Mount Ruth — Saturday, Jul. 13, 2024

Arrived to the parking lot around 0645 with plenty of parking, though filled up quickly. Left the campground just after 0700. The first few miles to Glacier Basin Campground were an easy, gentle climb. Crossing Interfork river wasn't too terrible, as we took the first left out of the campground and were able to find a spot to hop across. From there it was a bit of a "choose your own adventure", though there is a trail that will take you past some mining equipment. From there, we came across the first ridge climb. This was my second time on the mountain and the first time, we took the first ridge you come across up, then had to cross a snowfield to get to the summit ridgeline. This time, we crossed a snowfield to get to the "middle ridge", which was a bad idea (a lot of scree backsliding). There is a trail on the far left ridge, which you need to cross two snowfields to get to. I would recommend getting over to the far left ridge low down before you start climbing, but be aware of the snow bridges that are melting out. Once you get to the main ridge line, it's an easy trail to follow. We climbed the boulder field for quite a ways before getting out on the snow to traverse to the final ascent. We used microspikes and an ice axe. The snow was soft by this time to allow a boot pack trail. You'll want to cross the snow fields all the way to the far rocky ridge, where you will be able to summit along the boulder field and avoid the snow. Summit was beautiful with a great view of Rainier and Steamboat Prow. We watched a helicopter rescue from Camp Shurman while eating lunch up there as well. After spending some time on summit, we headed back the way we came (though this time followed the true trail the entire way down). Overall a great day and we only saw two other people on the mountain that day!