10,495-foot Mount Jefferson ranks below Mount Hood as the second-tallest peak in the state of Oregon. "With over 5,777 feet of prominence, Jefferson is one of the 57 ultra-prominent peaks of the contiguous United States and is only one of four peaks on this list from Oregon,” writes Fred Spicker on SummitPost.org. This stratovolcano soars above the landscape and is visible from miles around, making it an attractive mountaineering objective.

The Three Sisters formation of volcanoes dominates the skyline of the Cascade Mountains as they march up the spine of Oregon, just to the west of Bend. The tallest of the three is 10,358-foot South Sister, and consequently, it is a popular hiking, trail running, and mountaineering objective. South Sister is also the third tallest mountain in Oregon.

The North Sister is the most difficult of the Three Sisters to climb. While South Sister is the tallest, North Sister is the most technical, with some class 4 scrambling required on poor rock and loose dirt. While it might not be as technical as the heavily glaciated peaks of Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson, the ascent of North Sister is still demanding and requires competent mountaineering skills.

Middle Sister is the shortest of the Three Sisters at 10,046 feet, but it's still a more technical climb than South Sister, the tallest of the three. The route mapped here approaches via the Pole Creek Trail and Camp Lake Trail. The same approach can be used for North Sister, so some climbers will turn this into a multi-day expedition and climb both peaks from a basecamp in the middle.

This is the route that makes Mount Hood the world’s second-most-climbed glaciated mountain after Mount Fuji. It’s climbed in all seasons but especially in late spring and early summer, when thousands of people go for the Oregon state highpoint. If it sounds like a traffic jam, that’s because it often is. But the ease of access and the quality of mildly technical climbing leave no better alternative for a summer mountaineering route in the Cascades.