South Tripyramid is the southernmost summit of the three-peaked Tripyramid group, rising to 4,100 feet within the Sandwich Range Wilderness of the White Mountains. The summit itself is wooded and viewless, but just below it the South Slide opens onto a steep granite ramp with long sightlines south toward Lake Winnipesaukee and the Belknap Range.
The standard approach is a clockwise loop of roughly 10 miles that traverses all three summits in sequence. The Mount Tripyramid Loop gains the ridge via the North Slide, an open slab of bedrock scoured bare during a heavy rainstorm in August 1885 and one of the more demanding scrambles in the White Mountains. After crossing North Tripyramid (4,180 ft) and Middle Tripyramid (4,140 ft), the ridge trail reaches South at a half-mile beyond Middle. The descent follows the South Slide, steep and loose underfoot but considerably less exposed than the North Slide; most hikers descend it rather than ascend it. The trail then drops alongside Slide Brook, passing Black Cascade before reaching the valley.
Both slides become treacherous in wet conditions or when icy, and traction devices are advisable from late fall through early spring. The loop gains roughly 3,000 feet of elevation and sees heavy use in summer, so an early start helps on the slides.
