Half-Einstein Couloir - Ruby Mountain - Winter

Ascent Route

We came out of the trees right under the rock band at the base of the Half Einstein couloir.  The snow in the couloir was hard and well consolidated, so it made for some good front pointing.  You definitely would not want to do this route without crampons and an ax.  Above the couloir, the ridge had a good sized cornice, so we decided to skirt further to the right, crossing a snow field (that you wouldn't want to cross if there was high avalanche danger (we dug a test pit before we crossed) to an area of exposed dirt and rock.  We followed this up to the ridge.  Once you hit the ridge, you can continue up through a rock band (we chose a route that was class 3, some fun places for practicing crampon placement on rock), or, there looks like another good route if you follow to the left under the rock band to a couloir which leads to a false summit (we decided not to do this route because we had a late start).  The ridge is extremely windy, and thereby extremely windblown, so the ground was snow free except for a few drifts.  We encountered 4 or 5 false summits before reaching the true summit; however, it is relatively flat and easy going once to reach the first false summit at the top of the rock band.  On our return, were were able to glissade from the ridge all the way down into the trees on the snow patch that we crossed earlier, making for a quick descent.  The route took us less than an hour in total to descend.

Pictures