June 3, 2005, South Sister

After skiing Giddy Giddy Gulch on Shasta, we headed north to Ashland then east on Dead Indian Memorial Highway for our ski trip to Mt. McCloughlin the next morning.  There were great wildflowers along the highway but not enough time to really check them out per Jill.  We spent the night at the Summit Sno Park along highway 140. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate in the morning so we headed north to the Sisters Wilderness.  Spent the evening in a meadow near Sparks Lake and the clear skies dropped the temperatures overnight to firm up the snow pack.  We parked in the deserted Devils Lake parking area at 5450 feet.  The trail is in a forested area and provides great shade.  We climbed the steep dirt trail with our skis on the packs.  We hit continuous snow at THE BIG ROCK in the trail at around 6200 feet.  We continued to boot pack it till we arrived at the plateau around 6700 feet. We skinned above Moraine Lake and continued on the flats towards the moraines and the summit.  This is a long rather boring approach until you reach the junction with the Green Lakes trail. A few years ago I did the Three Sisters traverse and we skied South Sister from Green Lake.  That approach and ski seemed more enjoyable but then I was a wee bit younger then.  During our ascent the clouds moved in and out but finally a clear day persisted.  The descent was in good corn about two inches deep, not great but acceptable.  The skate across the flats was boring and the down climbing with skis in the pack was unpleasant.  As you can tell, we are not big believers in packing the skis any great distance to the snow. I think we will focus our remaining tours where snow access is near the camper.  Zap