South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

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pablo
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by pablo » July 12th, 2013, 8:44 am

Hey guys,

Just stopped in to say everything everyone else has said. Really a fine outing in both conception and execution.

Thx,

--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

tdwpdx
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by tdwpdx » July 22nd, 2013, 7:51 pm

To th OP's, thank you, your experience got me on the mountain this morning. For anyone looking to go, please note that the Canyon trail from Moraine Lake to meet up with the climber's trail (shown on maps, north from the lake) is closed for renovation. If you're looking to camp, do so on the ridge or face a return to the climber's trail from Moraine. There is a spur trail so it's not the full mile back. Otherwise, tough slog but great views. Even saw a good number of people heading up to summit from the lower trail at 11am on a 95 degree day. Different bread, central Oregonites.

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kepPNW
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by kepPNW » July 23rd, 2013, 5:22 am

pablo wrote:Just stopped in to say everything everyone else has said. Really a fine outing in both conception and execution.
Thanks, Paul! :)
tdwpdx wrote:To th OP's, thank you, your experience got me on the mountain this morning. For anyone looking to go, please note that the Canyon trail from Moraine Lake to meet up with the climber's trail (shown on maps, north from the lake) is closed for renovation. If you're looking to camp, do so on the ridge or face a return to the climber's trail from Moraine. There is a spur trail so it's not the full mile back. Otherwise, tough slog but great views. Even saw a good number of people heading up to summit from the lower trail at 11am on a 95 degree day. Different bread, central Oregonites.
Ah, good addition to the report! We noted the closure, too, but couldn't even see the trail (despite some wandering around looking for it), on the way down, due to snow still covering it. Didn't think to mention it, since we didn't camp.

So did you do the overnight thing, or just a really early morning run up? That moon the other night must've been spectacular!
Karl
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roadtripmom
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by roadtripmom » July 26th, 2013, 9:24 am

Beautiful, amazing and unbelievable photos ! You have a gift for documenting epic adventures my friend. I am climbing for tomorrow and your trip report has been so inspirational !!
Filling my bucket, one hike at a time.
Amanda

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jeffstatt
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by jeffstatt » July 26th, 2013, 10:41 am

Very inspiring! I love the "summit by dawn" philosophy, but it's really hard to find other people who as dismissive of a regular sleep cycle as I am! 10:00PM start time?! Now THAT wouldn't have occured to me. That looks like it was a blast!

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Splintercat
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by Splintercat » July 26th, 2013, 12:52 pm

Excellent report, Karl! Really great photos! :)
Really amazing red volcanic plug rising on the eastern flank of South Sister.
I believe that is the summit view of Hodge Crest -- I learned that the hard way many years ago, when we (spur of the moment) climbed South Sister from our campsite at Green Lakes -- only to find that the "summit" you see from Green Lakes is actually Hodge Crest. Makes for an interesting ascent that I wouldn't recommend... but we were young and foolish, so we didn't mind! :lol: My one and only time up there, so this thread is good inspiration for me, too!
Looking south across crater. Mt Scott, Mt Thielsen, Mt McLaughlin, and Diamond Peak most prominent.
I'll defer to Central Oregonians, but I think that's Mount Bailey between Thielsen and Diamond..?
One amazing feature was this cow-pie shaped lava flow that was nearly 2miles across!
Interesting (and scary) trivia detail: that is Rock Mesa, and in about 1980 or 1981, a pumice mining company filed a claim on it (yes, you can mind inside a wilderness area) to quarry it for kitty litter. Not kidding! Yowsa. Huge uproar from the environmental community, as you might imagine, and the strip mine didn't materialize (not sure what has happened since, in terms of the claim).
That is very hard to start out at such a low elevation in Portland, drive straight to the TH, and then hike all the way to the 10358' summit without acclimatizing. I did that once and nearly barfed due to elevation sickness.
Thanks for pointing that out, Brad -- my thoughts exactly! I was feeling the elevation at 7,000 feet on Wednesday, so I know I would have had trouble keeping up with Karl and Peder at 10,000! :?

Thanks for posting! Definitely the TR of the year!

Tom :)

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kepPNW
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by kepPNW » July 27th, 2013, 10:35 am

roadtripmom wrote:Beautiful, amazing and unbelievable photos ! You have a gift for documenting epic adventures my friend. I am climbing for tomorrow and your trip report has been so inspirational !!
On the way up SS, I was remembering to Peder a TR (which I'm pretty sure was yours?) about camping up there! Filed that one away, in just the same way - inspirational. Took me a bit longer to realize it, but there ya go. This place is so great for that! So, thank you, too! :)
jeffstatt wrote:Very inspiring! I love the "summit by dawn" philosophy, but it's really hard to find other people who as dismissive of a regular sleep cycle as I am! 10:00PM start time?! Now THAT wouldn't have occured to me. That looks like it was a blast!
Lifetime memory, right there. Peder is an incredible hiking partner in that way! That's a minimum of four of those this year alone -- last one just yesterday! (sneak preview) Btw, Jeff, you are also partly responsible for this, too! The idea came from a TR posted here a year ago. So, thank you, too! :)
Splintercat wrote:Excellent report, Karl! Really great photos! :)
kepPNW wrote:Really amazing red volcanic plug rising on the eastern flank of South Sister.
I believe that is the summit view of Hodge Crest -- I learned that the hard way many years ago, when we (spur of the moment) climbed South Sister from our campsite at Green Lakes -- only to find that the "summit" you see from Green Lakes is actually Hodge Crest. Makes for an interesting ascent that I wouldn't recommend... but we were young and foolish, so we didn't mind! :lol: My one and only time up there, so this thread is good inspiration for me, too!
Oh my gosh! Heheheh... Those spontaneous climbs can sure turn out interesting! I think that from Green Lakes, you're supposed to go around the left side of Lewis Glacier! :lol:
  • capture.jpg
Splintercat wrote:
kepPNW wrote:Looking south across crater. Mt Scott, Mt Thielsen, Mt McLaughlin, and Diamond Peak most prominent.
I'll defer to Central Oregonians, but I think that's Mount Bailey between Thielsen and Diamond..?
Boy, you could sure be right. I haven't spent that much time down there, either. [...minutes later...] Thought I'd confirmed on peakfinder, but I guess not. I upgrade my "could be" to "yeah, sure looks like you're right!"

http://www.peakfinder.org/?lat=44.1035& ... =6&dir=202
Splintercat wrote:
kepPNW wrote:One amazing feature was this cow-pie shaped lava flow that was nearly 2miles across!
Interesting (and scary) trivia detail: that is Rock Mesa, and in about 1980 or 1981, a pumice mining company filed a claim on it (yes, you can mind inside a wilderness area) to quarry it for kitty litter. Not kidding! Yowsa. Huge uproar from the environmental community, as you might imagine, and the strip mine didn't materialize (not sure what has happened since, in terms of the claim).
That's tragic! I mean, that it's even possible! Wow... :evil:
Splintercat wrote:
B2BB wrote:That is very hard to start out at such a low elevation in Portland, drive straight to the TH, and then hike all the way to the 10358' summit without acclimatizing. I did that once and nearly barfed due to elevation sickness.
Thanks for pointing that out, Brad -- my thoughts exactly! I was feeling the elevation at 7,000 feet on Wednesday, so I know I would have had trouble keeping up with Karl and Peder at 10,000! :?

Thanks for posting! Definitely the TR of the year!
Very kind of you to say, Tom! Thank you, too! :)

(Btw, yesterday we pushed that 10k' elevation change in under a day up another 2k'! :D
Though, we did hang out at the TH for a few hours before starting off.)
Karl
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Splintercat
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by Splintercat » July 27th, 2013, 12:39 pm

Hmm... well, I might be able to pull that off with a little help from Lance Armstrong's trainer, Karl... I wonder if REI sells a portable blood transfusion system..?

Tom :lol:

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kepPNW
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by kepPNW » July 27th, 2013, 2:35 pm

Splintercat wrote:Hmm... well, I might be able to pull that off with a little help from Lance Armstrong's trainer, Karl...
Busted. :lol:

Image

(This too, was Peder's suggestion! Heh...)
Karl
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Splintercat
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Re: South Sister Summit Sunrise Solitude, 5/6-July-2013

Post by Splintercat » July 27th, 2013, 2:43 pm

Aha! Well, as long as you don't mind a "*" next to your names in the record books, then you're okay..! (not that we're going to tell) Say "hello" to Pete Rose, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds for us, too..! :D

(my drug of choice is decidedly less high-brow: Mountain Dew Throwback... well, technically, a couple of Advil, with a MD chaser...)

-Tom :)

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