[TheWaterboy]

After taking on South Sister and Jefferson in 2 days last year, I wanted to give another of the famous Bend peaks a shot. While I was on the summit of South Sister I was discussing Broken top with another climber and he had made it sound like a grand solo adventure to tackle. So after doing some cliff diving in the Smith River, Jumping off southern Oregon's Umpqua Falls, and spending a few days with family I headed for Bend to take on the climb. Due to all that is going on, they cancelled the permit system for this year making the entry for the day quite easy, I arrived at the Green Lakes trailhead around 6 am and set off along the Fall Creek Trail. There was plenty of flowers blooming, clear creeks flowing and some nice easy trail to start off the day.

After reaching the junction for Green Lakes, the views finally opened up. South Sister Looked magnificent and far more imposing from this angle. The best part was finally getting a view of my goal for the day. It's always funny to me when I am headed to climb a 9000+ foot peak and can't see it until I am in just the right spot.

Compared to the climbing I do in the North Cascades, the trail for broken top felt far to easy to follow. There was no bushwhacking, no navigation and a great boot path to follow. The only mistake I almost made was taking a trail marked "broken top", though I quickly realized that trail goes to No Name Lake. The ridge is where my disappointment set in. The climber I had spoken with the previous year made it sound like some grand scrambling adventure to take on. Compared to the north cascades, most of it was a yawn. Just walking along on some loose scree. There was one spot I had to use my hands prior to the 15 foot crack everyone climbs.

Due to the fact that there were several climbers above the crack, I chose to explore other routes along the obvious trail that leads to climbers right. I managed to locate one spot that was far easier to ascend which made me wonder if people use the crack just to make the climb more interesting. Though the other group on the mountain was using a rope, I found the last 200 feet of scrambling along the catwalk and final ridge to be pretty easy. The biggest consideration was the exposure. If a perceived 1000 ft of falling makes you uncomfortable, bring the rope. There is plenty of spots with bolts to clip into.

The one reason I was grateful for bringing my rope was the downclimb. There is a lot of loose rock that makes it feel difficult. The rappel off is far simpler and worth the 30m rope that I carried to the top. Plus, it was my first time rigging up a solo rappel with no one around. Made me feel like my climbing took a good-sized step. Of course, no trip to the Bend, OR area would be complete without checking out at least one brewery.

All in all a good climb and worth the effort. Though I think the guy I spoke with the prior year oversold the difficulty a bit making me feel like it left something to be desired. Broken top at Hike2Hike.com