Preparation for Ruth Gorge

For people who have been there,

What did you do in the year or two leading up to your first trip to the Ruth? What places did you climb? What types of climbing did you do to prepare for a longer expedition like that? What did you wish you did different leading up to the trip?

It really depends on your objectives. More details are needed.

I'm only just now starting to think of this idea so I don't have many routes in mind yet, but some ideas: Ham & Eggs, SW Ridge of Peak 11300, Goldfinger, SW face Hut Tower, other rock routes, or if I go over that way, something like Bacon and Eggs on the Mini-Mini-Moonflower. maybe also something like West Face Couloir on Huntington

Really only looking at more moderate climbs for the range, the goal is to recon and get a good exposure before coming back a few years later for bigger objectives

I climbed Ham & Eggs last spring so can provide some personal experience and what I did to prep. Climbing ice in Cody was a huge advantage with long routes, decently long approaches (depending on the route), and spending all day moving are good ways to prep for any of your climbs. Weighted up hill carries in the 3-4 months leading up to the time is leave also helps prep the legs for the effort that you will need to put in. Dialing in your prior to going is huge, make sure you can move efficiently because it's a long day and you don't want to waste time transitioning at belays. If you can do cardio work 3-4 days a week, strength 2 days a week, and then 1 big day on the weekend you should be prepared for any of those objectives. As far as what I would have done differenly in training, I can't think of anything. I felt very prepared and honestly thought Ham & Eggs was pretty easy.

Just got back from the Alaska range. We summitted 11300 and attempted Bacon & Eggs (went up the wrong route in a whiteout, whoops!). This was my second year after the West Butt and first year of AK technical climbing. 

What did I do to get prepared? Earlier this year I spent about 10-days in-and-around Ouray getting my ice climbing dialed and also getting exposed to mixed climbing up to m7. From then onwards, largely due to the crazy winter on the West Coast, I did skin laps (2-4k gain) couple times a week and a fair amount of indoor training (HIIT, climbing circuits). While I felt prepared, it was pretty full-on for 11300 followed by cruiser-y around Base Camp. Make sure you'll feel comfortable knocking out multiple +10-hour days. What would I have done differently? Not much though more weighted hill carries would have been nice. For next year, I'll probably spend more time working on my aerobic fitness. 

Couple considerations:

Expedition Comfort: As you'll be stuck on some glacier, don't skimp on creature comforts. We brought a full on Coleman stove for our camp. Why even worry about a WhisperLite if you aren't planning to bivy on route? Even considering a bivy, you'll find yourself spending a lot of time in your cook tent socializing so make it easy & enjoyable. 

Weather & Conditions: We initially planned for 2-days on route, but found ourselves fighting the mountain for an extra day. The team before us "looked, but didn't touch" so we put in the first boot pack for the season. The snow conditions were pretty terrible, extremely faceted. In addition, make sure you know how to navigate in a whiteout. We found ourselves caught in a partial one on the descent. 

Alaska Ridge Climbing: I don't know how you train for this in the lower 48. More of a mental affair. I found it to be quite nerve-racking. 

This is great!

so far I’m thinking of spending the summer out in the bigger mountains in Washington and BC, after a bunch of big wall climbing, then this winter doing some bigger alpine ice/mixed routes in CO and Canmore with a lot of cragging. Assuming I can find the money and a partner

I'd seek out opportunities to get really proficient with whatever ski setup you plan to take.  I had a couple friends who were pretty competent rock and ice climbers get skunked in their first trip to the Range because they couldn't get around efficiently in the snow conditions. You dont need to be able to shred the gnar, or whatever ski bros say, but you should be able to ski safely and in control, up and down, between crevasses, roped up, with heavy packs, without wrecking your feet.

Jake907 wrote:

I'd seek out opportunities to get really proficient with whatever ski setup you plan to take.  I had a couple friends who were pretty competent rock and ice climbers get skunked in their first trip to the Range because they couldn't get around efficiently in the snow conditions. You dont need to be able to shred the gnar, or whatever ski bros say, but you should be able to ski safely and in control, up and down, between crevasses, roped up, with heavy packs, without wrecking your feet.

To add a little bit to this, while touring ability is important, the extent is dependent on objective. Moose's Tooth trade-routes are pretty close / straightforward. Base Camp not too bad. You'll gain like 1500ft getting to Bacon & Eggs, a bit less sticking to the Mini or Moonflower. Peak 11300 you can fly pretty far into the West Fork with a little bit of glacier travel required to start climbing. To Jake's point though, for 11300, there is a risk you need to haul all your gear to the Sheldon Mountain house airstrip if the weather gets bad and you want to go home...

I will admit to being a bit of a gongshow on my split board on the way down from Bacon & Eggs. There is always slow-shoes, but they utterly suck...

I’ve found the crux of the AK range to be weather and adjusting expectations on the fly. I fell into the trap of “it’s marginal but this might be our last window” and used up one of my 9 lives. I’d choose a partner who has similar risk tolerance and go into the trip with contingency plans and transparency around your go and no go factors.  I’ve found that when I spend a lot on a trip, line up a solid partner, and am in a range I don’t know I’ll be able to return to, it’s harder to make good decisions.

I think any mountain in the AK range is gnarly and conditions might  lend a cruiser experience but I’d prepare for full on. It’s helped me to treat first trips into big ranges as a suss out affair and mentally commit to finding a way to return in the future as opposed to expecting everything to line up the first time.

H&E could be crowded so I’d have a plan for dealing with that (especially if you’ll fly to its BC and require a bump to move base camps… talk to your pilot about bumps ahead of time). Treat your pilot well and have your communication system dialed so you can get weather from them and allow them to plan your pick up according to weather and their other folks in the range.  

Lots of good training recs already mentioned but I’d train for your descent as well. Big difference between rapping H&E gully and some of the more involved descents you might tackle. Cascades and Canada could offer some good alpine training grounds. Competence at the grade and fitness are obviously important but I’ve always found the mountains to offer their own unique challenges.

Helps to have all your gear dialed and tested before you arrive.  Big time bummer to lose glacier glasses or have a crampon bust and shut you down. There’s a ton of good info about what gear is holding up and I’d research your vital stuff before your training climbs and consider what you want to be redundant with back at base camp. Are you a picket guy, prefer flukes, practiced bollards, want two hammers or an adze on one tool, going to bury a pack in a pinch? People have strong opinions on all this and I’d research and practice what works best for you. 

You’ve got a natural fridge at BC so what food is going to make you psyched? Are you someone that wants to bring solar panels to charge your stuff and listen to podcasts or happy to bring a book?  Never hurts to have extra coffee or treats to share with base camp neighbors.

Hope you have an amazing trip and stay safe. 

Something I noticed that others haven’t hit on is the “prime season” for some of the routes you’ve mentioned span several months.

H&E is best in mid-April thru mid-May

11,300 best in May

Goldfinger is best in June/July 

Granted you can climb just about any of them out of prime season, but I probably wouldn’t suggest it for your first trip into the Range. Sounds like a little more research is needed to line up what you desire with season (unless you plan on spending several months there).

Creature comforts help, but winter camping skills are the #1 thing that can contribute to morale. A shitty camp setup or not dealing with poor weather correctly can destroy morale pretty quick.