Trip Report

It was a nice calm day starting out at the Pole Creek trail head to climb North Sister for my third time. We started hiking with Danni Harris, Ted Glick, Mike Morris, and myself. All gear check, waypoint set, go. As we got there Ted informed us that he was not feeling great due to his knee which is about to be partially replaced. We will see more of him next year after rehab. With that in mind we decided to stay in the Thayer Glacier basin instead of going up to the normal ridge to set base camp. We started out an hour earlier to compensate for the extra distance. Mike, Danni and I started out on a fine Sunday morning at 3:30 am. All was going well until at about 9000 feet I started to get a little bit of a headache. Nothing I haven't experienced before. I think just a little bit of caffeine withdrawal. Then about 9400 feet a wave of nausea came over me with the headache. This is now not good. So I inform Mike and Danni and we decide it would be best if Danni assumes the lead and I stop to rest and take on water and food. Sounded good to everyone and they went on. Danni and Mike got to the Dinner plate to discover that the snow was too soft and unsafe to cross. After a couple of attempts trying to cross, they decided to throw in the towel and come back down. North Sister was just a little too much this day. She is not going anywhere soon so we will try again next year. Still a great trip that pushed us all to some extremes we were prepared to handle but not liking having to deal with it. Great argument for being prepared and knowing what to look for to keep everyone safe.