Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Mount Ruth!

I guess it’s traditional to spend Thanksgiving weekend with the family consuming turkey dinner and pumpkin pie but with summer-like conditions I could not resist hiking for the weekend! On Saturday Ruth and I hiked Hannegan Pass and Copper Ridge and I instantly knew we had to come back and conquer that beautiful mountain resting in the south with a gently rolling glacier that dominated the view. I quizzed the first hikers we encountered and they identified it as Ruth Mountain, a beautiful hike, but requiring equipment such as an ice axe and crampons. Ruth instantly declared, “John, you are not allowed to do that hike without me.” I couldn’t stop staring at the gorgeous glaciers. Fortunately Monday was a holiday so we made plans to come back. I’ve had some exposure to glacier travel in Peru, but the tour guide just handed us an ice axe with no instructions whatsoever on how to utilize it, roped us up, and started trekking! Saturday night I spent some time watching youtube videos on using an ice axe to self-arrest a fall and reading trip reports of Mount Ruth. On Monday Ruth and I met in Sumas at 3:00 in the morning and were hiking by 4:45 in the dark with the stars and moon shining brightly. We had incredible views of the sunrise over the mountains and valleys. Once we reached Hannegan Pass, we took a wrong turn and ending up wasting an hour and a half trying to get back on track. We stumbled upon a group of campers and they pointed us in the right direction. Good thing we had an early start! We hit our first icy patch shortly after and were surprised at how rock solid the snow was. By 11:00 we had reached the furthest expanse of snow free ground, it was time to gear up for the glacier. I couldn’t stop taking pictures, the views were so incredible! At one point I stabbed my ice-axe into the snow to take a few shots when it dislodged and slowly slid down the glacier and out of sight. First my backpack tumbles off a cliff on Larabee, and now this! Oh well, a small price to pay for an incredible experience. By noon we had summited Mount Ruth and were completely blown away with clear skies and panoramic views that stretched for miles. We spent almost an hour at the summit and then another hour searching for my ice axe at the foot of the glacier without success. 12 ½ hours later we were back in the parking lot, ready to rip off our hiking boots and head home. We met one other hiker at the summit who left an awesome topographic map of the North Cascades on my windshield with a note that said, “Hope this helps to ease the pain of losing your ice axe.” Thanks Mike! Kudos to Washington for keeping a well-developed trail system in pristine condition with excellent signage and clean washrooms! Very impressive. B.C. has a long way to go yet! Even though I sacrificed Turkey Dinner, this has been the best Thanksgiving ever! Mount Ruth and Shuksan to the right. First views of Mount Baker Nooksack cirque with Shuksan to the right. Can someone confirm the mountains to the right of 'The Pickets'? Icy Peak with a gorgeous cirque glacier. Gorgeous fall colour!