The Three Sisters Traverse: Weenie Hut Jr. Edition

Just the facts:

Three Sisters Traverse (no North Sister Summit), Oregon Cascades. 

9,142' of elevation gain, 21.1 miles. 15 hours. 

June 8, 2024

The snow is starting to fall across the West, and so is my productivity at work as I spend more and more time pouring over NOAA and CalTopo. I can't scratch the itch to go ski quite yet, but the next best thing has been dusting off some drafts that I began last season and, for one reason or another, never finished. Six months removed from the sights, sounds, and feelings that made this trip so incredible, I can't recall all the details that typically breathe Pulitzer-quality life into my blog posts. So, I'm going to rely on the photos I took to tell most of the story, interspersed with some commentary from me. 

Switching from bootpacking to skinning at about 2AM. During this transition I noticed Axell repeatedly nod off while standing up. He wisely decided to turn around and go get some much-needed sleep.

The first rays of light as we approached Cirque Lake. Prior to the sun coming up, there was no moon but just enough light from the stars to illuminate our path without headlamps. My camera couldn't capture it, but I promise it was magical.

A little higher up, and even more color. 

Walking across the icy summit crater of South Sister. 

Looking out towards the Hodge Crest and Broken Top.

Zach ripping the Prouty Headwall on South Sister. The direct chute below him leads right off a cliff, so you have to cut left into another chute below that first rock band. It was icy up higher where the angle wasn't as steep, but once we were on the steeper slope that the sun hits more directly, it was amazing soft corn. 

Traversing the Prouty Glacier towards the next two. 

Interesting geology on the Prouty Headwall. 

Perfect, crisp light, I couldn't stop taking photos.

Filling up water at one of the Chambers Lakes while the north face of South Sister lurks. 

High on the south ridge of Middle Sister. Some suckers ahead of us put in the bootpack most of the way, and then Zach finished it up to the top. 

Zach skiing the north ridge of Middle. We had wanted to ski the Diller Headwall, but the snow had melted way to much to be safe on that east aspect. 

One more to go. 

Hiking up the south ridge of North Sister.

On top of Middle we met Steve, a crusher from California. We invited him to ski North with us and he set the bootpack in thigh-deep slush almost the entire way. You the man Steve! 

The east face of the infamous upper ridge of North Sister. We opted not to go for the summit because of how mushy the snow was, which would have made the steep traverses muyyyyyy caliente. This is why I titled this the Weenie Hut Jr. edition. No North Sister Summit + road access to the summer trailheads = a fairly tame version of this route. 

We dropped our skis a few hundred feet below our high point and scrambled up the bands of rock and snow on foot. Here are the guys climbing back down. 

South and Middle, with Bachelor in the background.

Zach shooting through a tight gap in the rocks on the descent of the south ridge. 

The Prouty Glacier on South Sister, with a good view of the line we had skied hours earlier. 

Unnamed creek that flows out of the Hayden Glacier. The second best thing I've ever drank, just behind...

...a warm beer in the pit toilet at Pole Creek. Very pleasurable!

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to use the "Get in Touch" button on my site if you have any questions or tips on how to make my sunrise photos less grainy. 

-Will Gattiker

Subscribe via Email

Sign up to never miss a post!

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.