We departed the trailhead on saturday weighted down by skis, climbing gear, and overnight gear. The hike to our camp at treeline was hot and uneventful. Stupidly we set up our tent with a view of the mountains instead of in the shade, so while it cooked in the sun, we lounged around in the shade waiting for the sun to set while getting attacked by curious ants and mosquitos. Finally we couldn't take sitting around anymore, so we clicked on our skis for some sweet July corn. It was a difficult decision to stop our skinning ascent to save some energy for the climb the next morning. The were virtually limitless skiing oppertunities, and just going up there to ski would have been a worthwhile way to spend a weekend.
The alarm clock chimed its lovely melody at 1am and we were moving by 1:30. It was already warm enough for t-shirts, so we tried to move as quickly as possible with the intention of being on the summit before the sun really started cooking things. Ashamed for not even looking at a route description, I was thankful that the routefinding was straightforward and that the glacier was mostly crevasse free. We plodded our way upward under some of the best stars I have seen in ages with the mountain rising bigger and bigger as we approached. Around 3:45 (I couldn't believe it either...) the sky to the east began showing the first signs of day and we stepped off of the glacier onto the North Ridge. The ridge was in interesting shape... Mostly a pile of loosly stacked rocks and boulders punctuated with a few steepish snowfields. The climb was dusty and slow. I led the way and tried to do my best not to roll rocks down onto Melissa below. The crux of the ridge was a steep but short snowfield exposed above above a loose cliffband. We had just watched a team of three belay each other across this step, so I was suprised when Mel declined the rope option and set off to solo the "step". Although the conditions were safe, it was exposed and a fall would have been lights out... Above that more crappy scree and a beautiful snowfield led to the summit. We hung out for a few minutes, and then turned around, not looking forward to getting sunbaked on the glacier below.
The hike out was ruthlessly hot, but the lure of warm beer and potato chips had us cranking pretty quickly... The worst part of the trip was the drive home in what had to be 100 degree weather. We neglected to take the vehicle with air conditioning... A mistake that was not remotely worth the money we saved by taking the Corolla.
Sweet July skiing...
North Sister Sunrise & the Cascade Volcano "Lineup"
Mel on the steep snowpatch
More
Finishing the summit ridge... Serious exposure to her left!
Me on the summit
South Sister, Broken Top, and Bachelor
Mel on the summit
Decending the North Ridge
Decending the Hayden Glacier
Cooking on the Morane
Slow and safe on the sketchy part of the downclimb
