Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Mount Ruth (Mount Rainier)
A serendipitously all-women strenuous snow scramble of Mount Ruth.
Emily Goren
- Fri, Jun 14, 2024
- Alpine Scramble - Mount Ruth (Mount Rainier)
- Mount Ruth (Mount Rainier)
- Scrambling
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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I had done Mount Ruth just six days prior to this trip and the snow had receded and consolidated significantly since then. The majority of the trail to the Glacier Basin Camp was snow free, but approximately the last 0.5 miles of trail before the campground still had snow:
Inter Fork just past the campground had trustworthy snow bridge crossings, but that might not last for long as the snow continues to melt rapidly.
We ascended the northside of the saddle south of Glacier Basin then followed the west ridge up to Mount Ruth. Most of this route had well-consolidated snow that required ice axes and kicking steps, and we didn't need traction or flotation. This route provided a more challenging, steep final ascent to the rocky summit of Mount Ruth that made use of the remnants of a previous boothpath. However, it should be carefully evaluated for avy risk if you plan on taking this route.
Finally, we noticed some survey markers along the trail:
While not planned this way, this trip ended up being all women. Our group included both a basic and a scramble student plus several women training for big volcano summits later in the season.
We started hiking at 9am, making good time to Glacier Basin Camp where we were greeted by a marmot:
The weather was partially sunny while we kicked steps in snow and had some intermittent views of the Emmons Glacier, Tahoma, and Little Tahoma:
We got in a good workout kicking steps:
The weather turned as we approached the summit, rapidly becoming dense clouds:
Despite whiteout conditions and snow more reminiscent of January than June, we were able to get in some good glissades. A reminder to keep your glissade paths shorter if visibility is poor!
Our group showed grit getting through the rainy hike back to the trailhead with some impressive stats for the day.
Thanks to Lu Wright and Mei Xie for contributing great photos!