Skiing South Sister

 We hiked in and skied South Sister a little late in the season - June 24, 2023. It was easy to obtain a permit since the area was still too snowbound for most hikers and backpackers. What a journey: frozen hardback in the snow that had us walking and wishing for microspikes then attempting to skin, before switching to carrying our gear up on the steeper sections.  It was a thrill to skin across the caldera and reach the summit to enjoy views of surrounding peaks.

The morning's sunshine was followed by a thunderstorm, fortunately it only arrived after we had descended a ways from the summit. We had to leapfrog between snow patches to ski down - clearly earlier in the season would be preferable!