South Sister in late March

[Julian]

My buddies and I are looking to squeeze in a daytrip a few weekends from now before we all head off for spring break, and I was wondering if anyone has done the South Sister south side route at this time of year and can comment on the length, route-finding difficulty, and potential hazard? In particular, I'm looking for mileage between the Bachelor parking lot and Devil's Lake trailhead (and any opinions on the feasibility of doing the whole thing car-to-car in a day, if the trail to Moraine Lake is at all difficult to follow in the winter (I've done it in summer/fall where it's dead obvious so I've never bothered to look for any markers), and what kind of snow conditions are likely on the ridge (bring axes and pons or leave them at home?). Any beta would be much appreciated.

[splattski]

I did this many years ago on skate skis.

The road down was an icy skating rink- without metal edges, scary. Then I skied *past* Devil's to hook into a series of rising meadows heading sort of NW back onto the main south-side route. At some point I took off the skis and hiked to the summit in my skating boots.

When I got back to my skis, the snow had softened enough that I could tele back down, taking a shortcut that got a bit brushy as I approached the Green lakes trailhead.

This was a very long day, and skating back up the hill to the ski area about killed me...

YMMV

[111]

it is approximately 6 to devils, 6 to summit, for a round trip of 24 ish miles. long ass day. we did it car to car in 16 hrs but were a little delerious by the end of it.bring axe, or poons, but you may not need them. totally dependant on conditions when you get there. I was happy to have them when I wend and my 2 partners just brought axes for arresting.