May 14, 2005, Mt Ruth (8,690') Dogleg Couloir
5/14/05
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
2698
2
Day 55
5-14-05
Mt Ruth, MRNP, Dogleg Couloir
4,450 Total VF, Summit (8,690') to White River Campground (4,232').
3,000 VF ski to just below Glacier Basin Camp
Ron and I hit the Glacier Basin Trail from White River Campground at 7:30 am. We had driving rain on the approach drive, rain all week and prospects for a dry day were slim. When we hit the empty trail, however, the clouds began to lift.
At 5,500' we hit continuous and sometimes pleasantly deep snow pack. We plod along, sans snowshoes and glacier gear in anticipation of a corn event. Our smiles widen when we hit the dense snow.
One couple camping at Glacier Basin, otherwise we see no one on the climb up to the route. We drop our packs on the snow covered White River drainage and marvel at the amphitheatre around Glacier Basin. The snow is deep in the valley and the ski down from Inter Glacier looks very inviting. Our route above, however, does not look so friendly. Swirling clouds obscure the summit and the route above disappears soon after reaching the crux traverse over the cliffs of the middle section. All the recent snow has cascaded down the chutes and steep slopes of the Ruth massif, yet Ron and I are still very nervous about rock fall and we are glad it's still chilly and cloudy to keep the snow firm. Ron is more scared than I am and so he leads a fast clip up the steep bottleneck and out on to a rib above the cliffs on the couloir's right side, at the start of the crux traverse.
We stop and assess the scene.
Once we cross the slope we can bail down chutes to skiers left and this is reassuring. Certainly the route ahead looks scary if things go wrong: the whole slope is a concave bowl funneling snow and rocks on the traverse slope down a wicked, nasty death chute. We planned on making no mistakes through this section. We broke out the wands and I led the way across the slope to the far side, heading for the right shoulder where the topography would ease the route finding. It was very nice to have those wands in, a mistake at the traverse would be catastrophic.
Amazingly, as we climbed the rib toward the summit, the sun began to break out. Someone let beauty out of the box.
After a magnificent and scenic climb, we summited in sunny weather.
The views down on the Inter Glacier show the route is in fantastic shape. We see a few climbers working their way up the glacier yet the view above Curtis Camp is obscured by clouds. The corn of the descent calls!
The new snow from the week makes for very wet corn and the top 4" sloughs off whenever we ski a steep slope. Deeelightful turns down the upper snowfield as we make our way down toward the traverse. We pick up the wanded section and easily make it to the crux. Two more wands to go and the route ahead looks desperate.
I ski a section of slope at the beginning of the traverse and we watch and wait as the whole slope cascades over the cliffs below. Creepy. I hit the traverse first and with a quick shot I'm over the nasty section with no drama. Ron follows and with much relief he put his wands away in the pack at the top of the wonderfully steep, non-exposed chute below us - it's party time!
We leap frog down the lower slopes and meet up at the bottom of the chute - big smiles of success. We pack it up shortly after hitting Glacier Basin as stream crossings make further descent unappealing. The last 3 miles back to White River Campground go with ease.
Return to car: 2 pm. Round trip, 8.5 miles total and 4,500 VF, in a blistering 6.5 hrs. Rock on.
On the drive home Ron commented, "For the worst snow year since the 70s we're sure getting a lot of good skiing in."
Couldn't agree more.
5-14-05
Mt Ruth, MRNP, Dogleg Couloir
4,450 Total VF, Summit (8,690') to White River Campground (4,232').
3,000 VF ski to just below Glacier Basin Camp
Ron and I hit the Glacier Basin Trail from White River Campground at 7:30 am. We had driving rain on the approach drive, rain all week and prospects for a dry day were slim. When we hit the empty trail, however, the clouds began to lift.
At 5,500' we hit continuous and sometimes pleasantly deep snow pack. We plod along, sans snowshoes and glacier gear in anticipation of a corn event. Our smiles widen when we hit the dense snow.
One couple camping at Glacier Basin, otherwise we see no one on the climb up to the route. We drop our packs on the snow covered White River drainage and marvel at the amphitheatre around Glacier Basin. The snow is deep in the valley and the ski down from Inter Glacier looks very inviting. Our route above, however, does not look so friendly. Swirling clouds obscure the summit and the route above disappears soon after reaching the crux traverse over the cliffs of the middle section. All the recent snow has cascaded down the chutes and steep slopes of the Ruth massif, yet Ron and I are still very nervous about rock fall and we are glad it's still chilly and cloudy to keep the snow firm. Ron is more scared than I am and so he leads a fast clip up the steep bottleneck and out on to a rib above the cliffs on the couloir's right side, at the start of the crux traverse.
We stop and assess the scene.
Once we cross the slope we can bail down chutes to skiers left and this is reassuring. Certainly the route ahead looks scary if things go wrong: the whole slope is a concave bowl funneling snow and rocks on the traverse slope down a wicked, nasty death chute. We planned on making no mistakes through this section. We broke out the wands and I led the way across the slope to the far side, heading for the right shoulder where the topography would ease the route finding. It was very nice to have those wands in, a mistake at the traverse would be catastrophic.
Amazingly, as we climbed the rib toward the summit, the sun began to break out. Someone let beauty out of the box.
After a magnificent and scenic climb, we summited in sunny weather.
The views down on the Inter Glacier show the route is in fantastic shape. We see a few climbers working their way up the glacier yet the view above Curtis Camp is obscured by clouds. The corn of the descent calls!
The new snow from the week makes for very wet corn and the top 4" sloughs off whenever we ski a steep slope. Deeelightful turns down the upper snowfield as we make our way down toward the traverse. We pick up the wanded section and easily make it to the crux. Two more wands to go and the route ahead looks desperate.
I ski a section of slope at the beginning of the traverse and we watch and wait as the whole slope cascades over the cliffs below. Creepy. I hit the traverse first and with a quick shot I'm over the nasty section with no drama. Ron follows and with much relief he put his wands away in the pack at the top of the wonderfully steep, non-exposed chute below us - it's party time!
We leap frog down the lower slopes and meet up at the bottom of the chute - big smiles of success. We pack it up shortly after hitting Glacier Basin as stream crossings make further descent unappealing. The last 3 miles back to White River Campground go with ease.
Return to car: 2 pm. Round trip, 8.5 miles total and 4,500 VF, in a blistering 6.5 hrs. Rock on.
On the drive home Ron commented, "For the worst snow year since the 70s we're sure getting a lot of good skiing in."
Couldn't agree more.
Did you pretty much climb what you boarded? For what it's worth, I went up Ruth last time by pretty much going the normal Inter G route til just before Camp Curtis and then traversed slightly left onto the ridge. It's really casual that way. But then of course you miss out on slope assessment.
Correct.
There were a couple of reasons we wanted to climb it first:
1) the traverse had me spooked. This crux was dangerous with "catastrophic consequences" should something go wrong and I wanted a safe vantage point up close in which to look at it. only option was climbing from below
2) new snow made us know sloughing would occur. question was: when and how bad? sloughing is no big deal usually, but reference 1), please.
3) it was raining and snowing at the time so we needed to wand our descent route if we wanted any hope of skiing up high. If we went via Inter Glacier we would have needed to descend that way.
4) we had never climbed this route on Mt Ruth - a first ascent for me - fun!
The rewards of patience and perseverence:
To your point, wolfs, I look forward to skiing the route some year in July, in fat conditions after a sunny stroll up the Inter Glacier.
There were a couple of reasons we wanted to climb it first:
1) the traverse had me spooked. This crux was dangerous with "catastrophic consequences" should something go wrong and I wanted a safe vantage point up close in which to look at it. only option was climbing from below
2) new snow made us know sloughing would occur. question was: when and how bad? sloughing is no big deal usually, but reference 1), please.
3) it was raining and snowing at the time so we needed to wand our descent route if we wanted any hope of skiing up high. If we went via Inter Glacier we would have needed to descend that way.
4) we had never climbed this route on Mt Ruth - a first ascent for me - fun!
The rewards of patience and perseverence:
To your point, wolfs, I look forward to skiing the route some year in July, in fat conditions after a sunny stroll up the Inter Glacier.
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