Middle Sister 10,047' - Hayden Glacier (07-22-12)

Laying on the summit of Middle Sister catching some sunshine

This was my first official climb with the Chemeketans. After lots of trouble with weather and scheduling earlier this year (cancelling Mt. Hood trips), I was excited to do a club climb. Usually I only climb with groups of 4 or less, so it was a new and welcome experience.

Heading up the snowfields

We left from the Pole Creek Trailhead around 11am. My pack was roughly 45lbs, but I was feeling strong and being in a group made me forget about the weight. The heat was beating down, with it being 70degrees or more. My brand new Mountain Hardware Stretch Bandana was coming in handy. I ended up using it almost the entire duration of the trip for one thing or another.

Almost 2 hours later, and a few breaks in between we made it to the turn off for the climbers trail. After this point we started hitting patches of snow and crossed a few creeks.

Water carves ice and snow

Things started getting really awesome here, scenery wise. With Broken Top to the south and the Three Sisters popping up it started reminding me why we were out there.

We decided to continue on past the normal place to camp at 6900' and instead climb the snow fields until we reached the toe of the Hayden Glacier, closer to 8000'.

Shortly after arriving we set up camp and found a nice pool of water. We decided to boil it just for safety's sake but I am sure it would have been ok to drink on it's own. After boiling water for the following day and storing it in the tent, I made quick work of a delicious Mountain House. We went over tying in for the following morning and also some basic glacier travel etiquette.

Camping at 8000'

The following morning we got up at 3:00am, roped in, and started a slow but steady climb up the Hayden Glacier. With such a light summit pack I never felt like I was working very hard. It was nice and made the trip more enjoyable. I got to turn around and see the sights quite regularly. One amazing site was seeing headlamps on other mountains around us. There was a group going up North Sister and I saw one headlamp turn on on South Sister's summit.

Heading up Hayden Glacier

Crux picture courtesy of Mike Pennington

When we reached the top of Hayden Glacier, we un-roped and took off our ice-axes/crampons. We scrambled up some poor scree/rocks until we were at the base of the crux move. The crux is a ~40degree pitch that most people bang in protection on. Being that it was a Chemeketan climb, there was no way we were doing without a few snow pickets. There were nice footsteps all the way up the pitch and quite honestly I felt safer here then some parts of my Mt. McLoughlin climb. Perhaps it was just knowing we were clipped into a rope, or maybe it was because of the club atmosphere.

Washington, Three Finger Jack, and Mt. Jefferson

Once we reached the top of the crux we unroped and did another scree climb til we reached the summit. We got out sweet summit photos and proceeded back down to camp. There was a group of Mazama's heading up as we were heading back down. After breaking down camp I threw my rain gear on and had a fun glissade, which seemed to save lots of time. After we got off the snow it was a long slog back to camp. I really enjoyed this trip and wish to be on future Chemeketan climbs.

Chemeketan team summit photo!

Final Stats:

Summit: Yes
Elevation Gain: 4747'
Round Trip Distance: 12+ miles
Round Trip Time: 24+ hours
FULL PHOTO ALBUM

Mount McLoughlin 9495' (06-11-12)

Redemption!

A feeling of redemption, followed by a wolf cry, was what came out as soon as I reached the summit of Mt. McLoughlin. After a failed attempt last March due to deep snow and lack of snowshoes, it felt great conquering the mountain. Sure, it isn't the highest peak in Oregon, or even in the Top 5, but it is still a peak, and it is now on the bagged list.

At the trail head

Seeing a window of opportunity in the weather, we decided we had better strike while we could. This year has been pretty miserable with the weather always seeming to get in the way of our peak dreams. Regardless, we made the 4 hour drive down to the Sky Lakes Wilderness area. The unmaintained road to the McLoughlin trail head was interesting. Huge ruts, meant we were driving slow and careful not to bottom out the car. I would recommend being in a high clearance vehicle for the drive up.

The trail was clearly marked until you split away from the PCT. We had to do some map/compass navigating but mostly just kept the ridge in view. Someone had laid out some markers on the trees but more often than not we would lose sight of them. A huge storm must have rolled through at some point this winter because there were trees down everywhere. This of course just made the bushwhacking more fun.

Camp at 7200'

We decided to make camp right around the 7200' level. We found a place in the snow that was somewhat flat, but more importantly we had an unimpeded view of Mt. Shasta!

We watched the shadow of McLoughlin get bigger against the trees. Darkness descended on the valley around us, while Shasta still had the sun beaming on it. We had perfect cellular coverage at this point, mostly due to having a direct line of sight to Four Mile Lake/Klamath Falls.


The alarm went off at 3:30am and we were leaving camp, head lamped, around 4am. The temperature only dropped to 37degrees but the snow was nice and crunchy. Within 10 minutes we switched from trekking poles to ice-axe and crampons. The ridge was getting steeper and switching out made life a lot easier. We were able to climb straight up the ridge with no problems. Occasionally we would see the official trail but mostly we were zigzagging around rocks and trees.




Before the last 700' or so of elevation, we noticed some nice boot prints from the day prior. These made for good steps the rest of the way up the steepest portion of the climb.

 I felt really good during this portion. Our packs were light, I would say under 20lbs, which helped I am sure. I made extra emphasis to walk correctly with my ice axe and was implementing the "Whittaker Wheeze" as to not run out of breath.

I was actually somewhat surprised when I reached the top. I was expecting there to be "more" of the mountain left. I wasn't complaining though. I made my way around to the true summit accomplished and excited. We summited at exactly 7am, which is usually when I would be clocking in for work. Let's just say I was much happier to be on top of Southern Oregon's tallest peak!

Everything went relatively smooth on this trip. I honestly can't think of a single thing I would do differently (other than wrap my feet). All of my gear worked perfectly the way I wanted it too.


Final Stats:
Summit: Yes
Elevation Gain: ~4000'
Round Trip Distance: 10.5 miles
Round Trip Time: 23hours (This includes overnight camp)