[iron]

hotpantz and i set out for this trip with the hopes that her 3+ month old new hips would agree with this kind of terrain. she'd warmed up to this trip by doing adams and the gardners, but those are pretty easy in comparison. the day was hot and hazy with forest fires in WA fully underway. it was enjoyable to again walk this amazing trail, this time only with 2 days of food instead of 9 like on our pickets trip. there was snow at the pass, but enough dry spots to sit for a pleasant snack break. from here, we headed up the steep trail around the corner of pt 5930. we dropped packs and tagged the bump for good measure and good views and proceeded onward. snow was great heading up towards ruth.

before long, we were on the summit of ruth. we chatted it up with groups that came up after us as we had intended to camp on the summit and were in no rush; this camp is hotpantz' favorite of all time. it was a great leisurely day with as good as views as one could hope for. we even got to spy some of the terrain we'll be traversing in 2015.

it was really rough up there. we even had to put on jackets, eventually.

hotpantz even got to demonstrate her mad multitasking skillz.

sunset brought nice hazy skies and deep purples.

i particularly enjoyed the "horns" of the double summited whatcom peak casting a shadow on the challenger glacier.

like i said, it was rough.

and then the supermoon came out.

it was hard to look both to the west and east.

very hard.

eventually night supposedly came, though we didn't know it since that damned supermoon was seriously bright. we slept poorly.

as if to make things worse, the sun came out and was really bright and stuff. we even had to squint!

at least the haze had temporarily dissipated.

after sitting around for about a year, we eventually mosied on toward icy. a group of mountaineers from the intermediate course were ahead of us.

the only routefinding was navigating the gully down from ruth. stay left, but not too far left. soon, we were on the glacier leading up to icy.

nooksack cirque was way cool along with the river.

some more up stuff.

we chatted with the mountie group that had just come down from the "summit". i either had a brain fart, or something, but then we proceeded to climb up the mountie "summit" - pt 7062 - even though the east summit is clearly marked as higher on the map and r3h had reminded me to "be sure to climb the real summit." oh well. class 4/5 and we topped out, looked to the east, and decided we needed to head that direction.

down we went from W icy and traversed around 6600' to the SE ridge of E icy. crossed the ridge and headed up on nice terrain with fab views of blister peak. a minor moat near the summit block and we soon found ourselves at the true summit, looking at a register with names of our friends littering the page. hotpantz even found a toilet seat rock similar to tom_s on our curtis gilbert trip.

we retraced our route, packed up, drank copious amounts of water (it was actually hot this day) and boogied out. i stashed the camera away, sadly, but the sunset that evening is one i will forever remember. never have i seen a sky turn so pink. it seemed to last forever. the forest glowed orange as the pink mixed with the greens of the trees. it was unreal. also unreal was the fact there wasn't a single bug on the trip. yep, it was rough.

[Jetlag]

One more wonderful trip report today!!! We almost visited here last week but were distracted by the salmon runs. So glad to see your phenomenal views recorded . . . and your enjoyment of the area! No bugs - alright! I found the signature of a long-lost friend on top of Icy. Worried he had passed. Thanks for taking the time to share your trek. Best wishes on your 2015 longer one!

[puzzlr]

Really nice. Good to see you two burning it up again.

[gb]

[Abert]

Your words and photos do a great job of conveying your enthusiasm and enjoyment of a trip gone well.

[DIYSteve]

Nice TR and great pics (but WTH is the pic of the summit register page signed by Ted, Shawn and me ) Cool classic route, and Ruth summit is indeed a fantastic bivi spot. I remember the Pinatubo ash sunsets of which gb speaks.

[Stefan]

SUNNY trip!

[Jim Dockery]

Sweet!

[contour5]

Beautiful!

[Michael Lewis]

When EastKing and I were coming down from Ruth we saw you guys heading up. You mentioned something about Mountaineers listing their trip itineraries on their webpage. I wish we could've stayed longer it's one of the best places I've been this year. Nice to see some of the smoke cleared.

[Jaberwock]

Damn

[iron]

hotpantz' pictures:

numerous waterfalls in the valley to Hannegan pass

Happy Hour on Ruth

the other side of Ruth's summit

the master at work

Moon over the Pickets

penstimmon and nooksack cirque

excited for the glacier!

the real summit!

Ruth aglow

quite the farewell!