 Together with his wife, he completed the pilgrim circuit of Mount Kailas in July 1926, his wife being the first Western woman to perform this ceremony.Ruttledge was in Tibet on official business, but because the official whom he was expecting to see, the senior Garpon of Gartok, was detained elsewhere, Ruttledge and his wife decided to make the Kailas "parikrama", whilst Wilson (who accompanied them on the trip) and a Sherpa called Satan ("sic") explored the various approaches to the mountain.Ruttledge considered the north face of Kailas to be high and 'utterly unclimbable'.