Beautiful day to be in the Washington Alps! We arrived at the TH around 6:30am and the parking lot was already full. A few bugs swirling as we were getting ready but they weren't bad. Hike up to Hannegan Pass was absolutely beautiful - waterfalls and snowcapped peaks everywhere you turned. Snow started around 4 miles in and persisted at 4.5 miles in. Our group did use crampons in the morning and we did rope up to Ruth (mostly for practice) but it was soft and slushy on the way down. Lots of different water sources on the way up and a few clear campsites at the summit of Ruth and just before the final 1,000 of ascent. No open crevasses that we could see and it was snow free at the summit. We clocked just shy of 13 miles RT and about 4,600 ft of gain.
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For anyone who wants to summit Ruth but is intimidated by ropes and glaciers, this climb can be turned into a very approachable day hike/climb if you traverse the mountain's left side (as you're approaching it) to make the SE ridge, and climb the snowfields on that side. Ice axe + crampons is all you need. This avoids the north facing glacier that most climb. Ideal window to do it is when some rocks are beginning to peek through the snow on the eastern slopes of the mountain; later in the summer when it's mostly melted out it becomes a sketchy rock scramble situation.
Posted by:
Lennon Aldort on Jun 22, 2023 01:18 PM