<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/25854087090/in/album-72157666409969632" title="Ruby Mountain (Pt 6315 in foreground)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/1675/25854087090_e5b271179d_b.jpg" alt="Ruby Mountain (Pt 6315 in foreground)"/></a> I've been to [[Ruby Mountain]] twice in summer via the Fourth of July Pass, and I just love the views from this mountain. I've wanted to do this in winter for a while, and with my recent snowshoes to Oakes & Union/Jove/McCausland I thought that the 5500ft gain should be doable. Well, not today! This route is quite something, I have to say. I didn't get further than 5800ft (I wish I finished to Pt 6315, but I was too demotivated!). I might try Ruby again in the future, but will then definitely be doing the Happy Creek route instead, which requires safer avalanche conditions. A few notes on the route and conditions - All earlier reports first go around the boulder field, which I did as well. Normally, they join the ridge at about 2700ft, but I read in one report that a party had a problem there, and did a big detour back. I decided to just do that immediately, and this worked very well. I can definitely recommend this. I joined the ridge at about 3200ft. - Snow coverage started at about 3000ft, with initially only a small frozen crust of new snow. Full snow coverage started at 4000ft, where I put on my snowshoes. Snow varied from a foot to knee deep. - The icy snow made the steep section around 3600ft relatively easy. In sloppy snow I think this would be much less fun. - The ledge just before 4000ft is not fun. It's steep, and a little exposed. I think this stretches the definition of Class 2. - I didn't study the ridge after 4000ft too much, naively assuming that the forest is the biggest problem. It turns out that the ridge is not an easy stroll either wink.gif. It helps a lot to look at the CalTopo slope shading, which is much more precise than the contour lines. Most of the problems I hit were visible with slope shading. - At about 5500ft there is another sketchy ledge to follow, with a cornice nicely hanging above your head. Perhaps it looks a bit worse than it is, but again I thought this stretches Class 2. - I definitely needed my ice axe, both in the forest as well as on steeper climbs on the ridges. - I was originally planning to climb up using a route closer to Horsetail Creek, which looked like an interesting alternative that might have less obstacles. I didn't end up going here for the climb, but did pick this route for the return trip. It does indeed have less technical obstacles (basically none), but it is super steep. I put on crampons after a bit. It's perhaps an interesting alternative, but route finding may be harder (due to broad area). Overall, although I'm happy that I've now attempted this ridge, I can't say I had a great time. There were too many obstacles that I'm not 100% comfortable with, and overall it was a lot of work. Happy Creek next time! Got some nice panos though. <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/26034427622/in/album-72157666409969632" title="Colonial Glacier surrounded by Colonial Peak, Paul Bunyans Stump, Pinnacle Peak and Pyramid Peak"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/1704/26034427622_543c220d5a_b.jpg" alt="Colonial Glacier surrounded by Colonial Peak, Paul Bunyans Stump, Pinnacle Peak and Pyramid Peak"/></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/26126933955/in/album-72157666409969632" title="Panorama from Boston Glacier to the leftmost peaks of Snowfield group"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/1554/26126933955_18ea9200fd_b.jpg" alt="Panorama from Boston Glacier to the leftmost peaks of Snowfield group"/></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/25524321303/in/album-72157666409969632" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/1585/25524321303_c382edc9d2_b.jpg" alt="Untitled"/></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/25854093160/in/album-72157666409969632" title="Untitled"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/1481/25854093160_9cac27512e_b.jpg" alt="Untitled"/></a>