The fifth annual
South Sister snow camp and climb was held June 12 and 13, 2025 and we
ultimately had five climbers, although we had over two dozen climbers
who expressed interest. Those with flexible work schedules (and who
hadn’t recently stubbed toes on their bedroom furniture) were the
lucky ones, because we ended up on weekdays. The days were chosen
because of the radically colder weather following an extended warm
spell, and the fact that permits were not yet required.
As it turned out,
last year we had chosen the exact same two days of the year.
The mountain looked completely different. Last year the snow
started at the Devils Lake trailhead and we had to park along the
highway. This year we not only parked at the campground, but the
first roughly half mile of trail was visible for the most part. Heads
up: the start of the South Sister summit trail has been rerouted
through the tunnel under the highway.
Every year the snow
sets up differently and so because we're not following the same path,
the hike looks different. (Or maybe because we are older and have
forgotten?). There was much more snow on the plateau than might have
been expected: huge cornices hung on the rocks above a frozen Moraine
Lake. We worked our way up into the rolling terrain above the plateau and
tented at around 7000 feet.
Our annual “tour
of homes” included an international tent display: Japan (Leipen Air
Raiz 1), France (Samaya 2.0) and China (Black Diamond Distance),
among others. The named tents were experiencing their maiden outings:
three climbers had chosen this relatively low consequence snow
mountain experience to experiment with (show off?) their brand new
gear. Except for the temperatures, mother nature was relatively
gentle with them in that there was little in the way of wind and
precipitation.
The snow 2000 feet
higher up was in the process of rapid disappearance. The Lewis
Glacier pond was completely melted out and the blue of the summit
Lake was actually visible although it appeared still frozen. The
summer rim trail was available to us up high and was an option all
the way to the summit. For those of us accustomed to the winter
nature of this climb it was a very strange feeling
Our group included
(leader and assistant in name only) Ellen Gradison and Kaitlin
Sommerfeld, as well as Cathy Lazarus, Tim Hale and Garry Stephenson.
We were a collaborative group and all contributed to route finding as
well as other decisions, including to wear pants.
Photographs can be
found here https://photos.app.goo.gl/4oQ9h5rujY3YfmCCA