March 27, 2011, Ruby Mountain
3/27/11
5393
8
Saturday morning on the I-90 bridge driving up to Snoqualmie pass to ski the slot the sky looked stormy to the south and clear to the north.
"Maybe we should go up north tomorrow. It looks nice."
"Sure."
So north we went. We knew we were heading to the North Cascades but we didn't know which mountain we wanted to ski.
Somewhere near Burlington we decided to ski Ruby Mountain, of course cascade river road was calling when we reached Marblemount but we new the road was not in good shape. We finally reached the end of highway 20 at about 9:30 am to mostly sunny skies. Coverage was looking slim but there was enough for skinning. Our route followed Happy creek for about 1,000 vft then up the ridge in between Happy Creek and Horsetail creek. We followed this ridge all the way up to the summit. At about 6100 ft we started to boot it. There was a breakable crust in spots which slowed us down. Also the top 700 ft of this route was a bit spicy for a skier. Mixed climbing/scrambling with cornices on one side and exposure on the other.
On Hindsight we should have traversed to mellower slopes at the 6100 ft col or gone up the gut from the beginning. On top there is a radio tower and gorgeous views in every direction. Our slow pace topped us out at 6:30ish, and by this time many of the peaks were socked in. Clouds rolled into our summit so we departed.
We skied down the mellow way and straight down to Happy creek. The upper third was similar to Hemispheres at Mt. Baker. A bit longer though. It steepens and rolls over at 5500' into pillow land until you hit the deposit zone and ultimately the creek bed. The snow held up really well down to about 4,000 ft then it turned into mush. Powder was about 4"-6" deep.
Darkness enveloped us probably 20 minutes sooner than we would have liked but we made it out with our headlamps and skated/walked the closed Highway 20 back to the car.
Great day out in the mountains and quite the opposite of the parade down the slot on Saturday.
Too much of this....
Some views of the Pickets
Ridgeline ascended
Riding above Ross lake
Jack and Crater mountains
Hijacked photos from Spencer.........
"Maybe we should go up north tomorrow. It looks nice."
"Sure."
So north we went. We knew we were heading to the North Cascades but we didn't know which mountain we wanted to ski.
Somewhere near Burlington we decided to ski Ruby Mountain, of course cascade river road was calling when we reached Marblemount but we new the road was not in good shape. We finally reached the end of highway 20 at about 9:30 am to mostly sunny skies. Coverage was looking slim but there was enough for skinning. Our route followed Happy creek for about 1,000 vft then up the ridge in between Happy Creek and Horsetail creek. We followed this ridge all the way up to the summit. At about 6100 ft we started to boot it. There was a breakable crust in spots which slowed us down. Also the top 700 ft of this route was a bit spicy for a skier. Mixed climbing/scrambling with cornices on one side and exposure on the other.
On Hindsight we should have traversed to mellower slopes at the 6100 ft col or gone up the gut from the beginning. On top there is a radio tower and gorgeous views in every direction. Our slow pace topped us out at 6:30ish, and by this time many of the peaks were socked in. Clouds rolled into our summit so we departed.
We skied down the mellow way and straight down to Happy creek. The upper third was similar to Hemispheres at Mt. Baker. A bit longer though. It steepens and rolls over at 5500' into pillow land until you hit the deposit zone and ultimately the creek bed. The snow held up really well down to about 4,000 ft then it turned into mush. Powder was about 4"-6" deep.
Darkness enveloped us probably 20 minutes sooner than we would have liked but we made it out with our headlamps and skated/walked the closed Highway 20 back to the car.
Great day out in the mountains and quite the opposite of the parade down the slot on Saturday.
Too much of this....
Some views of the Pickets
Ridgeline ascended
Riding above Ross lake
Jack and Crater mountains
Hijacked photos from Spencer.........
Awesome fellas!!
Where you up there trying to get a rad photo of Dash hitting something in the picketts?
Maybe Spencer missed the memo, but every split boarder on the west coast was up at Baker this weekend. Or maybe he got the memo?
Where you up there trying to get a rad photo of Dash hitting something in the picketts?
Maybe Spencer missed the memo, but every split boarder on the west coast was up at Baker this weekend. Or maybe he got the memo?
Great trip, nice photos, thanks for the report. Ruby Mountain has been on my agenda for over a decade, I love summits with great views. Either as a summer day-hike (via the abandoned trail from Fourth of July Pass) or a ski trip up the north side like this. Gotta get up there soon.
There haven't been many TRs about skiing Ruby, a search turns up two from 2009 (Feb 21 and April 18) and one from 2004. Glad you got a lot more skiing than these guys:
August 30, 2004, Ruby Mountain, North Patch
There haven't been many TRs about skiing Ruby, a search turns up two from 2009 (Feb 21 and April 18) and one from 2004. Glad you got a lot more skiing than these guys:
August 30, 2004, Ruby Mountain, North Patch
Excellent! Great to read others heading up there - a great spot to ski before the NCH opens (which will be late this year). When we did it in 2009, we took a more mellow series of ramps, though the cornices do present a challenge getting to the summit ridge from the north bowl.
Ditto about having Ruby on the must do list. How great to get above Diablo/Ross area in the winter.
Here's a map based on earlier TRs. Any tips from those who've done it? It seems a crux is navigating the lower woods. For final approach from Happy Creek, is there a recommendation re. from the south ridge (as on map) or cut uphill right (west) of creek to 6,100' col approaching via the north ridge?
Here's a map based on earlier TRs. Any tips from those who've done it? It seems a crux is navigating the lower woods. For final approach from Happy Creek, is there a recommendation re. from the south ridge (as on map) or cut uphill right (west) of creek to 6,100' col approaching via the north ridge?
author=alecapone link=topic=20362.msg86621#msg86621 date=1301585864]
Awesome fellas!!
Where you up there trying to get a rad photo of Dash hitting something in the picketts?
Maybe Spencer missed the memo, but every split boarder on the west coast was up at Baker this weekend. Or maybe he got the memo?
Well I was tempted to head up the sourdough ridge trail. The south face of Luna looked pretty sick.
Route wise. Going straight up the gut of the avalanche path or just to the side would be the quickest way. It does get a little choked in the creek area though. I don't recommend the upper portion of our route for skiing.
If I went up there again I would probably want to try and ski several of the bowls from east to west. The far west bowl has far gnarlier terrain. It looked like there are a few chutes that might go, but I can't say for sure.
In the image below orange is the route we took while green is the uptrack I would take if I went up again to ski multiple bowls. Red = Down.
Also the glaciers on Colonial and Pyramid were looking FAT!
Jackal: Route 1 on your map is fairly close. The SE ridge is obvious and easy; the North Ridge would seem ridiculously difficult and unnecessary. The one pearl I can give is at the flat meadow at 3200' to look through the trees at the end on the right and follow that right branch of the creek up into the upper bowls. Boot
lrudholm and Boot, thanks for the beta. hope to get up there soon!
author=Amar Andalkar link=topic=20362.msg86706#msg86706 date=1301689444">
Great trip, nice photos, thanks for the report. Ruby Mountain has been on my agenda for over a decade, I love summits with great views. Either as a summer day-hike (via the abandoned trail from Fourth of July Pass) or a ski trip up the north side like this. Gotta get up there soon.
There haven't been many TRs about skiing Ruby, a search turns up two from 2009 (Feb 21 and April 18) and one from 2004. Glad you got a lot more skiing than these guys:
August 30, 2004, Ruby Mountain, North Patch
sad.
...but I would totally do it...
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