Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

June 26, 2024

2797m

Bend, OR

Broken Top is one of the more rugged volcanoes in the Three Sisters Wilderness of central Oregon. It’s right next to the Three Sisters but still boasts over 600 m prominence. The easiest route is the NW Ridge and requires some exposed scrambling near the summit and some parties may prefer using a rope. I had done the Three Sisters back in 2019 and I mostly reserve the peaks in this area when weather is bad elsewhere closer to home. Erica and I were planning a 4-day trip in the middle of the week and the weather forced me to think about the Oregon volcanoes as this was the closest spot with some guaranteed hours of sunshine. It’s been a few years since I visited the area so I was also keen to come back. I had 4 volcanoes to complete the 20 peaks on that “Cascades Volcanoes Peak Pin” list so I laid out a hasty itinerary to include all 4 of them, and this meant we had to push ourselves on the driving sections. The first day (Wednesday) had some high winds but it made sense to do Broken Top first as this would give the easiest itinerary from the driving perspective, so I triple-checked the weather to make sure the wind wouldn’t be too severe to prevent the summit. There were some red tapes so the day pass permit was obtained two days before the trip, and I would also carry a 20 m rope for Erica not because it was really needed but rather to show her some rope work techniques.

We were not able to cross the border until 9 pm on Tuesday evening and the forecast showed the best weather window was in the morning, so we had to push through the night without much sleep, if any. The driving would take 8 hours and I did take me 8 hours to get us there. I made two stops both in Washington for gas, and then took another half an hour “forced” break near Mt. Hood due to road construction. I cruised us down Highway 97 towards Bend in daybreak and eventually made to Green Lakes trail-head at exactly 5 am. The final half an hour was rough as I had to fight hard against fatigue but I managed to stay awake somehow. Erica was sleeping throughout most of the drive so the moment she woke up we were already at the parking lot. I did spend another hour at the trail-head to recollect myself as I was completely exhausted, but after forcing in some food we were able to start the day more or less as planned.

The 7 km hike to Green Lakes was harder than expected mostly because of the conditions. There was some horrendous mosquitoes at the trail-head and along the lower half of the approach trail, but what made things annoying was the snow. The condition still felt like May than late June with consistent snow coverage for much of the approach. I had opted to wear the Ortholite approach shoes but was forced to swap footwear to mountaineering boots not far in. My pack was quite heavy with the snow and rock gears and I was feeling the lack of sleep. We eventually followed the footprints to the still-frozen Green Lakes but the footprints stopped after that. I led us breaking our own trail towards the high saddle on the NW Ridge of Broken Top and because of the snow coverage we did not try to follow the existing “trail”. Another break was taken under the ridge to swap footwear back to the approach shoes as the ridge itself appeared dry. I was already exhausted and was not keen to haul any additional gear.

After dragging our tired selves onto the NW Ridge we were hammered by the winds, but we came prepared for that. The wind was not cold, but strong enough to make us don some layers. The condition was actually more tolerable than I thought, as we never felt being pushed around too hard. The ridge itself was quite easy with a path here and there, but the view was foreshortened. It took us a long while to eventually slog to the base of the scramble. The initial crux was a short 5th class step but I knew there’s also a 3rd class gully bypass on the climber’s right side. I opted to climb the nose directly as it looked fun, but it turned out a bit harder than I thought. I was glad to have brought a rope for Erica to follow, and we planned to rappel this step on the descent. The “cat walk” afterwards was quite chill as it was just a walk on a somewhat exposed ledge with some loose pebbles, and the final scramble to the summit was also quite straightforward. The position of the “cat walk” made for some very cool photos and videos and Erica greatly enjoyed her first ever volcano.

Due to the winds we didn’t spend too much time on the descent, but we did explore the ridge a little bit on the descent. I scrambled up another rock pinnacle on the ridge for fun. We then dashed back across the “cat walk” and then made the rappel down that nose step. This was Erica’s second ever rappel and the first on rock. We had previously discovered a sheltered spot on the ridge and used that spot to take a lunch break, and then dashed back to the saddle where we ditched the boots. The winds were pushing us on the descent. The experience was not pleasant but I thought this was also a good training trip for the high winds at altitude. There were a few groups of hikers at Green Lakes to the trail was much more packed on the way out for us, but it was still a slog in the sloppy snow. The mosquitoes were worse so after I swapped footwear back to the approach shoes we jogged back to the parking lot.

Our round trip time was 10 hours. We had about an hour and half’s driving to Diamond Lake at the base of Mt. Thielsen and I was glad that Erica was able to offload some of my driving duties. I was in serious need of some rests and I slept while she drove. We stopped for some groceries and then went for the Diamond Lake campground. It was mostly full but we did find a spot next to the lake and settled for the night there.