Annotated photos of North Sister in late season (mid Aug - mid Sept)
Please click on images to open the large original and read the text.
Here's a climbers view of the so-called "Terrible Traverse" on North sister in late-season. When this is snow-covered, it can be a pitch or two of 50° alpine ice which will require your full attention. However, in late-season when the snow is gone, it's an easy third class scramble. There is a brief section with a bad runout, so larger climbing teams will probably want a fixed rope across it. Use several small cams for anchors at either end.(As mentioned in some of my previous photos, please avoid the common mistake of ascending the gully with the red X marks.)
A close-up, annotated photo of the North Sister summit block.A very common
mistake here is to head up the gully to the left, or north of the Bowling Alley. It's marked here with the red X's - avoid this area!
Here is an annotated photo with a complete route across the upper summit Ridge. I think the text pretty much says it all. Feel free to save this onto your smart phone or print it out for your North Sister trip. (Click the photo for a larger image.)
This photo shows the ascent route from Arrowhead Lake up toward the Black Fin. There is a decent climbers trail up through here that you can follow in the dark.
Parents refers to a larger category under which an object falls. For example, theAconcagua mountain page has the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits' asparents and is a parent itself to many routes, photos, and Trip Reports.