Home > Trip Reports > July 4, 2003, Interglacier/ Mt Ruth

July 4, 2003, Interglacier/ Mt Ruth

7/4/03
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
4421
6
Posted by wolfs on 7/4/03 9:12am
I usually ski Muir on the fourth but decided to do something different this time. Yeah it has a three mile trail approach. But at least it's in nice forest on the quiet side of the mountain, not the silly crowded paved trails like at Paradisneyland. Snow starts just beyond the NPS camp although on the moraine trail you have to go even higher to reach snow. Previous reports mentioned the runnels. Yup they're there. Also about the top 400 vertical feet are crap, rotten undercut sastrugi or something like that. Don't bother going any higher than the shoulder you cross to get onto the lower Emmons for the low way into Shurman. Saw a few other boarders and a few tele skiiers, one of whom had apparently done the whole Emmons route in one push, because he had only a light pack and said he had left the summit at 7AM. Pretty full on.
Great corn just below the shoulder to Emmons, but then loked like the runnels were starting. From there I climbed up to Ruth and went that way instead hoping to avoid runnels, which seems to have been a good call. Toward the end things got a little exciting as I failed to find the good gully from above that drops right into the basin and had to strap out and traverse loose ledges above cliffs and enter the gully from the side.
The Interglacier has crevasses showing but all but one are in predictable places, and none of them should end up deflecting you more than 50 feet. There was a big debris path on skiers right from a rock slide, another reason I chose to go down Ruth rather than the lower Interglacier.
Sunrise sure looks melted out. The chutes, if there are any left, must not have been as festive as last week.
Maybe old news, but while checking out MW88888888's photos of his great Shasta trip, saw this photo also in his album of Mt. Ruth taken from somewhere around Bouroughs. This is a great photo for showing what lines are still possible for getting off of Ruth. Basically it all boils down to finding the one chute that still goes. The red line was one already on this picture when I stole it from MW88888888's pictures folder  ;D (better to ask forgiveness than permission, right, plus everyone steals on the internet!) The blue line was my line, complete with dotted line for the reascent to Ruth and the moment of reckoning where I realized I was on top of a 50 ft cliff just to the left of the target chute. I'm gonna take a guess that the red line was something MW888888888 actually ran, because that was exactly where a pretty recent track was that was the only other track I saw down Ruth. I wanted to be original and not follow it too closely  :) but as you can see he (or someone) optimized the chute entrance.
Your choices at this point are a) nail that gully, and might require some rockband crossing now or b) go all the way down to the little saddle, staying closer to the ridgeline, and take easier slopes on the other side of the cliffs but that will definitely involve one short rockband crossing. Although the various chutes on the right side look like they would go with maybe a short rock crossing, none of those looked promising from the hike up as they tended to concentrate the runnels in the steep parts right where you'd want to come down, plus those spots to get in are going to be even more melted out now.

Wolfs - you're killing me!  Hope you can figure the picture out, love to see your line.  And no, I went up to Burroughs to see what was still skiable on Ruth and the Interglacier.  It's still on the hit parade.  Your descent description is exactly the Hot Tip I've been looking for - thanks!

Wolfs-

I don't see the photo you posted for some reason but did happen to ramble up onto Second Burroughs Wed night at sunset to scope things out and take some B&W photos.  Based upon my recollection of your TR from a few days back I quickly spotted what I'm sure was your line.  Not sure if it will show in the photos once I get them developed, but I was able to trace your descent with binoculars all the way down.  Very inspiring line that got the adrenaline pumping just looking at it, especially the one turn? near the bottom that looks like it may have been a jump turn over or in the dirt on your left as things funneled down!

If I get a good photo I'll let you know. - J.P.    

Errp. Was pointing to my scratch folder where you have to be ME (logged in as) to see it.
Hopefully it's there now.
There were as I said two prominent tracks on Mt Ruth on the 4th. One corresponded closely to the mysterious "red line" on MW88888888's original photo, although he disavows having made it and won't fess up to what that red line means ;) That one did have some ballsy turns on it right in the gut of the chute, I'll bet you were looking at that.
I'll bet it's still a great run even if there's a few rocks to mess with. Be aware that the terrain from the top does look a little different, the picture makes the lines crystal clear but you don't see that from top. You have no view at all of the cliffs. The way to find the chute that still goes is to follow what looks like a "coulior to nowhere" that is more or less straight down from the summit. Lack of vision was what sent me on my rightward trend, and I salvaged a line but it wasn't the best way to go.

The red line, wolfs, was why I went up to Burroughs - to pick a line if there was one on Mt Ruth's North Face.  Indeed, that is my line, the line I would ski if I had the choice!  

Your picture is up and running, very good ski.  Your route was my second choice but was an iffy prospect if it cliffed out.  I wasn't sure how steep that rock band was you scrambled.   Good show.

The rock band just to L of the blue line would be VERY steep if you tried to go straight down it. It was anywhere from about 20 to 100 foot of true cliffs, but with ledges just above the drop that provided the somewhat nervy escape. Have a look at th shadow cast off the left side of some of those points and you can get a sense of how big any given drop is. One part of it is even a waterfall... Oh and should mention that there's no bridge over the inter fork, so once you strap out there's an exciting stream crossing waiting for you, probably with full heat of day snowmelt. I managed to cross it dry right where the spur trail crosses but only by use of poles for vaulting and some awkward gyrations.
Take the red line folks, it looks sporting!
However, if you do happen upon the blue line, you might get a chance to see one of the strangest things I've ever seen while skiing. Was cruising along next to a rock band, and found myself following the tracks of some small animal maybe a fox straight down a hill. Curious to see where this fellow was off to, I stayed on his track while cutting my turns. Suddenly whoa! The tracks went straight into a deep dark hole. Had an existential moment while wondering whether I too would be sucked into this hole and then saw that this was the entrance to his den, where he had burrowed 5 feet through the snowpack to open his front door. Ya don't see that in the groomed areas folks.

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2003-07-04 16:12:23