[TR] Middle Sister - North Ridge (Hayden Glacier) 6/20/2012

[nicozone]

Trip: Middle Sister - North Ridge (Hayden Glacier)

 

Date: 6/20/2012

 

Trip Report:

Originally, we were a party of 6, but by Friday, everyone except Peter and I had bailed. Some said the weather wasn't going to be good, others said they were looking at other peaks, but Peter and I knew what was up. I had seen the weather forecasts that had predictions of 55 degree days and 42 degree nights for Fri/Sat. We were ready for it.

 

 

Coming in from Pole Creek TH, the Trail 4070 that runs from PC to Green Lakes was entirely melted out. Most of the blow down has been cleared already. But about .5 miles onto Trail 4072 you encounter several blow downs that force you off the trail for short stints. The snow starts to get heavier at about 1.5-2 miles into the trail. Heavy traffic has left a foot trail that leads to the same exit from treeline that the trail normally makes.

 

 

We setup camp behind a small grouping of trees, where a large group of Mazamas had setup camp. We got to know the leader, Jay, who explained that they were not on an official Mazama climb (i.e. private), and that they had several novices that were getting their first taste of alpine climbing. [Full Disclaimer: Peter and I are both Mazamas too] We decided to steer clear of them and wait to start our climb until 4:30am (they were going to start at 3am). As luck would have it, we didn't get out of camp until 5am, but we got to chase the clouds all the way to Prouty Point and the North Ridge. As the sun rose, it warmed the clouds that had been sitting on the ridge the entire route up to it. We had gotten reports from a pair of Timberline Mountain Guides that were looking for their tent and gear that had blown away, that the winds at Prouty Point were 60+ mph. We never felt anything harder than the occasional 30-40mph gusts.

 

 

We skirted the Hayden Glacier on the right-hand side and only saw a few opening crevasses that were far from the ridge that we used. The winds and clouds did pick up significantly at the North Ridge, and continued for the rest of our climb to the summit. We made the summit at 9:30am. It was a swift climb back to camp, and a uneventful pack-out to the TH. We stopped at Sno Cap for a burger and shake, and headed home.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Ice axe and crampons definitely needed when snow covered and wind blown.

 

Approach Notes:

Follow everyone else's foot prints through the snow, and make sure you are on the correct sides of Soap Creek and Squaw Creek. Not too difficult.

[joshzielinski]

hey nico, i am planning on running around the 3 sisters as soon as the snow melts off a bit. at what elevation did you encounter consistent snow? Just trying to gauge/plan a date and was surprised so much has melted already at pole creek on the 4070 trail.

[nicozone]

We didn't hit snow until about 6300-6500'. Probably melted off even more now. But a decent amount of snowpack is still hiding behind treeline where the sun doesn't hit it.

[kaiw]

Hello Nico,

 

Looks like a fun trip! With the crevasses starting to peek out, did you feel any need to rope up? Or by skirting the right hand side of Hayden you avoided most of the glacier all together?

 

Cheers,

Kai