Middle & North Sister: Part 2

After having a rough nights sleep my stoke was immeasurable for North Sister. It seemed to have a perfect mix between technical summit and technical skiing in the lower Cascades. The morning started slow and cold which was what I had hoped for.

North Sister’s S face from the Hayden glacier, my ascent route this morning

On the face pictured above looking south.

The movement from camp was quite straightforward. I was very fortunate to be here during a banner spring snowpack so all the moraines held great amounts of snow. I used ski crampons up most of that face, roughly 80%, then switched to boot crampons.

Top of the S face looking north towards the summit block.

From the top of the face, you navigate based on conditions. Thankfully for me the snow was great for the standard route to the bowling alley. I found traversing these gullies to be quite fun as it stayed cold in the morning and the mountains felt glued together.

About to start the “terrible traverse” behind me

Bottom of the bowling alley. Perfect climbing conditions

The final pitch, the only real pitch of climbing is a phenomenal blend of steep snow, ice, & rime ice to create a mellow but engaging summit effort.

In the middle of the only real ice feature. The route roughly follows the red dots

Money section! Coolest flutes I’ve ever been in. I followed these dots to summit ridge.

Summit! Stoked to check it off!

Just what the doctor ordered. The conditions allowed me to enjoy this route to the fullest and I’m forever be thankful. Thank you Oregon.

I enjoyed the summit for a bit and made a game plan to retrieve my skis. I ended up rapping off the north side to a steep snow slope, planning to traverse the east face to retrieve my skis.

Brought the rope, used it & reinforced the anchor with some yellow 7mm.

I rappelled basically to the end of my rope, just making it over the bergschrund. Crampons on now and I’m traversing back to my skis. At the top of my final slope to climb I setup a rappel to get over a small section and in the process drop my backpack down the east face of North sister.

My view watching my bag drop 2000 feet

Shit happens. So I rappelled back down to the slope I left my skis at. At this point I now am holding two ice tool, two poles, skis, crampons, with a rope coiled on my skiing this 40 degree slope. After a few turns I find the first piece of bag debris: a singular credit card of mine. The realization hits that my bag’s brain was open splaying out my wallet, car keys, jacket, and some other electronics. I kept my composure until arriving at the bergschrund. The conditions on this face was sloppy corn so a constant train of slush was flowing down into the bergschrund. I immediately hop over it, put down my items and begin search inside the schrund for my backpack.

In a moment of clarity I get out of the bergschrund and start moving downhill. Luckily I find my bag just a minute later with the main body completely in tact with nothing else missing. I ended up getting back to camp, packing up and heading out as fast as possible.

A humbling experience that didn’t add too much extra work but the biggest challenge was ahead. Having lost my car key at a trailhead hundreds of miles away from my house was going to be interesting. After hours of phone calls with dealers and other unhelpful leads, I was able to get a locksmith to my car, but not until the next day.

An accurate representation of my feelings about my blunder.

Thankfully, my buddy Brendan picked me up, got Chipotle with me, let me crash at his place, and drove me back the next day! Brendan, you are a lifesaver! The locksmith did his magic, and I was soon on my way to attempt the Newton-Clark Headwall. A relative minor blip in the plan and things ended up working out for everyone.

The central gully is where my bag went for a skier-less descent.