dawuda Posted August 19, 2014 Posted August 19, 2014 Trip: Three Sisters - North to South in a Day Date: 8/16/2014 Trip Report: I don't post many reports and mainly just stalk this site, but I'm proud of my weekend warrior efforts last weekend, and feel the need for a pat on the back..... I'm not a big birthday kind of guy, but seeing as it was my 30th, I thought I should do something mention-able. Crappy thing about not being a birthday kind of guy.... you don't tell your friends, and then they're all busy on you birthday. So I planned a solo trip. Initially I was just gonna aim for the wilderness with a bottle of whiskey and my dog, but as i pondered various solo excursions, I kept being drawn back to my desire to solo the 3 Sisters in a single push. No reason to make this long, so heres the deets... Woke at 2am on Saturday Moving by 2:40 Terrible traverse @ 6:10 - The traverse was still full of snow and was quite icy. Having been on the summit at least 3 other times, I opted to live another 30 years and forego the traverse (don't judge!) Being that it was my Bday, I had brought a beer for each summit. First beer at sunrise from North Sister! A little buzzed, I scrambled down to the saddle and ran up Middle. Arrived at the Middle Sister summit at 8:10 in complete solitude. Drank another beer.... As I scrambled to put my stuff back in my pack, my crampons got feisty with the last beer. The poor can didn't stand a chance and sprung a leak. My red bull attempted to defend the beers honor and suffered a similar fate. Realizing the circumstances at hand, I made a rash decision and chose to shotgun the Red Bull rather than have a 3rd beer. Probably the better choice. I hurried down Middle sister to Chambers lakes. Took an hour to get down. I hydrated and fill my nalgene. An old man traveling solo stopped by to say hi. Super nice guy enjoying some time alone in the woods. I had been down the North side of South Sister about 12 years ago and vaguely remembered the route. I spotted out a series of ridges that led to the Northwest ridge. But a small rock band choked access. I crossed my fingers that I'd find a way through and headed up. Amazingly, I found passage on the left side of the rock, albeit very loose! I was greeted on the rim to a cheering crowd of at least 10,000 people. Ok, maybe not that many, but holy hell everybody and their mom was up there. It was 12:30pm. I rested for 30 minutes and took a quick cat nap before running down the south side, veering East to Green Lakes. I hyrdated and swam, ecstatic about my accomplishment. I had originally thought the trip might take me almost 20 hours. It had been 12.5 and I had maybe 8 miles to go to get back to Pole Creek. I set a new goal of 14 hours and set to it. After hiking out of the basin, I started running. I ran for 3-4 miles before my legs started to tell me no. Accepting that 15 hours would suffice, I slowed and walked the last couple miles. I arrived at the car 15 hours and 15 minutes after leaving. Not bad for 30th birthday! I'm lazy, so ya'll only get one pic. Quote
Water Posted August 19, 2014 Posted August 19, 2014 awesome! Maybe I should peg that for my 35th.. I'm a bit surprised there is still plentiful snow on the traverse, this being a warm hot summer..with rain events in a non-banner snow year, though I suppose snowfall at 9k+ was probably not hit. thank's for sharing. Bummer about the crampons/beers..had that happen once, a real shame. Cheers and happy belated birthday! Quote
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