Kelsey and I originally planned to ski Ruth Mountain this weekend to soak in views without worrying too much about avalanche potential after recent spring storms and warming temperatures. We drove up to the Hannegan Pass Road on Saturday night, planning to drive up to the trailhead, but quickly encountering more snow on the road than we could drive through. We called it a night there and gave it a brief shot early in the morning, but quickly discovered that the road was melted out further up, which would have meant walking over 6 extra miles each way, so we bailed and drove up to the Baker ski area instead, took a nap, and then headed off for a tour around Table Mountain.
We left the car just shy of 9am under clear skies with awesome views around the range. We made it to Artist Point in about 35 minutes, ripped skins and did a long traverse below Table's South face, and climbed up to the base of Ptarmigan Ridge in about 70 minutes from the car. The ski down to Mazama Lake was pretty fun, though short lived. We skinned back up here and cruised across Iceberg Lake and up the steeper section to the saddle between Table and Mazama Dome about 1 hour and 50 minutes in.
The first 500 feet or so was pretty fun skiing on easy terrain before finishing the ski on increasingly heavy, wet snow and traversing, then skinning out to the car, finishing in 2.5 hours. Beautiful day and great views with better-than-expected snow. I just wish we'd gotten on top of something a bit more ambitious!