Trip Report
Basic Alpine Climb - South Twin Sister/West Ridge
Although considered a climb, the route can easily be completed without a rope. Super fun for those who are comfortable with lots of class 3 and occasional class 4 moves and much exposure in some areas.
Susan Shih
- Thu, Sep 16, 2021
- Basic Alpine Climb - South Twin Sister/West Ridge
- South Twin Sister/West Ridge
- Climbing
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
We used Greg Slayden's Peakbagger's track for guidance and it worked great. The map shows our route from the trailhead. We were lucky enough to have a participant with a key to the gate so did not have to hike or bicycle the road to the trailhead saving us about 5.5 miles one way.
All 4 of us spent the night in the parking area next to the gate and drove to the trailhead the next morning. We departed the trailhead at about 6:40am soon after it got light and arrived at the basin where many camp (4900') at about 8am. Photo below shows the campsites (red) and the creek where the last water source can be found later in the season. Access to the west ridge are near the campsites.
Below is a photo of the west ridge taken from the campsite. One can access the ridge further down or further up by going up choss and talus. We chose to start lower by hugging the trees which worked well. On the return we left the ridge further up as shown on the map.
The route was fairly obvious with many cairns to follow. As stated in many reports, staying on the crest is often harder than dropping a little to the south side of the ridge. Occasionally, there were cairns on the higher and a lower routes which made it a bit confusing, but always easy to rectify. 
It was quite chilly when we started, but warmed up as the sun shone on us. The morning light on N Twin Sister to our north. 
Besides traversing, there are lots of ups and downs as well.
The summit straight ahead.
Pano of the summit area. Mt Baker, Sisters Glacier and the summit.
Thw many peaks in the distance.
Great views of N Twin Sister as we descend.
We don't save much time on the descent as some areas were harder with more visual exposure.
This is about where we decided to leave the ridge and head down the scree and talus to the campsites which can save some time.
Fun day with 3 excellent scramblers on a beautiful day.
The stats:
c2c - 11.5 hrs at an unhurried pace. 5.7 miles/3650' gain