Group Members: Brent McGregor, Rod Jacobson, Mike Casey, Tom Scott, Gary Armstrong, Stacy McKinney, Gary Winter & Craig Ladkin.
The weekend weather report called for warm over-night temps. (i.e. soft snow/ice on top), rain & lightning. We talked to two separate parties in the parking lot that had abandoned their summit attempt due to soft snow conditions, so the prospect of achieving the summit on this trip began to look doubtful. We waited out the worst of a major down-pour/hail storm at the trailhead & then went for it. It rained lightly until we got to base camp 2.5 hrs. later (1600’, 4.5 miles). This was a much more enjoyable hike in this time without a broken ankle! On the hike in we ran into two guys who had managed to summit that day, despite the poor conditions - this raised our hopes. The rain stopped about the time we were setting up camp and we all managed to get to bed by about 9:30pm. Of the six tents we setup, each was of a different manufacturer.
After about 4 hours of rest we got up. Interestingly, the snoring increased as 1:30am approached. We were on the trail by about 2:20am. Kara stayed behind to guard the camp. My summit pack was ~30 lbs. (w/ rope after 8400’), which seemed like nothing after carrying in a 52 lb. pack in to base camp. We could see another group heading up Hayden Glacier to Middle Sister. I suspect this was the group that I got the shot (seen below) of N. Sister from. The ridge was typical Cascade volcano scree. I got bowled down halfway up the ridge & lost my 1st pole. We spent one hr. working our way around the South side at 9800’. I estimated that it would take about 3.5 hours to get to the traverse - it took 5 hrs! The skies were clear all night & we benefited from the near full-moon illumination. It began getting light about 4:30 and we made a rest/photography stop about this time. The combination of the moon light & the alpine-glow sunrise was eerie.
By the time we reached the Camel’s Hump the sun was up. The traverse right before the “Terrible Traverse” was steep and unprotected, but the snow was firm enough and tracks had already been established. We could see where somebody before us apparently had made a self-arrest just below the tracks. When we reached the large rock at the beginning of the traverse, Tom placed two nuts and a sling. Brent led across, setting up a fixed line using two pickets (one intermediate and one at the end of the rope). The snow was getting pretty soft but nobody fell. The 70 meter rope was not long enough to span the entire traverse so we had to solo the last 50 feet, finishing with a somewhat touchy move around a rock wall. We offered a simple hip belay to the rest of the group as they came around the rock - some chose to use it and others didn’t. We scrambled up to the bottom of the Bowling Alley and gathered there. I led the gully (mixed rock & ice also known as the ‘Bowling Alley’), which was partially in the sun by the time we got there around 9:00 am. Protection was scant, but I managed to place some solid slings and established an anchor at the top. Unfortunately, Brent was my belayer, so I don’t have any pics of the most exhilarating pitch of my life. The rest of the crew moved up the fixed line. Rock fall wasn't a problem at any time. There was a 50’ pitch of 5.3 climbing to get to the top (icing on the cake). I reached the top about 10am with Tom taking up the tail and finally reaching the top about 45 minutes later. The view was great & the weather perfect. After spending an hour on top (for me), a few of us made a quick scramble up the southern spire before heading down.
Another climbing party of 5 caught us just as our last climber was moving across the traverse. With our permission they took advantage of our fixed line. On the way down they sweet-talked their way by us, which cost us another hour. Our total round-trip time from base camp was 13 hours. It started clouding up again east of the mountain around noon. We hurried down, as fast as we were physically able because we were worried about impending lighting. Coming down was difficult as N. Sister is one big choss pile. By the time we reached the lowest gendarme several of us were out of water and feeling pretty hammered. Tom was kind enough to share some water w/ me earlier - I knew I would come up short since we were so far behind schedule. Halfway down I broke my 2nd pole. Note: do not take carbon poles on a climb like N. Sister. A few of the team were able to work in a 200 foot glissade down into the valley where base camp was.
It was raining again by the time we got down. It quit after an hour, which allowed the 4 of us who waited to recoup, a dry hike out. Total actual climbing time from trailhead to summit was 10.5 hrs. We definitely added an hour or two (maybe more) to our time by going out with such a large party and then running into another medium-sized party. There was lots of bottlenecking.
Since I broke both my REI graphite poles, I had to hike out (w/ my 50 lb. pack) w/o poles, putting all the weight/stress on my quads/knees/ankles/feet (which paid the price the following day). The few people who prefer to go w/o poles on every climb, clearly have a much tougher lower body than I. It took my body 3 days to recover from this.
So, bottom line: we pushed forward in grim/doubtful conditions & were rewarded. We paid a high price (physically & equipment wise), but it was worth it because we were all able to summit. Several members of the team commented that now that they had done N. Sister they had no reason to ever do it again.
Statistics for the climb: ~16 miles, ~6000 vertical feet, ~17 hrs. time spent hiking/climbing.