Teardrop Lake is snowmelt, so should be fine; there's also a tarn at the foot of the Lewis Glacier that the trail passes right by.

Lots of dogs and people on the route, so definitely treat the water.

P.S. TR in progress: Out West with EastKing

TheViper wrote:Tomorrow we leave for Sunriver in an attempt to summit south sister Friday morning. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll see you on the mountain. I'm also going up on Friday morning while my friend we're visiting is at work in Bend. I'll have a yellow Mountain Hardwear bandana on...say hello when we pass.

Brian

Well my wife and I, as well as some friends were successful in our first attempts. Overall it was pretty easy for me, but on the way up I had to go with my wife, so slow and steady was the name of the game. On the way down I jogged alot of the way and ended up about 1.5-2hrs ahead of my group.

I wish that people would have given a better details about the South Sister though. The whole "Hot Scree Mess" thing was defiantly way over exaggerated. The temps were freezing for me (32-52deg F). The scree was not as hard to traverse as most people complain about. The wind was really not an issue either, in fact the summit was the calmest and warmest spot. I do understand that on a 100 deg day the heat and rock would be more of an issue, and I'm sure it can be much more windy.

@TheViper
For most of the summer, South Sister is a way different scene than what you experienced. From what I've seen and experienced, weather in 30-50 degree range is more consistant with early Fall or late Spring. When I hiked South Sister in the middle of July, the temperature was consistantly 80+ degrees wherever the sun is shining.

Of course, that changes when your under tree cover and there is snow drifts on the ground

Yeah weather was odd this last week and a half, its not usually that cool out in mid august.

I went in late October a couple years ago, we were way too hot most of the way. Then we got on the ridge above Lewis glacier, and the wind about knocked us over, and froze us to the core.
You got lucky with such a great weather window on your climb.
Good job

2_climbaxes wrote:Plan B...sleep on on the summit. ... But of course you will then need to carry a tent, bag, pad, extra food, etc

This is conditions dependent, we went sans bivy/tent with 30 degree bags and were fine behind one of the rock wall wind breaks. YMMV

Views were outstanding...

2_climbaxes wrote:All the better for us summit sleepers though.

tru dat!