A couple weeks ago I was invited to join a small Mazamas group on a last minute trip to Broken Top in central Oregon.
My friend Sean and I had climbed Broken Top once before via the North Ridge after camping at Green Lakes, as most parties do. For this trip we used a more adventurous approach from the North/East, which provided an opportunity to see a new side of the mountain.
As it turns out, Broken Top is much more impressive from the East because there are some pretty sizeable glaciers on that side in addition to Tam McArthur Rim.
I neglected to bring my camera, but fortunately one of my climbing companions brought along two, and did an excellent job of documenting the trip. You can see his pictures at:
http://www.snapfitz.com/gallery/v/climbing/2007/
After navigating a very narrow, rocky, rutted dirt road in the dark we spent Friday night at the Park Meadows trailhead. We got up early Saturday and left camp about sunrise.
The approach took us through some awesome backpacking camps at Park Meadows and Golden Lakes. Both of these areas see much less traffic than Green Lakes on the other side of Broken Top. We had perfect weather for such a late season trip, sunny and cool with only a slight breeze.
After scrambling up the North Ridge we chose to ignore the short crack that is most frequently used to ascend the summit block. Instead, we setup a fixed line and ascended the summit block using a route around to the right of the nose on the North Ridge. The summit provided excellent views of Jefferson, Mt. Washington, all three sisters, Hood, 3-Finger Jack, and Bachelor.
After a short rappel we descended the scree slopes on the east side of the North Ridge. From the base of the ridge we made a loop by heading cross-country and following an old unused irrigation ditch back to the trailhead.
Another beautiful day in the mountains, with just enough adventure to hold me over until the next trip.
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