The Plan
On Thu, Aug 18, 2016, I will make a first attempt at climbing/speed traversing all 5 Oregon peaks over 10,000ft (3,048 meters) in a single push: Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister. I will connect the 5 peaks by running between them. The total distance is around 150 miles (241km) with about 50,000ft (15,240 meters) of elevation gain. I expect this endurance challenge to take anywhere between 70 and 90 hours. Nothing too crazy. To the best of my knowledge, no such attempt has ever been made. If successful, it would be a 5-peak contribution to the Cascades 11-over-10 Challenge Series.
[table width=”600″ colwidth=”25|25|25|25|25″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Rank,Peak,Elevation [ft],Elevation [m], Prominence [ft]
1,Mt. Hood,11\,239,3\,426,7\,706
2,Mt. Jefferson,10\,497,3\,199,5\,777
3,South Sister,10\,358,3\,157,5\,588
4,North Sister,10\,085,3\,062,2\,725
5,Middle Sister,10\,047,3\,062,1\,127
[/table]
The Route
I will start at the South Sister Devil’s Lake trailhead, climb the 3 Sisters first (a.k.a. 3 Sisters Marathon; current FKT: 6:39), run to Mt. Jefferson, climb Mt. Jefferson, run to Mt. Hood, and finally climb Mt. Hood. The running part will be mostly on the PCT. It’s all pretty much a straight line (see map below), or so I like to think. Depending on conditions (rockfall, snow, ice, visibility) and the time of the day, I may have to skip the summit pinnacles on North Sister (a.k.a. Faith, Ugly Sister, Gnarly Northy, or The Black Beast of the Cascades) and/or Mt. Jefferson for safety reasons. Since I’m doing this solo, I will not have any protection on the very last 100-200ft or so of these two exposed class 4 climbs. This will be by far the most technical and dangerous endurance adventure I’ve attempted so far.
The planned route. I will start at the Devil’s Lake TH and, if all goes well, finish at Timberline Lodge after climbing South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Hood.
Elevation profile of the route. Only 5 peaks and a few other hills to conquer.
Logistics
The adventure will be supported by beloved super empress (BSE) Ursina. As usual, the logistics are non-trivial. We have about 7 support locations along the route. To avoid meeting mishaps, Ursina will be able to track my SPOT location on the Iridium satellite network from anywhere, even without cell phone reception. For the Mt. Jefferson climb, she will have to hike into Jefferson Park during the night and carry all my climbing gear (in addition to her own gear, tent, and food) to meet me on the PCT in the early morning hours. At least that’s the idea, but things rarely go according to the masterplan.
Tracking
You can track me at:
The planned start is at 3am on Thu, Aug 18, 2016.
If someone wants to come out and run sections with me, that would be cool! Misery loves company.
FAQs
- Are you recovered from the ODT? No.
- Are you ready for this? No.
- Will this be safe? No.
- Do you know what you are doing? No.
- Do you know why you are you doing this? No.
- Do you have issues? Yes.
- How old are you? 65.
Recon and Training Pics
Mt. Hood seen in the early morning hours from a Mt. Jefferson training climb. It does not look that far away, right?
Mt. Jefferson seen from North Sister. Mt. Hood in the far background. Mt. Adams can barely be seen to the right of Mt. Hood. Mt. Washington and Three Fingered Jack in the foreground.
North Sister training. That thing is just an ugly pile of rubble. It’s hard to laugh up there.
There’s a bunch of significant crevasses on the Mt. Jefferson Whitewater glacier. Route finding needs some creativity in some places.
The 3 Sisters (in the far background) seen from Mt. Jefferson. Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Washington in the foreground. Mt. Bachelor to the left of the 3 Sisters.
The Mt. Jefferson South Horn seen from the Red Saddle. The traverse to the left is exposed, and so is the summit pinnacle class 4 scramble. Protection is definitely recommended. But alas, I won’t have any.
On the Mt. Jefferson summit traverse from the Red Saddle. The rain washes out deep gullies with nearly vertical walls. It’s steeper than it looks. And no, you definitely don’t want to slip there.
Winter training on South Sister. Bivouac in the middle of the summit crater. The winter access is a long slog, well, unless you use a snowmobile along the Cascade Lakes highway 46.