South Ridge

This is the standard route up North Sister. You start from the saddle between Middle and North at about 9,000 ft and follow the ridge. In summer this ridge is really unpleasant and potentially dangerous class 2-3. There are a couple gendarmes on the ridge that provide route finding difficulties. Once at the summit pinnacle you traverse left (ideally on steep snow) for a couple hundred feet to the "bowling alley," a 4th class gully that leads to the true summit.

In winter/spring conditions this route is a fun alpine climb with steep snow and rime that can easily be simul-soloed in a day from Pole Creek TH. Approaching this way can also give you the opportunity to go directly to the ridge crest up one of the SE facing gullies, adding more steep snow and making for a shorter, more direct climb by cutting the corner and avoiding the lower half of the ridge.

perhaps pickets in winter, otherwise none