Twin Sisters Traverse

By:  Sam
April 9, 2012



We were treated to a mellow section of the traverse, and decided to make camp in the sparse trees in the right corner of the photo.


Despite the mellow pitch, our tired legs conspired with the crusty snow to make our descent a challenging one.


We should have noticed the obvious clues that wind was no stranger to this area.

Looking back at the last pass of the day from our campsite.


Home for the night. The wind was already starting to pick up.

After a massive dinner, we settled into our sleeping bags and fell quickly asleep. Before long however, we noticed that we hadn’t fully buried the windward side of the tarp, so with each gust of wind spindrift would swirl into the shelter and settle lightly on our faces, sleeping bags, and gear. By morning our sleeping bags were damp, and all our gear had turned white. Luckily for us, the forecast called for a warming trend so instead of life threatening hypothermia, we were instead provided with a valuable learning experience.

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Read about the author:   Sam
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: Cold Town, Winter in the City

Related Stuff:

  1. TR: Twin Sisters Range Traverse
  2. TR: North Face of North Twin
  3. TR: Spearhead Traverse in a Day
  4. Spearhead Traverse Variation
  5. TR: The North Shore of Hiking: A Presidential Range Traverse
  6. North Face of North Twin

14 Comments

  1. Adrian
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 1:27 am  
    1

    Wow, looks like a great ski. Sure is some beautiful country around those parts.

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  2. Skidmarks
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 7:24 am  
    2

    At first glance I thought you were talking about Twin Mountain NH!!
    Great report guys.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  3. bushman
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 8:37 am  
    3

    Damn! I’m out of breath just reading the notes below each frame; what a workout. inspires mere mortals to climb for snow next week. nice report guys.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  4. jake L.
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 8:53 am  
    4

    A great adventure with great company, that’s what it’s all about! Splendid write up Sam, looking forward to the next instalment.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  5. Ullr
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 6:53 pm  
    5

    AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  6. christian
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 7:21 pm  
    6

    SICK TRIP! how much vert did that work out to roughly?
    got yourself a houdini i see. one of my favorites, ever.

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  7. Sam
    wrote on April 10th, 2012 at 10:40 pm  
    7

    It was 11100ft of gain over 30 miles. Yeah, the houdini is awesome, I bought it for trail running (I’ve been running a ton recently), but I’ve really grown to like it for skiing as well. I didn’t even bring a shell on this trip.

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  8. powhounddd
    wrote on April 11th, 2012 at 8:59 pm  
    8

    Great TR, glad it worked out! The mountains there are really something, real nice pics. Oh and, just for fun: “We pushed off, praying to press past a pair of potentially problematic passes prior to parking our parkas.” would have been 2x Extra points for abusive alliteration ;)

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    • bushman
      wrote on April 11th, 2012 at 9:31 pm  
      9

      avoid alliteration. always

  9. Peter
    wrote on April 12th, 2012 at 10:49 pm  
    10

    f.f.s this is awesome, thanks guys. So beautiful, I want to be in those mountains so badly!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Sam
      wrote on April 13th, 2012 at 3:10 am  
      11

      6 hour flight + 6 miles of hiking gets you to snow! glad you liked the photos

  10. Roger Strong
    wrote on April 16th, 2012 at 1:42 am  
    12

    Absolutely stunning traverse and thanks for sharing Sam and Allen…great getting to hang with you both in the desert this weekend!

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  11. savant
    wrote on April 16th, 2012 at 11:48 am  
    13

    Thanks for the time and effort put into writing this TR. As the Boston marathon trickles by with 80 -85 temps for the day this was a nice diversion

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  12. ml242
    wrote on April 16th, 2012 at 5:45 pm  
    14

    Must have been hard to leave so much great skiing hanging there to make it across the traverse. Looking forward to the next installation.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
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