[TrailPair]

[Mesahchie Mark]

Nice trip! That is a sweet piece of real estate up there.

[Matt]

Too bad you didn't get Icy, but, wow, that sunrise above the clouds is the kind of experience that's memorable for a lifetime. On Saturday evening, we saw the valley fog building up, and wondered if you would be lucky enough to be above the cloud deck at your camp. Sometimes it's not the summits, but the unpredictable moments like the camp at dawn, that make a trip outstanding.

[Slide Alder Slayer]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a great trip report, glad you both had such a great time. Camp At Dawn is now my favorite picture.

[dicey]

Quite possibly the only thing more intimidating than actually doing a 3 day trip in the mountains in winter, is probably taking the time to write the trip report for it after - so thank you for writing it Yana! I promise not to kick you to death with my crampons Like Yana mentioned, a day trip up Ruth is certainly feasible by a reasonably fit person, especially since one can drive so close to the summer trail head. Skiing Ruth in June was one of my favorite all time ski trips, but I wasn't about to try it with overnight gear consisting of: Pickets Shovels 50m rope Beacon/Probes Tent Stove/Fuel/Pot Harness/climbing gear Crampons Helmet Ice Tools Snowshoes...... Ah, the (heavy) joys of winter mountaineering. Overall, I would say worth the suffering for the views A few of my favorite pics from the trip:

going back

soft

block foot

floating

down the gully

show stealer

getting close

Yana leading

yana contemplates Icy

glory

Avalanche across Hannegan Pass trail

perfect

skin track

this is a paradise

[silence]

isn't it always

show stealer

great shot!

getting close

beautiful b&w

perfect

[cmurph]

Wow, what a great write up and such INCREDIBLE pictures...nice work!!!

[Hikingqueen]

SO COOL! Amazing photos! Lucky!

[Ingunn]

Absolutely amazing! Thank you for sharing the photos so mere mortals like myself can enjoy the views without having to feel the biting cold or the heavy packs.

[fzte]

Wow

[Jim Dockery]

Most excellent! Lotta work, but worth it just for those amazing sunrise pictures! That's what I was hoping for on Three Fingers, but didn't get

[Mtn Man]

Looks terrible and icy, why even attempt it........ Those pictures actually gave me chills, and that's hard to do. Good work! Ruth is on my short list to ski, this just bumped it up further........ B)

[raising3hikers]

Nice adventure, great pics

[Yana]

Thanks all for the kind comments, and thanks dicey for postponing my inevitable demise at your hands. cmurph - it was interesting, and yes, quite intimidating in person, too! Definitely not something I have done before. Maybe if I had more experience I would know how to deal with the rotten ice. I'm kind of a wimp but the runout was good. I enjoyed pushing my limits (to a certain, fairly sane degree). Matt - I do love mornings and summit camps precisely because you get such cool things happening a lot of the time, but I also value the Icy experience: yes, there is the agony of putting so much effort in and getting oh so close just to be denied, but it keeps me honest - if I reached every objective I set for myself, I'm setting the bar too low and it probably wouldn't be nearly as satisfying. I still got to see an amazing and lonesome (at least at this time of year!) area. Even in the whiteout it was a magical place. I know I'll go back to it when I'm ready!

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Nice work! That looks like fun..