The moment I read the Climber Kyle trip report on Ruby, I wanted to do it. Positioned at the base of Ross lake, it has stunning views of the North Cascades. Thousands of feet of perfect alpine descent lead into classic Cascadian forest. It’s a great relaxing day, one I suggest every Washington backcountry skier does. After reading reports of spring powder in the North Cascades, I convinced my dad to join me for a trip
My dad and I arrived at the Ross Dam trailhead at 08:00 and were quickly on our way. It was worrying being the last ones out, especially given that we were slow, but I still felt we could make it. After a mile of road walking, we started bushwacking. Luckily, this off-trail hiking is easy, with a nice open forest. Eventually, we came to a slide path where we climbed up snow and caught up to another party.
From here, it was just more bushwacking followed by putting skins on too early. At 11:00, we broke out of the lower forest and caught our first glimpse of Ruby. Our hopes of powder were confirmed, and with great weather, we kept working our way up. Gaining the ridge is where my dad fell behind. However, it didn’t feel like the sun was heating up the snow too much so I wasn’t worried. I took some weight from his pack and we continued up.
Ross
At 13:00, we broke past treeline and could see the final 1000’ to the summit ridge. It was a busy day with at least 10 other parties on the mountain, but everybody was having a good time and we kept slogging. At the ridge, my dad called it. He isn’t much of a peakbagger, and was more there for the skiing. I did the final skin up to the summit and transitioned.
My dad skinning up
My Dad shredding in the Alpine
From here, it was a great ski down. There was an amazing layer of powder, and while there were other turns, it was more than enough to share. Once we hit treeline, it was an hour or two of bushwacking and hiking and we were out by 17:00. It was a great day of type-1 fun with my dad, and some of my best turns all year.
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