conditions and route info on the sisters

[thelorax]

looking to ski the middle and south sister this week sometime. just wondering if any one had been out there recently and had a report on conditions. also looking for some info, i was planning on starting at the devils lake trail head and skiing off the northish side of south sister and making my way to the middle sister and then return the same way or skirt the south sister. was planning on 3 days/2 nights. any info on the route from the south sister to the middle would be appreciated and is the time frame realistic or should i plan on more time? oh yeah and anyone who cares to join in the fun would be more than welcome.

thanks

[BradW]

I'm looking at SE ridge of Middle Sister via Pole Creek for next weekend. Wondering how far the snow's melted out.

[dinomyte]

I was there, what, 2 weeks ago, and there was nothing below 6,000 ft. If you headed toward the SE Ridge of North sis, and then onto the glacier and up to the saddle between North and Middle, you'd still have a nice stretch.

 

If you leave from Pole Creek, you're well past Soap Creek by the time you can put them on. So, it's several miles in, maybe 4, before you're skinning.

 

Check the Oregon forum, Timmy is there all the time.

[old codger]

My son and I went up South Sister to the top on June 24th. At about a mile in on the trail the snow was skiable up to about 1/2 mile below the flats. The flats were 100% suncups for the two miles to the real slopes. The real slopes were good (but required a couple of dirty ridge walks) from about 7000 to 9000 feet. It was windy hail and poor visibility from there so we left our skis and walked to the top. Couldn't see well enough to tell you what the skiing might be like up there. However, on our day it was quite frozen above 8500 feet. Skiing was smooth from 9000 to the flats. It's getting late for skiing there, in my opinion, but if you must....we put the skis in the pack and climbed in sneakers all the way. It was 5 hours up and 2.5 hours down, to give you an indication of quality of the run.