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Ascent of South Sister on 2012-06-06

Climber: Greg Slayden

Others in Party:

Aaron
Loughlin

Date:

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

Car

Peak:

South Sister

Location:

USA-Oregon

Elevation:

10358 ft / 3157 m

Ascent Trip Report

Had a great ski descent, from the crater rim at 10,220' down to Devils Lake at 5450', without removing my skis. I did have to step over some rock bands, and free my heels for striding along the flats. The snow was icy up top, through packed powder, corn, slush, elmer's glue, and finally heavy glop covered with tree boughs down low.

My ascent, though, was an epic. I stupidly parked too soon, at Dutchman Flat, not realizing that lots of people parked semi-illegally along the plowed road even though no parking areas or turnouts had been plowed. So I had to skin for almost 10 miles around Broken Top just to get to Green Lakes at the base of the main peak. Then I followed some climbers up a nasty ridge, where I should have stayed lower. The last 400 feet was very icy, and
I had no crampons,so I had to kick deep steps to make my way up.

I meet two other skiers, Aaron and Loughlin, below the summit, and we teamed up for the final climb and for the descent. They showed me the standard south climb route down to Devil's Lake, and gave me a ride back to my car 8 miles down the road. Thanks, guys!

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

5057 ft / 1541 m

Elevation Loss:

5968 ft / 1818 m

Distance:

18 mi / 29 km

Quality:

8 (on a subjective 1-10 scale)

Route Conditions:

Road Hike, Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail, Open Country, Bushwhack, Snow on Ground, Snow Climb

Gear Used:

Skis, Ski Poles

Weather:

Cold, Very Windy, Low Clouds
Sunny/PtCloudy on Lower Mtn.

Ascent Statistics

Elevation Gain:

5007 ft / 1526 m

Extra Loss:

1010 ft / 307 m

Distance:

12.6 mi / 20.2 km

Route:

Green Lakes

Trailhead:

Dutchman Flat Sno-Park 6361 ft / 1938 m

Time Up:

9 Hours 10 Minutes

Descent Statistics

Elevation Loss:

4958 ft / 1511 m

Extra Gain:

50 ft / 15 m

Distance:

5.5 mi / 8.8 km

Route:

South Tr

Trailhead:

Devils Lake 5450 ft / 1661 m

Time Down:

2 Hours 30 Minutes

GPS Data for Ascent/Trip

GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/long
Peaks: climbed and unclimbed by Greg Slayden
Click Here for a Full Screen Map
Note: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO resposibility or liability from use of this data.

Download this GPS track as a GPX file

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