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Topic: April 18, 2009; Ruby Mtn (North Cascades) (Read 2112 times)
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cascadesfreak
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Posts: 366
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Ruby Mtn NE ridge, via Happy Creek drainage.
Battling downed-logs & postholing in low elevation relic mushy snow patches on a slow, not-so-happy approach up Happy Creek, gave way to rewards of vast spectacular sub-alpine snowy meadows, old growth glades, larch-dotted alpine terrain, and sweeping views on this North Cascades gem.
Aiming to stay ahead of daytime spring warming, we (Skip, Kevin, and I) departed from the road closure gate on Hwy 20 at 3:45 am. Found about 2 feet of snow cover at the Happy Creek bridge (~2,200-ft elevation), though coverage became patchy during the first ~500 vertical feet of the approach. After clamoring about in the dark for a couple hours (followed by a couple more hours of clamoring around in daylight generally following Happy Creek and various tributaries as “hand rails”) with the aid of headlamps and GPS we eventually navigated our way to our targeting clearing near 3,500-ft. A few hundred feet higher and we were out of the forest in open glades where skinning speed increased dramatically on a hard (though edgeable) raincrust.
After making our way through some nice old growth glades, we worked up wind-ward sides and low angles of alpine terrain features, topping out on Ruby’s NE ridge near 6,700-ft. The raincrust seemed to have disappeared above about 6,000-ft. Pole probing revealed numerous wind slabs about 3-to-4 feet thick on many leeward slopes above ~6,000-ft (presumably from earlier in the week), overlying a melt-freeze crust. As the terrain above our stopping point steepened substantially and appeared quite wind-loaded, we opted to skip Ruby’s ~7,400-ft summit (which was also guarded by a long precariously over-hanging cornice warming up in the morning sun).
High clouds in the morning helped keep the temperatures (and the snow) cold, which made for excellent shallow powder turns (about 1-to-2 inches of soft pow overlying a thin melt/freeze crust, overlying 2 feet+ of wind-affected snow from earlier this week) for the upper ~1,200 vertical feet of the ski down. Turns became challenging in the semi-breakable crust from ~5,500-ft to ~4,600-ft. Once out in the open again, the firmly frozen rain crust was silky smooth and made for fun, fast, supportable turns down to about 3,800-ft where the freezing level was crossed into sun-softened slightly mushy snow. The ‘survival skiing’ back through the forest was far better than expected by North Cascade standards (crusty moss/tree-litter cloaked snow with an occasional small stream crossing). Hopeful of finding a continuous line of snow down the west side of Happy Creek, we continued the survival ski down to about 300 vertical feet above Hwy 20. Back in a fallen-log jungle, the continuous snow ended here. The last 45 minutes of the outing was spent post-holing and traversing until finding a break in the steep gully-side terrain to descend the final ~300 vertical feet and back to Hwy 20 just after 1pm. A fine day out overall!
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Gregg_C
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Posts: 298
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Nice trip and pictures. I always wondered what it would be like to get to that side of the highway.
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kam
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Nice one, Wipe...but I still think it's better on Aug. 30th. Good to see Frank out of his box. Kevin: what's up with your boots? I noticed them a while ago...did you "fix" your heel for good?
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« Last Edit: 04/19/09, 11:29 AM by kam »
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What do you mean you didn't bring skis?
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Stugie
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Great trip report! Nice meeting you last night Chris!
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"The mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals; the houses where I practice my religion." - Anatoli Boukreev
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Kevin Steffa
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We started out on the nature trail. This boardwalk trail through the 'happy creek flats' definitely lulls ones senses about what a typical north cascade ski approach should be like. This of course ends about a quarter mile up the east side of the creek.
From there, brush free and open travel, though small diameter downed logs with a foot of rotten snow cover, at 4 am in the morning, is still not a good combination.
We did find traces of an older 'happy creek trail', which starts at the end of the nature boardwalk with a signed gate, presumably going as far as the old "Ruby Mountain Tramway" site. Actually, all we saw was an old rusty iron wheel poking up through the snow at about 2700', next to the creek. If you pick the 'correct' creek fork here, it is relatively straightforward travel through mature forest to the clearing at the bottom of the north slope.
Of course, following a creek with forks splitting uphill through the woods in the dark is roughly the same navigational challenge as following a ridge downhill on a volcano in a whiteout. In either experience, a GPS or compass is useful, as everything looks the same.
As always, great views of the north cascades giants!
p.s. Kam those orange monsters are part of a dual boot system... unfortunately, while travel on snow is sometimes easier, they dont perform very well if any hiking is involved in the approach.
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- Mossman
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Teleskichica
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Posts: 346
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I'm surprised you were still standing last night, Chris! Nice TR.
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Livin' high on the cold smoke!
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