Sisters, OR - Middle Sister, North Ridge

It was another volcano that needed climbing and I needed a solo trip to rejuvenate my spirit. So it was, back to the wonderful Three Sisters Wilderness area. This time I would come in from the Obsidian trail head and camp high enough out of the limited area so as to not require a permit. I packed just enough food and gear as to make my load light and let me travel fast. I even left my boots at home and decided on trail runners for the ascent.

After a drive from Seattle shared with some concert goers who I let out at Eugene I turned towards Sisters and McKenzie Pass to reach my trail head around 1am. I slept in Westy until about 8am and then finished packing and hit the trail passing into the Obsidian area.

Obsidian Limited Entry Zone

After a few miles of hiking I reached a higher plateau which gave me a great view of my objective Middle Sister, 10,047ft. in height and fondly referred to as Hope. Her slopes were definitely snow covered but inviting nonetheless. Pushing along I eventually reached Obsidian Falls at 5 miles and a little further the Sister Spring where I could fill up with fresh mountain water. I consulted my map and found the re-entry to the upper plateau and a camping zone where I wouldn't need a permit.

Middle Sister, Hope

Obsidian Falls

At about ~7,200 feet I reached a nice spot which suited me fine for a position to climb the following day. I was close enough to water and it seemed quiet enough from the maddening crowds.

Home Sweet Home

Vibrant Lichen around my camp

West evening view

East evening view of Hope

A good nights rest prompted an earlier rise and the casual making of breakfast and coffee. Once fed I made a quick summit pack and began my trek up the Collier glacier and headed towards the North ridge. Higher on the snow pack I put on my crampons and make quick time on the glacier. I caught a party that was ahead of me for sometime as they rested and roped up at the bottom of the steeper ridge section. Glad I had my ice axe for the given snow sections, I eased my way up the ridge and onto the final stretch to the summit; 2:12 from my tent to the summit.

Lower moraines

Mt Washington, Three Finger Jack and Mt Jefferson l-r

First light on the Collier

Standard ascent gear: long underwear, runners and crampons

My trusty partner stayed with me the whole way

Rounding the corner to see my gal

Looking up the North Ridge route

Catching the other party along the ridge

Steeper section - doesn't look it however

On the summit looking north

Self portrait

Summit shot looking south

Chambers and Camp Lakes

After descending from the mountain and making my way back down the Collier I noticed a lone climber making their way up the glacier. As we met we began to chat and I discovered she was going to head up to the saddle between North and Middle. We talked about gear and conditions and the fact that we were both on solo trips. Megan was her name and we traded a couple of photo shots under a strangely wave shaped rock. Megan asked where I was camped and I told her up around the 7000+ foot level in a permit free zone. She mentioned that maybe she would try to find my camp and come by and say 'hi' later in the afternoon.

Happy climber

My new friend Megan

After returning to camp I crashed for an obligatory nap. When I woke I began going through my food supplies and realized that I hadn't packed enough for both a dinner and a breakfast the next day. I was quite hungry so I ate what little was left save a Gu shot and some chews. I decided that it would probably be best to pack up and head out since I was low on things to eat.

I made my way back down to the spring and stopped to scoop some water. There were a couple of people sitting on some rocks with a map out slightly up stream from me. As I put my pack on I heard someone call my name, it was Megan. She came over and asked me where I was going and that she was trying to figure out where I might have been camped. I told her the details of my food situation and she graciously offered to make me dinner saying she had plenty of food. Now how could I turn that down? As the evening fell Megan didn't think it was wise for me to hike out in the dark and suggested staying one more night and making my way out the next morning. It was great to have met Megan and perhaps our paths will cross again.

Life goes in crazy circles

Squamish, BC - Calculus Crack etc.

A quick mid-week trip with James put us in Squamish to climb some moderates including Calculus Crack a sweet 5.9 moderate multi-pitch route on the Apron and another link-up in the Bullet Heads. The weather was great but just not enough time to stay and play.

Lower Apron - Calculus Crack 5.9

Government Camp, OR - Mt Hood, Palmer Glacier

"...yeah but I would prefer to be down before the semi-final World Cup between Uruguay and the Netherlands, will that work for you?" is how we set the schedule for this climb. Pope had a brief break from putting out fires and wanted to clip another hill in the Cascades that we have purposely ignored for the fact of crowds. However being the day after a holiday weekend we figured it might be quiet enough and would provide us with more training. I picked Chris up at his Mom's house Monday afternoon and we jollied our way down to Sandy where we stopped for some good eats at the Thai House and then on to Timberline Lodge. I was very impressed with the construction of the lodge and although its $220/nt price is a bit steep you definitely get a stay like no other.

After registration we packed up our gear and crawled into the Westy for about 3 hours of rest. Unfortunately those weren't to be had since the wind picked up and howled with 30mph gusts the whole evening. 12:45am came soon and we suited up and began our climb in about 15 minutes. It was quite warm but still windy and forecasts had the freezing level at around 13,000'. We could see the groomers working the ski hills and slowly made our way up to the top of the ski lifts fighting the wind the whole way. The gusts up higher could literally knock you over and we had to lean into the hill to keep from rolling backwards. We did haul a rope and pickets but never pulled them out - training weight I suppose. The fumaroles at the base of the Hogsback made this the stinkiest mountain I have ever climbed. A short steep section was fairly mundane and we met 2 others on their way off the summit here. We made the summit in about 5.5 hrs of climbing.

Once on top we enjoyed the views briefly, took some photos and set off on our way down. The summit was fairly narrow and not like the tops of the WA volcanoes which tend to have large broad summit plateaus. The top was the one place that it actually stopped blowing. The descent took about 3 more hours and found us back at the Westy and packing to go watch the game. Uruguay 2 Netherlands 3

Mt Hood South Side with the approximate route

Mt Hood sunrise shadow forming

Truck'in up around Crator Rock

Team C2 taking in a smelly Mt Hood at the base of the Hogsback

The last steep step to the Pearly Gates

Mr.Summit

Ms.Summit ?!?

Descent on the step - tracks around Crator Rock are visible below

On a side note this is my 14th individual Cascade Volcano mountain - some I have been on multiple times - with a goal to climb them all.

Leavenworth, WA - Iconoclast

Having not completely finished this route and coming up short on partners I checked out the climbing board to see who might be free. Net result was James and I meeting up with a poster for a run at Icconoclast on Snow Creek Wall. Unfortunately on the approach I snapped a branch off of a fallen log while stepping over, sprained my thumb and put a hole in my leg that kept pumping blood. It took a while for the blood to finally stop but the sprain didn't go away so easily. I led a couple of pitches and swung leads with Charles. The 4th and 5th pitches were spectacular if not challenging with a semi-useless appendage. Its all good beta for the Hyperspace run coming in the near future.

James moving up the 2nd pitch

The notorious hard corner pitch 3, tricky small gear and a bit dirty


Pitch 4 belay duty

Also mossy but a sweet traverse begins here and eventually leads to...


..this chicken-head covered face!

The next generation of pee licking climber's friends in training.

Time to go babes these guys are too dehydrated.

Diamond Lake, OR - Mount Thielsen, West Ridge

Mt.Thielsen from the East with high winds whipping up snow on the ridge

As a continuation of the "Cascade Volcano Quest" this easy summer summit turned out to be an all out winter conditions festival in May. We had the mountain to ourselves but with 30+ mph winds, lots of fresh snow and a mid-week ascent I should think so. The climb took us about 8 hours round trip with about 10+ miles and 4000 feet covered for a great training day. We finally broke through the clouds after navigating in cloudy and foggy conditions up to the 8000' mark. We took the MSR Lightening snowshoes and they worked great for the whole trek. They are lightweight and have a secure "cookie cutter" vertical frame rail that provides amazing traction for alpine climbing, hard pack and steep terrain without the need for us to have to use crampons.

Westy has a few more days of snow before summer

Weather looks like crap but let's just see how far we can go...

Lots of white stuff but still having fun

Winds pick up and the ninja suit comes on

Getting serious 30mph plus gusts that almost knock us over

Still makin tracks

She finally shows herself

Hard pack and wind scoured

Time and alti check

Very sweet ridge line to trot up

Cool rime snow ghost formations on the conifers

Heading to the summit block