lake - yup floating rock!

First glimpse of South Sister on the way in

Gaby crossing one of the foot bridges

A rare shot of Chris Pope

...and one more of that off the couch mountain man!

South Sister behind the pumice field

After refueling at the lake and taking in the scenery the weather began to threaten with distant thunder and small squalls moving through the region. Figuring we could come down from the ridge should it get worse we decided to head up and see if we could summit Broken Top Mtn. The tread gets thin as it leaves the lake but we eventually found our way up to the long NW Ridge route that leads up to the summit.

On the approach to Broken Top

Gaby in her summit outfit

Chris and Gaby trodding up the ridge

The ridge finally yielded to some snow and eventually to the crappy rock up high that everyone writes about. It becomes 4th and low 5th class but because we didn't have a rope and the rock was rather loose Gaby and Chris decided to stay below. Gaby tried at one point to ascend a section but after pulling out a large cooler sized block she didn't feel it was worth the effort. I found a fairly stable passage and decided to head on to the summit being careful that I was on my own and without any additional protection. After the passage through the basalt band there were a series of ledges and catwalks which meandered up to the summit ridge.

Snow section on the NW Ridge

Reaching the summit cap

Gaby's attempt before pulling out a block

Summit shot - 9175 ft

Of course the weather clears after we descend!