Broken Top (Oregon Cascades; 9,175')

Broken Top, just East of South Sister, is a member of a cluster of volcanoes that also includes the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor. It is amazingly crumbly, with the notable exception of the steep NW end of the summit pinnacle. The standard route up the pinnacle is rotten third class, but the variation (easy 5th class) climbs the edge of the pinnacle on solid rock in an amazing position. With a lot of snow cover the couloirs can be good snow climbs; without snow the NW Ridge is the only recommended route. Topo Map Routes: NW Ridge (I, Class 4) Nine O'Clock Couloir (II, Class 4, 45-degree snow) NW Ridge Summit Pinnacle Variation (I, 5.2)

Broken Top in early July from around 8,800' on South Sister (photo credit: Jörg Rollbühler)

References: Jeff Thomas, Oregon High , Keep Climbing Press (Portland, OR 1991) J. Smoot, Summit Guide to the Cascade Volcanoes , Chockstone Press (Evergreen, CO 1992)

Date: July 27, 2014

Party: DB solo

Route: NW Ridge

Equipment: Climbing shoes

Note: Time down includes the entire NW Ridge

Time: Trail Head - Green Lakes 1 hr 15 mins
Trailhead - Summit 3 hrs 40 mins
Roundtrip from Trailhead 8 hrs 15 minutes

Trip report:

I had not been up Broken Top in a while, and I needed a conditioning trip for the Sierra Nevada, so I went for the NW Ridge again. I raced to Green Lakes and up to the notch, then I took it easier up the ridge. There was more snow left then I would have expected, with a few patches even below Green Lakes. It was overcast with ideal temperatures, but I was worried it would start raining. It never did, though, although it was raining farther south, around Mt. Thielsen. I switched from approach shoes to climbing shoes for the 10-foot step and then took the standard route to the summit. On the way down I did the entire ridge again, which is worth the extra effort, and wound up at the giant spring that feeds Green Lakes. Another two hours later I was back at my car. Very nice trip.