Climb of Ruth Mountain with summit bivy from May 3rd-4th, 2026.
OVERNIGHT PERMITS for the North Cascades NP (Icy cross country zone) were currently available at no cost via email, but paid permitting season starts mid-May so keep that in mind. https://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/permits.htm for more info.
ROAD: The forest road had some potholes and a weird lil' rockpile at one point, but a good number of passenger cars were at the trailhead on a sunny Sunday.
TRAIL TO HANNEGAN CAMP:
♦ Mostly snow-free to start, with intermittent snow patches that became more extensive the closer we got to the Hannegan Camp junction.
♦ Some short snow bridges to be aware of. Things are melting fast, conditions change rapidly, be safe!
♦ There were a couple of blowdowns, but nothing crazy.
♦ The water crossings were fairly plentiful, and there were areas of mud and water on trail. Poles and waterproof shoes were helpful. Got a little splashed on during one crossing, and another was a little tricky with short legs and a huge pack, but I made it work.
♦ Filled up on the last running water just by the Hannegan Camp junction.
♦ Snow was consistent past the junction. If you're on skis, this was where you'd start skinning.
RUTH MOUNTAIN: We followed a superhighway of bootsteps that took the junction towards the camp instead of taking the Hannegan Pass trail. This took us on a shorter, direct and steep route up snow, instead of having to go Hannegan Pass first. We rejoined where the usual trail would have been at around 5,500'.
We decided to put on crampons shortly after. The snow was soft and slippery in the afternoon, but supportive enough on the bootpack to not need floatation. Navigation-wise, it was very straightforward to follow the bootpath all the way up the ridge and eventually to the summit.
We had a bit of a reminder of the risks of sunny, hot weather, when a cornice that was overhanging the route collapsed and sent a slide down right over the bootpack and ski tracks from that day. We were definitely grateful that it gave way while we were still very far away from it!
We did cross through the debris field eventually. Some of the blocks were large, and would definitely given you an unpleasant day if they had tumbled into you. Keep an eye out for overhead hazards while hiking, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
The short glacier was glued up and in great shape, no signs of any cracks anywhere near the route that we could tell.
We decided to dig out a bivy site on the summit in snow, but one of the rock bivy sites was melted out if you prefer that option. Our snow walls melted quite a lot more than we hoped for in the heat. 😅
The evening was lovely, the winds were blustery overnight, morning dawned beautiful, we packed up camp and retraced our steps back the way we had come.
There was not much of a refreeze overnight, and snow remained soft for our descent. We were able to glissade the few hundred feet of steep snow heading back down into the Hannegan Camp basin.
All in all, a good Type 1 fun adventure in the beautiful North Cascades.
WANT MORE PHOTOS?
Follow along on Instagram @thenomadicartist
Comments
Great intel! How technical is this climb? Rope travel needed? Or just general snow travel?
Posted by:
Whimsical Wanders on May 04, 2026 10:47 PM
Hello! I don't tell people whether or not they should rope up on a glacier. You do technically cross a small glacier. We we did bring full glacier gear. We decided based on our personal risk tolerance and assessment of the glacier conditions that we were not going to rope up. Other teams did rope up that day.
Posted by:
thenomadicartist on May 05, 2026 07:12 AM
The bivy on Ruth is outstanding on a full moon, avalanches off the E Nooksack Glacier. Great TR.
Posted by:
Christian Gustafson on May 05, 2026 05:53 PM
Thank you! Definitely good payoff to effort for this one. Love the view of the Nooksack Cirque.
Posted by:
thenomadicartist on May 05, 2026 06:53 PM