Sharman Ultra: South Sister Summit

South Sister from the flat section of trail before the proper climb.

It looks like there's just enough good weather to get in a few more mountain runs. And this is the best time to get up there, in my opinion - the snow's at a minimum and the crowds are low, even on the popular trails.

So today I went up South Sister, which is part of the Three Sisters next to where the Pole Creek fire still is (see my write up of getting caught up Middle Sister as that fire almost destroyed the car). There's still plenty of smoke in the area but it's all on the northern side of Broken Top and away from the summit trail for South Sister. The route up is six miles long with 5,000ft of ascent, so it's a tough work-out, then a really enjoyable cruise downhill.

Fellow North Face team-mate, Steph Howe, led the way after getting hit by a car recently. She seems to be back in racing form since she powered her way up the mountain. And in the October lull in racing (for me, anyway), there's just time to fit in a 40-mile circumnavigation of Mt Hood with 12,000ft of climb. Looks like it'll be a who's who of North-West ultra running (including Canada) with both 2012 UROC champs turning up as well as many more - that should be a great day out as long as the snow can hold off for just one more week.