Climbing South Sister

Summit!

After driving to Bend Friday night, Robin, Leah, Gordon and I woke up at 6 am to take our shot at climbing South Sister. I’ve done it a couple times before; it was girls’ first time, and Leah’s first attempt at a glaciated peak. Escaping the many mosquitos at Devil’s Lake by 7:15 am, we hiked up and up and up to summit just around 11:50 am. On the way back down, we managed a bit of hot glissading action (see video below images).

South Sister is a great introduction to mountaineering. It’s physically demanding and provides some amount of high mountain exposure, but technically tame (no crampons or ice axe needed). If you’re tempted to check it out, the conditions should be favorable through the end of September. Here’s a good route description.