Ruby Mountain

We started our road walk around 8:30 am and ducked into the woods right at mile marker 135. After a short and easy boot, we intersected the climbers trail and took it up to about 2700 feet where we were able to start skinning. We walked in boots rather than dealing with a shoe stash - I'd say the time spent walking in boots was just under my threshold for bringing a pair of trail runners. I'd probably stash shoes if I were doing this in a week.

Snow is thin in the woods, but was continuous for us for skinning. Temps were mild so the skinning wasn't too icy and we were able to make fairly efficient work of the woods and were pleasantly surprised to find new snow above treeline. Depending on aspect, it ranged from 2-8 inches of wind buff, and we didn't note any woompfing or cracking.

We made it to the summit around 12:45, took some panoramic pics of the amazing views, and dropped into the Lillian Creek drainage where we found hero wind buff pow for >2k down to 5200.

We threw skins on and traversed back west to the main skin track and decided to go up for a second lap. Started our second descent at about 3, and skied into the Happy Creek drainage where quality was not as consistent. The mini couloirs were utterly terrible, and snow got very gloppy below 6000 feet.

Once we got below the recent rain/snow line, there was some quasi-corn that skied a lot better, and the trees below 4500 were a chattery but edgeable series of side-slips down to our walk out.

Got back to the car 4:45-5 and drove down to Diablo Lake lookout to enjoy a nice beer with views, enjoying the lack of crowds that characterize the summer.