Ruth to Icy
I’ve done Ruth Mountain previously in the summer and I thought it had some of the best views in the North Cascades for the relatively easy level of effort. I couldn’t say no to the same views with even more snow, tagging Icy Peak this time around, and skiing back down the enticing slopes of Ruth.
Wrapping around the Ruth Arm with Redoubt in the background
Mother Nature’s natural ski resort
The only unobscured-ish view of Baker today
Redoubt
The pointy Southern Pickets (and some of the Northern Pickets on the left)
Deeeep valleys
Summit view from Ruth to Icy Peak
Summit view from Ruth to Shuksan and its giant ridge
Rainier in the back
The ice shelves are crazy to look at
Would not want to be under this like you have to be for the Nooksack Traverse
Shuksan
Back to Icy with the broken up snow field below it
We skied down to get a closer look
And to summit Icy Peak eventually
A different angle of Nooksack Cirque as we wrap around Icy
One last look back
Man Shuksan goes quite low to the floor; it looks to be a 6000 foot drop from summit to riverbed
Notes
- This was probably ~19 miles and ~8400 feet of vertical gain in about 11 ½ hours.