Trip Report
Basic Glacier Climb - Ruth Mountain & Icy Peak Traverse
A 2-day traverse of Ruth Mountain and Icy Peak with a great crew!
Liz Louis
- Sat, Jun 28, 2025 — Sun, Jun 29, 2025
- Basic Glacier Climb - Ruth Mountain & Icy Peak Traverse
- Ruth Mountain & Icy Peak Traverse
- Climbing
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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- The road (NF 32) to Hannegan Trailhead has been rebuilt after the washout, providing access to the parking lot
- Hannegan Trail from the Trailhead to Hannegan Pass was in good condition and had a short stretch of snow just before the pass. When ascending, the last point for substantial running water is near Hannegan Camp
- Snow starts at Hannegan Pass
- The gully (gully #1) that leads up from Hannegan Pass towards Point 5930 was mostly snow covered, though the snow is thin and melting quickly in many spots. Use caution to try to avoid punching through
- No crevasses were observed on Ruth Glacier
- The gully (gully #2) below camp was snow covered; we scrambled down, skier's left of gully #2. Beware of loose rocks
- The glacier on Icy's NW aspect had a few crevasses opening west of our route
- Gully #3, the final segment to summit Icy Peak, was snow-free; beware of loose rocks
Looking up along the climbing route to Ruth Mountain
From Icy Peak, looking down at the glacier and our route (gully #2 at upper right)
Day 1
We picked up an overnight permit from the Glacier Public Service Center to camp in the National Park. Arriving shortly before it opened at 8am, we were first in line and it was fairly quick.
The hike on Hannegan Trail from the Trailhead to Hannegan Pass was straightforward and pleasant with cool, cloudy weather. We filled up on water near Hannegan Camp.
At Hannegan Pass, we transitioned to snow. The gully (gully #1) that leads up from Hannegan Pass towards Point 5930 was mostly snow covered, though the trail was peeking through in some spots and snow was thin and melting quickly in other spots. After the gully, the snow travel was straightforward to the Ruth Glacier, where we roped up and traveled directly to the summit.
Climbing up Ruth into the clouds
Ruth summit with bivy site in foreground and Shuksan in the clouds
From the summit of Ruth Mountain, we descended WNW along the ridge, then, at the first notch (48.86019, -121.53520), turned south off the ridge and down the choss, and roped up to cross the small, unnamed glacier/snowfield on Ruth's SW aspect.
We camped at the south end of the small glacier, just above the next gully (gully #2) at approximately 48.85643, -121.53612.
Day 2
Shuksan at first light
We departed camp at 5:00am for Icy and scrambled down, skier's left of gully #2.
After a brief bit of snow travel after the gully, the snow ended and we followed the climbers' trail down the ridge. The start of this trail is marked by a cairn and faded orange surveyor's tape tied to vegetation.
Icy Peak in the morning light
Icy Peak Glacier
Roping up for the glacier on Icy's NW aspect, travel was straightforward to Icy's SW ridge. After crossing Icy's SW ridge, the steeper snow was straightforward to ascend up to the base of gully #3. One leader scrambled up the snow-free gully #3 and set a fixed line. The larger group scrambled together with prusiks on the fixed line. We then used 2 x 60m ropes to rappel.
Final scramble up to the summit
Icy Peak summit views
Descending the glacier from Icy back towards camp with the snow gully (#2) and Ruth at left
On the return, once we packed up camp and crossed the small glacier/snowfield on Ruth's SW aspect, we followed a faint trail up through the choss and crossed the ridge at a lower notch (48.86027, -121.53596) which had more snow and a smaller moat to cross than the upper notch we had encountered the day before.
From the lower notch, we traveled across the Ruth Glacier to the NNE ridge of Ruth to avoid extra ascent.
Descending Ruth Glacier
Mt. Baker in the distance
Snow travel back to Hannegan Pass was mostly straightforward, though the sun and warm temperatures was melting snow in gully #1.
Hannegan Pass
We got water near Hannegan Camp and hiked down the trail, arriving back at the trailhead at about 8pm.
Looking back at Ruth Mountain
Photos by author