Mountain #2: South Sister Ski Ascent
Date: June 13th, 2023
Distance: Approximately 13 miles round trip
Elevation gain: Approximately 4875 feet
Start/Finish: Devils Lake Trailhead
Duration: Approximately 10 hours
Logistics:
South Sister is easiest accessed in late spring after Cascade Lakes Hwy has opened. A NW Forest Pass is needed to park, and, if it’s after June 15th, a Central Cascades Wilderness permit is also required to be on any of the trails near South Sister.
South Sister:
I’ll call this the “When all my friends ski up South Sister on Memorial Day and I can’t join them so I ski up Mt. Bailey instead, but think South Sister still has SO MUCH snow it will be totally fine 2 weeks later” Trip! WRONG! There is a finite window of time when Cascade Lakes Hwy is open and one can ski all the way back to the car after skiing up the Mountain. This year that window of time was even smaller than in years past. We had some insane snowfall this past winter/spring, but also had pretty much the fastest snowmelt most have ever seen! I felt lucky that I could squeeze in a day to try to ski up South Sister just before the Central Cascade permits took effect on June 15th. I arrived early the morning of June 13th, around 6:45 AM and, to my delight, there were only 4 or so cars in the fully accessible Devils Lake parking lot! Even more to my delight, there was not a single mosquito in sight when I exited the car, nor did I encounter them anywhere on the trail! Nature must have taken pity on me after my encounter with them on Mt. Bailey. (Yes, I had ALL the bug spray!) Not so much to my delight, the trail from the Devils Lake parking lot to the official trailhead had about a foot of standing water!
Swamp tour from Devil's Lake to the trailhead
Lucky for me I was in my trusty AT ski boots and the water did not come up over the top of them, therefore my feet stayed dry! Again, not so much to my delight, I encountered patchy snow as soon as I hit the trail and ultimately had to bootpack all the way to Moraine Lake.
Trailhead
I could have skied part of the way on the pine needles and tree debris scattered across the snow, but chose not to. Now, here’s the part where it gets crazy! My friends had skied 2 weeks before and skied all the way from the summit back to their cars with feet of snow covering the road and the parking lot to Devils Lake. Another friend had skied just TWO days prior to me with a very similar experience, and all the reports from any online sources, as recent as 3 days prior to my trip, detailed the same! Here I stood at the trailhead, prepared for a fun day of skiing, but instead resigned myself to what I knew would be a long uphill slog in ski boots! I should mention here that I could see on my drive in that the trail above the false summit was completely clear of snow, and any side snow was patchy at best, so I had already resigned myself to the fact that I would drop my skis below the false summit and climb to the top in my ski boots, as I had not packed an additional pair of summit shoes. I’ve now summited South Sister 26 times, and skied into Moraine Lake at least 10 other times on top of that. A few of those non-summit intention skis have been in less than ideal conditions, so I feel almost as though I could be dropped off anywhere on South Sister and eventually peck my way to the top. Of course, carrying a map, knowing the approximate route, and having some level of navigational skills is also always a good idea! I have several personal landmarks on the way up, and always seem to take the same path in the snow….Start on the trail, diverge onto the “ski gully”, do a couple little steep pitches, past “Square Rock”, the biggest landmark that lets me know I’m still on the correct path…
Square Rock
…past the “Cliffs of Insanity”, through the little valley that is usually filled with wildflowers in the summer…
Looking up the meadow
…and up the final “skiers don’t always believe in switchbacks” hill to top out on the moraines above Moraine Lake.
Basking in the sun cups
Here I put on my skis, happy to have them as I glided on the flattish sections above the lake. They certainly saved me from the soft snow slog on the way up and down and allowed me to enjoy the views a little bit more.
Beautiful mountain on a beautiful day
Hugging a little to skier’s left of the actual climber’s trail allowed me to stay in slightly less steep snow as the weather warmed and it got difficult to retain traction on the mush. Alas, I reached the end of the good snow and decided to cut my losses and drop my skis just below the lava cone below the false summit. Even though I had ice axe, crampons, etc. with me, I knew that none of that equipment would be needed, so I decided to drop that weight alongside my skis (minus the small ice tool I kept with me just in case!). With a lighter pack and plenty of water and snacks in tow, I continued up the trail to the summit, slogging step by step through the lava rock in my ski boots for another 2,000 or so vertical feet! This is where my stubbornness kicked in. Since my boots were comfortable enough to keep going, and I had traveled all that way for summit #26, I decided there was no reason to turn around. I encountered 4 other people at the false summit, 2 people on foot who seemed like that was their goal for the day, and 2 other skiers who were not as enthusiastic/stubborn/determined as me to summit the Mountain in their ski boots!
False summit lake
Along the way I saw 2 more pairs of skis and boots that had been ditched just above the false summit, and crossed paths with the owners, happily walking in their trail shoes, at the top!
Breaktime
Selfie time!
I also saw one trail runner near the top, and one snowboarder, who, like me, did not bring extra shoes! There were also some intense clouds and wind rolling in just as I topped out before walking over to the true summit, so summit chill time was shorter than I would have liked it to be.
Summit Snacktime!
Chilling in the wind shelter.
Again, the dogs and I were the last domesticated beings to depart the summit!
Taking in one last summit view
Summit selfie
The slog back down to my skis took as long to go down in my ski boots as it had taken to go up, (think Frankenboots!) but I was thankful I had made those last minute modifications to my ski boots that seemed to prevent any hotspots from forming during any part of my journey!
Headed down
Reunited with my skis and gear, I reassembled myself and began the ski descent as far down as the good snow would allow, happily skiing over the slightly lumpy soft snow that had not yet been turned into foot deep suncups! I encountered the snowboarder on my way down. He had unfortunately broken a binding and was enjoying the slog down perhaps a bit less than the slog up! I could have skied farther into the trees and down the ski gully, but I like my skis and didn’t want to drag them across the pine needle, pine cone and stick debris scattered snow. I also didn’t want to encounter any recently exposed rocks, no matter how small, so I returned to Devils Lake with boots on the ground and skis A-framed to my pack. The last thing I ever want to do after a ski mountaineering adventure is visit our wonderful Shop techs with skis that need a core shot repair job! Regardless of the slog, the 4 out of 13 total miles (2 miles up and 2 miles down) that I spent on my skis was worth it, because: June! Sunshine! and Skiing in Shorts! The dogs also had a great time and our South Sister trip proved good training for our back to back Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams climbs that happened 2 weeks later!
Gear:
Black Crows Camox Freebird AT Skis
Pomoca Skins
Dynafit ST Rotation AT bindings
Salomon S/Lab MTN ski boots
BlackStrap Brackish Sun Hoody
Rab Borealis Hoody
Patagonia Houdini pants
Goodr Sunglasses, Sunscreen (SPF 60), Awesome Territory Run Company Mountain Shop custom hat, lip balm with SPF 30
