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Trip Report    

Ruth Mountain & Icy Peak Traverse

5/30 & 31, 2015:
Successful trip up Mt. Ruth only.
Watch out: the street name changed to Hannegan Pass Rd. turning off 542 to the trailhead; the total trip lengths is 15 miles.

We had perfect weather and conditions. Left the trail head just before 10 am, arrived at Hannegan Pass after a good 2 hours. Water is available till just before the pass ~4800 ft. Snow coverage to start right after the pass. At the pass, turn East along a semi-snowed in trail going East and head towards the obvious rock bulge/round peak. Keep going towards that bulge and ascend straight up a steep snow field with lots of trees; use of ice axes recommended (although we encountered deep, soft snow). On top of the plateau (in front of the bulge) turn left (SE direction) and walk around it to the South side. Mt. Ruth and the climbing route was now easily visible.
We camped on snow just in front of the climbing route at 5650 ft elevation - slightly covered by trees. Total time from the trail head to camp 4 hours.
Sunday morning we started climbing at 4:45 am. The snow was hard, perfect for crampons, no crevasses showed. We successfully summited after 2 hours, spend a brief time on the summit and returned to camp within 1 hour of climbing; the snow had softened up a bit and was perfect for the descent.
After a short break and packing up our gear we headed back down to the Pass and the parking lot. We arrived at the parking lot at 1pm, total travel time from camp ~ 3.5 hours.

Please see pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/112758120176542558719/MrRuth0515?authuser=0&feat=directlink