South Sister summit Attempt

While on vacation in Bend I had a short window that I thought I could squeeze in climbing South Sister Mountain. I got up and got ready way before the sun was up (on vacation, no less) and headed for the trail head. It took me a little longer than I hoped to find the location of the trail head and so I started off a little late. I hoped to be climbing before the sun came up, but I didn't get started until shortly after first light. The trail begins climbing toward Moraine Lake under a canopy of trees. Although it was still very early in the morning, it got pretty warm pretty quickly and I shed some layers just after a few hundred feet of elevation gain. I didn't encounter anyone on the trail on my way up to Moraine Lake. I first came across snow at about 6000 feet, where you hike a short distance on the snow in a clearing in the trees. Again you start climbing toward the lake and about this spot I lost the trail and had to do some route finding to get back where I needed to be. I finally reached the leveling off part where Moraine Lake was. The lake was still mostly all frozen over.

Here the trail splits and heads toward South Sister summit and becomes less of a defined trail and more of a boot path through the flat lands covered in snow. You make your approach toward South Sister with lava fields flanking you on either side, though covered in snow at this time. I lost the boot path, and as I stared down the mountain in front of me I tried to find the best route up the mountain. At this time of contemplation I saw a lone hiker behind me a ways off. I waited for him to see which direction he went. He was still on the boot path so I followed him and up the mountain we began our ascent. The sun was out full force at this time and it was beginning to get really hot really quick. Temperatures in the high 80's early in the morning.

As I climbed on the snow, I kept thinking to myself how the heck is this snow still here when it's 90 degrees outside!? But I just kept climbing and drinking lots of water. Eventually I left the snow and started climbing amongst rocks and very loose gravel with two glaciers on either side of me. This was the most arduous part, the sun was beating down on me, I was at 9000+ feet with little oxygen and every step I took I slid backward on the loose gravel, I had been hiking for several hours and I was hungry. I found a large rock I could sit behind for some shade and ate some lunch and drank more water. I started climbing toward the summit again although it was slow going. I was reaching my predetermined turn around time and it was apparent I wasn't going to reach the summit in time. I could have made it if I had more time, but a wise man once told me "Never miss your turn around time for any reason." I wasn't about to go against that advice today especially due to the excessive heat and my dwindling supply of water. So I decided to turn back about 500 elevation feet short of the summit and make my way back down. Coming down wasn't as easy as I had hoped, at least not on the steep loose gravel part. I slid several feet on the loose gravel at least a dozen times. But once I got off the loose gravel it was smooth sailing. I even glissaded down quite a lot of steep snow parts without ripping my pants, which was my fear.

I saw several people on my way down either attempting the summit or most people just stopping at Moraine Lake. It was a good trip, but a little too hot for me. I think we are coming back next year, a little earlier in the year and I'll allot myself more time to try for the summit again.

Region: Central Oregon, Outside of Bend
Distance: 12 miles (total distance)
Elevation Gain: 5000 ft
Peak Elevation: 10358 ft
Difficulty: Difficult
Pass Requirement: Yes, Northwest Forest Pass.

As always check out all the photos from of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.