Got
in a real nice climb with my
cross-the-driveway neighbor
Jason. We set out hoping to
shred the west face of Brokentop
from the Greenlakes trailhead
off the Mt. Bachelor highway,
the preferred approach for the
saddle between the two mountains.
Upon close inspection however,
the southeast flank of the south
sister looked too good to pass
up, and we ended up climbing
part of the way up to come down
one of the more fun routes I've
done on the south sister. The
approach is about twice as long
as the standard moraine lake
trail, but the descent more
than makes up for it, with some
slightly steeper pitches, some
excellent natural windlips,
and an extraordinary traverse
of the lava fields found on
that part of the mountain. There
was still plenty of snow to
navigate around the sentinels
and pillars, but enough had
melted to reveal the vast islands
of obsidian and other igneous
rock formations. We stumbled
upon a bit of a shortcut on
the way out, a welcome surprise,
as while the descent is more
fun it's much shorter, and you
must walk most of the way out.
Click
on the thumbnails below to see
some photos, click the window
again to close.
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