Ruth-Icy beta

[rockgirl77]

I'm thinking about doing Ruth-Icy this weekend...assuming the weather holds. Does anyone have any beta?

[Jim]

It's still there. There will be new snow.

[specialed]

What the fuck is Ruth Icy?

[DPS]

Ruth Mountain-Icy Peak traverse.

[philfort]

Bring skis...

[AllYouCanEat]

Do a search on the net. There is a lot of info. The glacier between Ruth and Icy may offer some challenge. Other than that it is about 7 miles or so to the top of ruth. That's a great october trip. You'll have to determine if icy is a go from there. Expect some choss and glacier travel from there...

[Off_White]

I moved this to the N. Cascades forum.

[Lowell_Skoog]

I think there's just enough snow in the North Cascades right now to make the Ruth-Icy traverse really hard. You'll be postholing up the trail to Hannegan Pass, then have thin snow over talus and other unpleasantness between Ruth and Icy. Skis would be helpful, but you'll probably beat them up. Snowshoes might be better.

 

Of course, some people think you should ignore naysayers on cc.com, but you did ask.

[AllYouCanEat]

Ha. Ha. I was gonna say the same thing lowell. This isn't a trip I would do, but (shrug) she did ask.

[Dru]

There is actually a LOT of snow in the upper elevations near the border right now. But no base.

[philfort]

Someone on ttips reported 2 feet snow last wknd at Artists Pt (5000ft) which is only a few miles away. Looks like the Ruth-Icy traverse is between 6-7000, so from my armchair I would guess there would be a good amount of snow.

[Sol]

I solo-ed the ruth icy traverse last spring on my splitboard. If your not using some type of snow travel gear faster then snowshoes it will take a very long time. When descending from ruth to the icy col I had two options. I ended up riding the upper coul0our which was quite steep and then on the return ascent booted up the lower coulour which was a bit less steep. I think this section would be quite interesting right now (mixed, not filled in). the traverse takes longer than you think. I got a late start the first day and bivied near hannegan pass. the next day I skinned up ruth with my bivy gear, stashed bivy gear on summit, descended to col, climbed icy rode icy, climbed back up to ruth, picked up bivy gear and then rode that big old face on ruth (awesome, awesome ,awesome). a traverse that shouldn't be missed, but might now be in stellar conditions right now. but,on a side note, a friend of mine just rode 5 ft of fresh on goat mtn on sunday, and said it was awesome. anyhoo, good luck.

[Stefan]

I was on the Chelan Sawtooth this past weekend at 8000 feet.

 

There was about 2 feet of snow in a leeward bowl at 7500 feet. Up higher on the ridge, nothing. On the windward side I would say snow was about 6 inches deep. Snow started at the 4800 foot level. All powder of course being further east than Icy-Ruth...