3 Sisters winter '13/14

[Philip]

I went up the North Sister from the Virginia Creek side this afternoon. The snow coverage looked pathetic from the road. I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found up there though. There is no snow until about half way up the trail. It doesn't start until you exit the spruce bench at about a third the way up the mountain. From there until you leave the alders/salmonberries there is about 4-6" of snow on the trail, but none of the brush is covered. Once you exit the alders, however, things look pretty good. The upper mountain is all low grass and tundra in the summer, and that all has a decent 2' base covering it right now featuring firm and smooth snow. There are almost no rain runnel features and very little wind affected snow. Just a uniform and solid base. On a warm day, if the snow went isothermic, it would be nice spring skiing and if we get any fresh snow the base is pretty decent. It's also very close to town and an easy access up the trail. There is a bit of traversing involved to get around the north side of the North Sister, so splitboarders will want binding crampons. I would not recommend snowshoes on the slopes since they are steep and if you slid it would suck. I had trail crampons and after climbing to the top of the N Sister I kind of wished I had brought full mountaineering crampons. The upper slopes of the Sisters are pretty steep and a fall would have consequences for sure.

The best slopes are the SW and W facing chutes off the summit of the North Sister.

Leaving the brush and approaching mid-mountain at 1,100':



On the summit looking down the SW chute at the headwaters of Virginia Cr:



I would have snapped some more pics but the light was flat.

[Philip]

Tues, March 11

Went up the N Sister after work with Brooks. There is new, very wet snow down as far as the road, and the trail up is very slippery. Microspikes at a minimum. We were able to put our split skis on a bit after the spruce bench, and follow the trail up through the salmonberries. Once you are near the top of the alders, the snow is pretty thick and the coverage good. There is about 8" of wet spring new snow everywhere. The steeper slopes have lots of small point releases and sloughs, but no slab slides to be seen. We skinned up the large west-facing chute below the peak and did one run. It was deep and soft and pretty heavy, but that is fun on a snowboard. The ride down the trail through the salmonberry canes was a challenge, as was the slick-as-snot trail out. Not sure I can recommend it right now unless it were a sunny nice day, or you are just out for exercise.

Hopefully Brooks can post a pic later. I left the camera at home.

[brooks]

Philip heading up


Nice view of the valley looking from North Sister towards Easter Sunday Mt.


Philip coming down off the ridge. You can see the little point release debris in the slope. They were soft enough that you could roll through them but they would be horrible after a hard freeze.

[Philip]

Nerpalicious!

[Philip]

Wednesday March 19

I popped up to the N Sister after work today. Sunny, calm, beautiful. The Sister has gained a good bit of snow since the last time I was up there. The recent storms have been better to that mountain than a lot of other areas it seems. There is still snow down to the road, but you are better off hiking up onto the spruce bench 1/3 the way up. From that point you can skin, but right now even though the salmonberries are more covered than before, the snow is a gnarly death crust. Climbing isn't so bad, but the way down is an absolute suicide mission. It is SO hard to turn when your boards get locked in a solid channel of their own making. It's bad enough on a snowboard, but you would be seriously F**Ked on skis. Well, once you climb out of the alders things get better. A lot of the veg up higher is now covered and the base is really smooth (mostly- there is a chunky avy path out of the SW chute off the summit). We are just barely getting to the solar radiation point where on a calm, full-sun day the refreeze surface is corning up. The wall just west of the ridge joining the N and Middle Sisters was just about corned up and pretty nice. It's not a long run, but you can do laps on it. Just be ready for a hair-raising ride out.

Emerging from the spruce bench. The trail was set by some snowshoe'ers:



Almost out of the brush. Can't you just FEEL the crust?



Up the S Ridge of the N Sister:









Going home:

[Philip]

Wednesday, April 9

Popped up the North Sister after work. Like most areas, the snow isn't really softening up in the afternoon thanks to a cool breeze. The trail in is in good shape with only a couple of short icy sections, though you do have to hike to above brushline before putting your skis on. The coverage is good on the west and southwest faces of the N Sister once you are out of the alders, and it's all pretty smooth. Now we just need warmer weather.