Rhino Ascents: South Sister Trip Report

After a year on the shelf, it feels good to be back in the mountains. The fresh air, the smell of alpine flora, the sounds of the various critters -- it's like heaven on earth. All I can say is, "It's about time."

South Sister 10,358'

On August 10th, Aaron Smith, Dylan Petrie, Randy Solansky and I graced the summit of South Sister, the third highest peak in Oregon. For Randy and Dylan, it was their first successful ascent of any mountain. For Aaron, it was his second summit of what he hopes is a successful run towards achieving the Chemeketans "18 Peaks Award." For me, it was confirmation that this ol' body of mine still has some juice left.

Given that the summit is over six miles and 5,000' of elevation from the trailhead, we decided it would be more fun to make this a multi-day climb. We hiked in the afternoon of the first day and set up camp at Moraine Lake. You can't actually camp on the lake. Rather, you choose one of the few designated camping areas ~300' above - and overlooking - the lake. This is a very popular backpacking area, but on this weekday we had the camp to ourselves.

Randy and Dylan from our campsite

The first evening we hiked down to the lake and filtered water, although given the late season snow melt this was an unnecessary precaution. Regardless, there's nothing like the purity and taste of fresh glacier water and after all, it's all part of the experience.

Dylan filters while Broken Top looks on

After finishing dinner and prepping our gear, the four of us played several hands of "Wen's game", a card game that's normally easy to learn but difficult to master. Unfortunately, it didn't take the college kids long before they were kicking the old fart's butts. We hit the hay around 10:00pm, as 5:30am comes awfully early for young-ins used to getting up at noon ;-)

The morning was crisp and clear. Much of the trail was still snow covered, and with overnight temps in the 30's, it wasn't forgiving. We made our way across the plateau and it wasn't until our first break - nearly an hour after leaving camp - that we ran into our first human. Note to self -- if you're going to lead popular climbing routes, do it mid-week!

Aaron enjoying the solitude we all shared

By the time we reached the crater rim, a few more climbers had appeared. The thing I like about South Sister is that there's more than enough mountain for everyone. The thing I like about reaching the crater rim is that all the hard work is done!

Dylan feeling strong at the crater rim

We regrouped and made our way over to the summit. The sky was perfectly clear. We could see all the way from Mt Adams up north down to Mt Shasta in the south, including all the mountains in between. With temps in the mid-50's and a gentle breeze, it's no wonder we spent over an hour relaxing on the summit!

Posing for the paparazzi

.... and just for good measure:

This one was long overdue

Unfortunately, the real world awaited us. We took a quick trip to the other side of the crater to check out the NW ridge, snapped a few more photos, and reluctantly headed down.