South Sister (Oregon Cascades; 10,358')

South Sister (10,358') is the third-highest mountain in Oregon. The South Side route is an easy, although arduous (due to the almost 5,000' elevation gain from Devils Lake), hike that can be done in sneakers even in mid-June, provided the weather is good and you don't mind getting wet feet. Don't get intimidated by the hordes of people on the trail who carry equipment that would be adequate for K2, but don't hesitate either to switch to boots or turn around altogether if you encounter icy conditions near the crater rim. As on all high volcanoes, of course, bad weather can drastically increase the seriousness of the trip. The South Side also provides a superb ski descent. Contiguous, or almost contiguous, snow usually can be found from the summit to the flats at around 6,800' until early July. Later in the year the route is just an endless scree slog. The East Side (from Green Lakes) provides a nice variation that is much less traveled. Prouty Glacier (also approached from Green Lakes) is a technical climb, and/or an extreme ski descent.	South Sister from the south in early July (photo credit: Jörg Rollbühler)
Topo Map
Routes: S Side (I, Class 1, moderate ski descent) S Side Variation (I, Class 2) References: Jeff Thomas, Oregon High Keep Climbing Press (Portland, OR 1991) J. Smoot, Summit Guide to the Cascade Volcanoes Chockstone Press (Evergreen, CO 1992) N.A. Dodge, A Climbing Guide to Oregon , Touchstone Press (Beaverton, OR 1975)

Date: May 19, 2018

Party: DB solo

Route: South Side, ski descent

Equipment: AT skis, whippets

Time: Devils Lake - Summit: 7 hrs 5 mins
Summit - Devils Lake: 2 hrs 45 mins
Roundtrip from Devils Lake: 10 hrs 15 mins

Comments: Snow line at Devils Lake, contiguous snow started 350' vertical up the gully.

Trip report: The snow pack was not great, so Cascade Lakes Highway had openened early. I started from the highway at 8:15 and reached the top of the gully after a bit of an hour. There clearly were a lot of people on the mountain, but unfortunately the butt glissaders had obliterated virtually all boot tracks, so whenever it got too steep for skinning I had to kick steps, which slowed me down. While working my way up to the saddle at the base of Lewis Glacier I noticed a helicopter circling over the lava flows below, and hoped it was on a training flight (it was not, as I found out later). The ridge from the saddle was still mostly snow covered, and I skinned again for a while until I switched back to boot packing for getting up to the crater rim.

The wind had picked up a bit, and some squalls were moving in from the west, consistent with the forecast. However, as I had observed on previous trips, the squalls had a tendency to get diverted to Middle Sister, leaving South Sister alone. It was getting late by the time I got to the summit, so I did not linger long, took in the views, took off my skins, and started down.

The snow was remarkably good. For the first 2,000' vertical or so I found a very good approximation to actual corn, and from there to the pumice flats the snow was still very decent. Once I got to the top of the only really steep step on the obvious descent line I realized that the helicopter had not been on a training flight: at the bottom of the step a rescue crew was busy preparing someone for a litter trip down to the helicopter, which had landed about 1,000' lower. I sideslipped the steep section, as I usually do, and proceeded to the flats where I had a late lunch. On my way across the flats I ran into the other half of the rescue squad, who were on their way up on snow shoes and inquired about the location of the chopper.

The gully was reasonably skiable, and I was able to ski down to about 350' vertical above the highway. Very nice trip, and excellent skiing by Oregon standards, although I was a bit dismayed that the ascent had taken me so long.