It had been three years to the day since Joe, Dan and I had been into Middle Sister for and end of July/start of August ski, and we were feeling pretty fortunate to be holding a permit this season. As an added bonus, it looked like the weather window was going to work out perfectly for our ski — not too hot, and no rain in the forecast. We met at Dan’s house around 6:30 in the morning, loaded gear into my Subaru, and headed up Highway 126. We arrived to a somewhat deserted trailhead, found a great parking spot, and started loading skis onto packs.
As usual, our packs were too heavy, but nevertheless we headed down the trail in good spirits, looking forward to what the next three days would offer. We worked our way though the forest, and through the burn which had occurred since the last time we were there. On the way, we met a ranger who checked our permit, then continued on through the lava flow and down to the creek below. From there it was up the hill to the small falls, which is always a welcome place to take a break in the shade.
After our rest, we pushed on up the trail, and got an excellent view of the mountain and what we’d be skiing the next several days at the junction of the PCT. The snow conditions looked pretty nice — white, not too cupped, and they extended down to where we were hoping. Continuing up the trail, we worked our way up the draw, onto the ridge, and out to our campsite near the lake. Everything looked pretty much like it did 3 years prior, and soon we had camp setup and were ready to head out for some afternoon turns.
We headed up the trail, and switched over to ski boots at the start of the snow. The hike up the snowfields was refreshing with light packs (after ditching all the heavy gear back at camp), and we made it to the top around 5:00pm. As usual, the view from the top of what we call the Interglacier (between the Renfrew and Collier glaciers) out over the McKenzie Valley was stunning. After a few minutes enjoying the view and changing over to ski mode, it was time to drop in for our first run of the trip….
I dropped in first, and the turns off the top were perfect corn courtesy of the late afternoon sun. I made a few turns once past the rollover, and setup to shoot some shots of the skiers coming down. I captured a cool shot of Joe skiing with the clouds behind him, and then a few shots as they headed on down.
We skied down to the bottom of the slope, and the turns on the lower half were equally as enjoyable as up top. At the bottom, we made the short boot up the snow to the left side of the top of the moraine, and continued on down.
We worked our way down the middle section of the slope, enjoying the corn on the way. I continued looking for opportunities to shoot pictures of the skiers as they headed down, and soon we worked our way towards the draw…
As we entered the snow in the draw, Dan grabbed the camera and shot a few pics of me heading down. We skied down to the first rock crossing, and I grabbed the camera back and took a few shots of “skiing” to the next patch below.
We connected the patches with a couple of carries, and were able to ski down to the trail where Joe and Dan had stashed their approach shoes. I went on ahead of the skiers as they changed back into shoes from ski boots, and arrived at camp a short time later. The first priority was to make an ice cold backcounty margarita, and then get camp in order.
With a margarita in hand, it was time to take my boots off, kick back and relax. There was only one problem — or rather several hundred problems — a few minutes after getting back to camp, hordes of mosquitoes were feasting on any piece of exposed skin I had. In the previous two trips to Middle Sister, there had only been a few mosquitoes here and there, but this evening they were out in full force. Head nets and gloves were mandatory, and it looked like an early bedtime would be too to find any relief. I did manage to walk around the lake and snap a few shots from the rim before hitting the sack however.
Dan and Joe joined me, and we watched the sunset from the rim, with bugs all around us. They were actually so bad I could barely operate my tripod, camera and neutral density filter. Nevertheless I was able to get a couple of decent shots, but had to endure several bites in the process…
Eventually the bugs proved to be too much, and we retreated to camp and into our tents. I had planned to take a few shots of Middle Sister under the stars later that night, and left my camera and tripod setup outside the tent before hitting the sack. A couple hours after retiring to the tent, I woke to see what conditions looked like. Some clouds had moved in and the moon was super bright, but I decided to try a few shots anyway to see how they might come out, and was pleased with the results.
We woke the next morning around 6 am, with the goal of heading out for the day around 7:30 am or so. The mosquitoes were still eager for a blood meal, so it was back to head nets for the morning. I cooked up a tasty freeze dried breakfast with the jetboil, then walked over to the lake to snap a few photos in the early morning light…
After the photo shoot and a little time tidying up camp, we headed out for the day. The plan was for a three glacier day, with a hike up the Renfrew, and then a ski down the Hayden and Collier. Our approach up followed our path from the day before, but we skirted south once we gained the middle snowfield, and worked our way over to the Renfrew. The mosquitoes chased us up to well beyond the snowline before they finally abated, and I was thankful to leave them behind.
The Renfrew was in decent shape, and made for easy traveling. We worked our way up the glacier (really just a permanent snowfield at this point in time), and eventually up to Prouty Saddle. Once at the saddle, we were afforded the commanding views to the east with Broken Top in the distance.
We hiked over to the northernmost point of the saddle, and enjoyed a well deserved break while soaking in the views. Sitting at the saddle reminded us of the last time we were there 3 years prior, enjoying millions and millions of California tortoiseshell butterflies on their migration to wherever they were heading. After eating some food and reminiscing for a bit, it was time to strap in and see how good the Hayden really was.
Turns out, the snow was in tip top shape, and we ripped the corn from the saddle all the way to the bottom. The upper section was pretty good, and then from the rollover onto the glacier proper the snow was absolute money. I shot pictures of the skiers as they came down, and Dan grabbed the camera from me and returned the favor as well….
We milked the glacier for all it was worth, skiing down lower than in previous summer trips. It was good right to the end, and then it was time for the long boot back up to the saddle under the warm sun.
We worked our way back up past Prouty Point, which always amazes with it’s unique rock patterns, and up to our gear where a well deserved cold beer was waiting. My beer of choice for the day was an excellent raspberry porter from Silver Moon Brewing. Sitting there enjoying a cold beer with a view, I thought to myself “it doesn’t get much better than this.” Once we’d had a good break and were refueled, it was time to head over the saddle to check out conditions on the Collier.
The hike over the rocks was short, and within a couple of minutes we plopped skis down and were enjoying turns on the upper low-angle snowfields on the Collier. The snow was in really nice shape, so we continued down, staying to skiers left to avoid any crevasses we couldn’t see below us…
As we continued down, Dan grabbed the camera and shot a few photos of me below the rollover with the big crevasses. The turns were really nice, and I was more than happy to continue on down the glacier to the toe below…
We skied down over the second rollover, stopped briefly to talk it over, and then decided it was indeed worth it to ski the glacier out to the toe. My thinking was “who knows when we’ll be back here, and we might as well get it since it’s good.” All it all, I think it was definitely worth it!
At the bottom, it was time again to put the boards on our packs and start the long bootpack back up the glacier. The view back to the north however of the glacier and the volcano line up made the hike out pretty enjoyable.
We made it back to the top of the Collier, and then over across the rocks to the top of the Interglacier around 3:30 pm. Sitting at the top, we were excited to drop in for our third run of the day — our only concern was how bad would the mosquitoes be back at camp haha? Dan snapped some pics as I dropped in over the rollover to enjoy the perfect corn.
After the rollover, I took the camera and snapped some shots of Dan and Joe heading down, including the one below. At the bottom of the Interglacier, we hiked up to the right side of the moraine and then continued skiing down towards camp.
The ski down the middle and lower snowfields was good fun, and like the day before, we worked our way down the draw and skied the patches back down to the trail. Once the skiing was over, we made the short hike back to camp and got ready for dinner.
Dan made some Cadillac margaritas that hit the spot, and I cooked up some tasty Thai Curry from Good-To-Go meals to make one of the best backcountry dinners I’d had in awhile. As a bonus, the mosquitoes weren’t quite as bad as the night before, so we headed out to the rim to take in another sunset.
After walking the length of the rim behind camp, we retreated back to our tents for the evening. I got a excellent night’s sleep after our big day, and we woke in the morning to cloudy skies and cooler temps than the two days previous. After breakfast, we headed out in search of August turns, with the goal of working our way up towards the Interglacier depending on how the conditions looked.
The booting went quickly, as the snow was quite a bit firmer than the previous two days. We had our concerns that the steep pitch off the top might be too firm, but we were able to make our way to the top with crampons. I had my lightweight Camp ice axe as well, and was thankful to have it. Though the booting was a bit on the sketchy side, we finally crested the steep rollover and made our way to the top…
We hung around up top for a half hour or so, and finally the sun came out and started to warm the snow. Given that we had to head back to camp and pack up and make the long hike out, we dropped in a little after 10:00 am. I dropped in first, and made a few test turns on the steep rollover, and knew it was going to ski better than it climbed. I motioned for Joe and Dan to come on down, and then took a few photos as they skied by me…
We skied down to the lower section of the slope, and stopped to regroup for a bit before heading on down. At the bottom, we made the hike to the top of the moraine and then paused to look back up at the slope and our work from the previous three days…
At the top of the moraine, it seemed like an opportune time to take a deserved break and drink the last beer that we’d been packing around. My beer of choice was a Stash Panda hazy IPA from Hop Valley Brewing, and it was definitely refreshing. After our break, we headed out, and enjoyed some smooth corn on our way back to camp…
Down towards the bottom, it was amazing to see how much the snow in the draw had melted out since we arrived only a few days earlier. The snow patches we were skiing that were once only separated by a couple feet were not 15 to 20 feet apart.
Once back to camp, we set about breaking down our tents and getting gear organized and into our packs. I enjoyed a tasty freeze dried meal for lunch while packing up, and we broke camp around 12:30 pm. I know my pack was lighter on the way out than on the way in, but I’ll be damned if I could tell the difference as we headed off down the trail.
The hike out was mostly uneventful. We ended up getting checked again by a ranger just before the lava flow, but other than that it was just lugging heavy packs for 5 miles back to the car. The last mile is always the longest, but eventually we made it back to the trailhead, where some (mostly) cold beer was waiting. After changing into flip flops and shorts, Joe and I fired up the grill and threw a few brats on. Dan joined us a few minutes later, and it sure felt good to laze around the car and enjoy a cold beverage. The grilled brats definitely hit the spot, and capped off another great trip to Middle Sister. With that, we called it a trip, and loaded gear into the car and headed on down the road. Although I’m not sure when I’ll be back for more summer turns on the beautiful glaciers on the Middle and North Sisters, I can say with certainty that I’m already missing the scenic views and smooth turns in one of the most special spots in all of the Oregon cascades.
