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Post by Philip on Feb 26, 2017 18:26:27 GMT -9
I have been eyeing the North Sister from my Monashka Mountain jaunts, and today I popped up it (her?) to see how the skiing was. Answer: not bad, actually. There was a stiff breeze out of the west and some clouds that kept the sun from softening the snow, but the coverage was better than I had expected and with a warm day and sunny afternoon, the Virginia Creek side of the North Sister would be worth a visit. You need trail crampons up to the spruce bench (if you don't believe me, ask all the deer who have obviously wiped out on the ice, lol) but after the spruce bench you can skin the rest of the way up and ride back down to the same spot. Binding crampons are nice for the traverses of the firmer sections on the NW side of the mountain. Don't forget that you are traversing under a number of avy paths to get to the saddle between the North and Middle Sisters. Parking along the road at the trailhead isn't great as it is a frozen berm, but it was solid enough to stick two wheels up on the snow and get most of my truck off the road. Just above the spruce bench, on 2-3 feet of solid snow and climbing: Where the summer trail breaks out of the brush and into the alpine: Starting the traverse around the N Sister to the saddle with the Middle Sister (image center) with the South Sister just to the left of the sun: Shot from the saddle between the North and Middle Sisters looking at the SW face of the N Sister (the best slope to ride): With a little more solar radiation, this could be really good:
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