One of the most amazing parts of living in Washington state is to be bored one day and have the option to decide to go sleep on top of a glaciated mountain on a whim.
This trip to Ruth Mountain was very last minute. Katie had just “learned the ropes” of glacier travel and we wanted to test out some of her new skills on a relatively safe glacier. We settled upon Ruth Mountain but weren’t sure when this trip might happen. I was checking the weather one day and noticed that we would have a perfect window coming up to squeeze in a trip to Ruth. So, we packed our bags and were driving north by mid-afternoon.
We didn’t arrive and start hiking at the Hannegan Pass trailhead until 4:45 pm. But thanks to some long daylight hours in mid/late June, I still figured we would have time to reach the summit. We shouldered our overnight packs and set off, covering ground quickly. As I feared, there was some excitement regarding the avalanche chutes coming down off the ridge far above us. There was still some residual snow in them, making for some slightly sketchy conditions. At most of these, we were able to crawl down the snow and cross on solid ground, but at one we had to climb much higher and make the crossing over the snowbridge (which was theoretically still very thick at this point). I didn’t love this part, and I hate feeling like I’m taking any kind of risk in the mountains, but the crossing felt like it was within my and Katie's acceptable risk threshold). Still – if venturing to Ruth or Hannegan, I would either wait until later in the year to avoid these snow bridges or go early in the morning when they are solidified.
Once past the snowbridges, we reached Hannegan Pass about 2 and a half hours after we started and were now in continuous snow. From here, we headed straight up the obvious slope above us, which steepened to a moderate angle. Then, we had to make a traverse around to the east of Pt. 5930. This area warranted crampons and solid ice axe placement. It was easy to kick steps and wasn’t excessively steep, but it was still a place you wouldn’t want to fall.
This traverse was short, and we soon rounded the corner of Pt. 5930 and saw the elegant, rounded shape of Ruth rising above us. It almost looks like the snow back of a whale emerging from the water. The terrain was lower consequence now, and we had fun starting up the ridge to the summit, with evening light bathing us. The way up this snow slope was a bit of a slog with our heavy packs, with one depressing false summit zapping us of some energy, but we eventually made it, 5 hours and 15 minutes after we left the car. What a view it was, with the amazing east face of Shuksan and the rugged Nooksack Cirque feeling close enough to reach out and touch. We also had views of the Pickets, Chilliwacks, and the formidable Icy Peak, attached to Ruth by a high ridge.
The summit of Ruth has a convenient summit bivy spot – a little wall of rocks to block out any wind and a flat-ish spot to put your tent. We hurriedly set up our tent, because light was fading, and then stayed up and enjoyed the amazing place we were in. I was already excited to wake up the next morning to revel in it again.
The next morning was cold but beautiful. I loved waking up to views of some of my favorite mountains. It felt like we were in a world of our own. On the way up we were racing time and the “glacier” is so benign that most parties don’t bother roping up even much later into the season, so we skipped it. But on the way down we broke out the rope and harnesses and decided to practice our glacier travel. It was fun practice and walking on glaciers is one of my favorite pastimes, so I felt right at home.
We bid farewell to our epic home for the night and the up close and personal views of Shuksan, and quickly descended. The way down was so much quicker than our pained walk up the night before! It wasn’t long before we were unroping and reversing our traverse around Pt. 5930. Our steps were still there from the previous night, and we confidently crossed and began plunge-stepping our way back down to Hannegan Pass.
The avalanche chutes on the way back were better because it was earlier in the day, but it still was a bit sketchy crossing the highest elevation one on the snow bridge. I think we did it as safe as possible, and before long we were off all snow and back to cruising on dirt trail. Our heavy packs were weighing us down a bit after all the effort of the previous day, but overall, we were feeling great and happy to have checked off these Cascade classic – with a summit bivy to boot!
Final Stats: 11.58 miles / 4,061 feet of ascent
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