rbw1966 Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Winter, Termincal Gravity and myself made an attempt at the Sisters Marathon this weekend. We didn't end up making it but fun was had by all. Friday we all meet up at my house after work. We load up, head out and make pit stops to buy a map, sandwhiches and fuel before we're on our way. My truck gets dropped off at the Bachelor Nordic Center and we're heading to the Pole Creek Trailhead. Who's got the alarm clock? Oops. I'm the only one with even a watch and it doesn't have an alarm clock. Call the hotel for a wake up call? The road to the campground is clear and we're laying down for some shut-eye by midnight. Winter seems to be the only one who falls immediately to sleep while Steve and I toss and turn. By 1230 though I am softly snoring with my head buried inside the new bibler bivy I am checking out. I manage to wake every hour, on the hour until its finally 5 minutes to 3:00. We rouse ourselves in the cold night air and hit the trail by 3:30. Route-finding is a bit tricky since we can't see the mountains but eventually we break into more open terrain and find we're right on course. We ascend the SE spur of the South Ridge as the sun comes above the eastern horizon. There's not a cloud in the sky and its a glorious morning. We start postholing so decide it might be time to take the skis off our backs and put them on our feet. TG and Winter stop for a munchy break and I keep moving up the ridge to the scree slope to scope out a convenient place to cache the skis. I wait for them and we decide to move up to where the spur joins the ridge proper to ditch the skis. A raven has joined our party and remains with us. Chris is not feeling well and decides to hang back as TG and I make a bid for the summit. The Bachelor parking area is looking mighty far away from the South Sister. For over an hour Middle Sister is obscured by the Black Fin and what I think is Middle Sister is actually South and I mistakenly believe broken top is South. Moron. TG and I kibbutz trying to decide whether the marathon appears to be do-able. The snow conditions on the East side of the South Ridge are soft and sloppy and spontaneous sluffing occurs the entire time we ascend. We stick with the West side of the ridge until a gendarme below the traverse to the pinnacle forces us to the East. We opt instead to ascent the gendarme rather than risk the sketchy avy conditions--fun, exposed climbing that for me was the highlight. The traverse is mostly shaded so we decide to give it a go. I make it half-way across to a small ridge that bisects the traverse where I see the rest of the route bathed in sunlight. I'm up to my waist in soft sugar snow on what feels to be a very unstable slope. I can't make any elevation gains as the snow pulls down onto me as I try and move up. Avy conditions appear to be pretty extreme. Losing my nerve I yell back to TG that we're done. We bail back to our skis and make our way down to Winter who is waiting for us in saddle. Lessons learned: Wait until the roads open. Start from the West side. Finish at Devils Lake. If I do it in Winter or early Spring conditions, I think I'd rather break it into 2 days so you can get the maximum enjoyment in the ski-able terrain. It was an absolutely gorgeous day spent in the mountains with great partners. We had a great ski back to the car where we performed the mandatory safety debriefing before heading back to Bend for beers and burgers. We did not see another person the entire time we were there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 being alone in the big hills... bullshit snow after endless rain spent crouching in bullshit employment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminal_Gravity Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 It was great climbing with RBW & Winter, and it was a glorious day but not at all conducive to safely completing the marathon. I have never seen so much sluff small avy action concentratied in a small area and so quickly as the slopes heated up. I usually think that if the slope is steeper than 45 and it is not snowing, anything that is going to slide has probably already done so. That was clearly not the case on Saturday. The mountains were rapidly lowering their center of gravity. Taking the gandarme direct, ropeless, and trying to traverse 45-50 degree soft, ready to go, snow gave us a bit of real climbing feel and made the trip better than a walk in the hills with friends. Skiing down the south face of the SE rib of N.Sister and waiting every few turns for the induced slides to pass by was kind of fun too. It was a fun day with great partners but the Marathon was clearly not in the cards. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 Man, was it beautiful out there this weekend. Clear skies and no wind. I felt like shit. I don't know what my problem is, but I gotta fix it. The conditions were definitely sketchy. A huge slide came off the south face of North Sister while I was sitting on the SE Ridge. The SE face of Middle Sister was raining rocks and snow all morning long. I took a gingerly run on the S Face of the SE Ridge of North before TG and RBW came back down. It seemed stable ... the snow pack wasn't that deep. Pretty risky above 8000', but I think it wasn't so bad below. What a great place. to rbw and TG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CascadeClimber Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 I've turned back at that traverse twice now, once because of obscene avy conditions (three feet of slush on the west face, no purchase, starting wet slides with each step), once in perfect conditions, but an unwilling partner. 0-7 on North, headed back soon. How far could you drive up the Pole Creek Road? -L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 The road was clear to the trailhead. Not a trace of snow. The trail was patchy, and we were able to ski down to within aoubt half a mile of the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 I usually find it very fast to ditch the trail early at the first junction early season and head up the ridge keeping b-top in view on the left. this gets you to treeline quickly and you can head over to se spur if you want to bother with that annoying route or do the cool routes on the east side (e.m. couloir or thayer headwall, both very cool). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted April 21, 2003 Author Share Posted April 21, 2003 If you are planning on doing a ski tour of all three mountains though, I recommend heading almost directly towards Middle Sister, keeping the SE spur on your right-hand side so you can navigate to the col between Middle and North without having to lose any elevation. The Spur joins the South Ridge pretty high above the Col and there wasn't much ski-able terrain on the spur, meaning you'll have to carry skis to the juncture with the South ridge. Thats a long slog through scree with your skis on your back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 yes that would be pretty miserable. I've found that SE ridge to be pretty ugly in general as you weave up those gendarmes, deep drifts of snow on one side, ice, and at times, bare rock on the other. If I were to climb there again had the choice in the matter I'd just go up the Hayden G. even with the extra distance, etc. take the skis up the main south ridge to ski down at the traverse to the collier g, then head over to middle sister I guess. I've wondered if the west face left route on north is skiable. Nice trip guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 I'd have to agree with RBW. The best way to do the marathon is to climb the Hayden glacier to col between Middle and North. The Pole Creek approach is way faster and easier than the west side approach. Forget about that ugly SE ridge on North. Leave skis at the col. Climb North and come back. Wizz up North Ridge of Middle w/skis and ski the SE Ridge of Middle as far down as possible. Skin up to Prouty Headwall, continue booting as it steepens up, go to the summit of South, ski the standard South Sister route back to the Cascade Lakes Highway. Easy hitchhike to Bend to the pub. The best time to do it is right when the Cascade Lakes highway opens. Could be any time now. They may open the section to Devils Lake TH before the whole thing opens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted April 21, 2003 Share Posted April 21, 2003 maybe consider climbing up NW ridge of BT as well and flail off 11'o'clock couloir and then out to dutchman. if 11'o'clock does not look good you have a good ski back to above green lakes then out to snowmobile land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted April 21, 2003 Author Share Posted April 21, 2003 There was no indication that the highway was open to Devils Lake at all. Don't be suckered into thinking you can get there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapertimmy Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 rbw1966 said: There was no indication that the highway was open to Devils Lake at all. Don't be suckered into thinking you can get there yet. i think he is talking about opening the road from the elk lake side, indeed there is still a bit of snow at dutchman, but the road near elk lake should be melted out, or close to being so. if anybody is going to do the marathon, and needs a ride back to bend, just let me know, I can pick you up anytime, or if you want to store beer in my office fridge i'll promise not to drink it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminal_Gravity Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 rbw1966 said: By 1230 though I am softly snoring with my head buried inside... Rob, I'm not sure you used the proper adverb. :drink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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