Alpine Scramble - Mount Ruth (Mount Rainier)

We left the Grady P&R at 7:15 or so, getting to the Sunrise entrance around 8:30am.  We mist have arrived at rush hour as traffic was backing up behind us - next time I'll go a half hour or hour earlier.  No parking spots in climbers area, we had to part on the side of the road in the campground - not a problem but very busy.  Hiked up the trail, in great condition and the avalanche debris is gone.  We arrived at Glacier Basin around 11:00 or so and had to find a way to cross the river, this appeared to be the crux of the trip.  Once across we followed a trail around the base and then up a ridge.  Once we were up on the highest ridge we headed for the peak.  We finally donned our skis at the base on the snow and skinned up to about 20 meters below the summit.  Scrambled on up and enjoyed the view reaching the summit about 2:15 or so.  Spent a half-hour on top.  The day was so warm that we only had a base layer on - even the summit was warm with no winds.

We stripped our skins and skied down the snowfield.  Then carried them to a final finger or snow down to the base of the ridge.  Crossed over the river and grabbed some food in Glacier Basin before hoofing it out.  We left Glacier Basin about 4:30 and got to the cars about 5:40pm - pretty fast out.

Heading up to the top of the ridge.

Skiing the snow field

Heading out for the day