Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mt. Sefrit - Adventure 101! 6-6-09
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dicey
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dicey
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 11:50 am 
Maybe a bit more Epic than Adventure, but my memory has already faded! biggrin.gif Players: Yana, AltiDude, AltiBabe, and Altiwhippets. And dicey. Mileage and Elevation gain?? Your guess Not sure why or when I decided I wanted to climb Mt. Sefrit, and less sure why anyone else would even agree to join me. There is a scarcity of information about the peak, and most reports I could find were from the north. Looking at a map, the west ridge route looked the best to me, but I found exactly 0 reports/information of anyone starting up the west ridge from Ruth Creek. Why? Beckey and a couple of other south side reports start out by hiking up the Nooksack Cirque trail for 45min to 1.5hr (1-1.5mi) before turning uphill. So that's what we started out trying to do as well. First we had to get across Ruth Creek, which was a significant obstacle at it's current swollen state. Luckily, there are a series of footlogs that are not yet underwater or swept away. The last, and most formidable, even has a tiny thin handline attached for mental protection. We all made it across without being swept away by the current, or getting our boots wet.
Just the beginning
Just the beginning
Conditions were misty and visibility was....well, there wasn't any visibility, really. Oops! We CHEERFULLY motored up the trail anyway! One report I read said, "We walked up the trail until it seemed like we had gone far enough, then we headed off trail and uphill." Umm....OK. After about 40 minutes, we also felt that we had gone far enough, so uphill we went as well. This worked out ok for about 5 or 10 minutes when we reached an unexpected ridge thingie that didn't show up on the map. Since we didn't feel like losing all the elevation we had gained (1-2 hundred feet!!) to continue on in this direction, we headed back to the trail, wherein somebody suggested going bowling instead! Since visibility wasn't helping us out in the navigation department, I suggested returning to Ruth Creek, and joining the ridge from there, which would give us at least some terrain clues to follow. I'm not sure anyone else really wanted to do this, but we started walking back from whence we had come. I call this part of the trip: "Getting to Know the Area" , also known as: "Wasting a couple of hours that we wished we had later!" dizzy.gif Back at the trail head, I found a little way trail heading down and along Ruth Creek, which I suggested we follow for a little bit, which led us to probably the most difficult way to mount the ridge up through a cliff band - sweet! At least the mist stopped falling from the sky. From here on there was a subtle ridge to follow for a bit. Nothing too steep, with evidence of logging and even some flagging and lots of deadfall. After a while the game trail we were sporadically following started looking curiously like a real trail! Bonus! This trail skirted cliff bands handily, but eventually became less defined as it traversed further and further to the southeast. We (I) eventually grew weary of traversing and decided to head straight uphill to gain the ridge, hitting patchy snow then solid snow circa 4900ft. Lots of treecipitation was enjoyed here. Once we topped out on Pt. 5653, the ridge became quite nicely defined, and we caught glimpses of higher points on the ridge above. Maybe one of those points was the summit? wink.gif Or maybe not.
High on the south slopes of Sefrit
High on the south slopes of Sefrit
Downclimbing some thin snow cover
Downclimbing some thin snow cover
We followed the ridge until we had to traverse east to get around Pt. 6935. The snow cover on the south slopes was thin over grass - yuck! Whenever possible we chose to scramble higher on rock and tunnel through trees when we could.
lots of steep grass traversing
lots of steep grass traversing
Probably not the way
Probably not the way
We would cross over ribs, find impasses, and continue some grass traversing for what seemed like forever, but was probably only an hour or so. Jeremy always seemed to be able to find a way up and through to the next high point on the ridge, which also WASN'T the summit! Surely this narrow dirt ledge and sketchy slab of friable rock leads to the summit? NO! Every now and then we could catch glimpses of Baker - then gone. Shuksan - then gone. Higher points along the ridge that STILL were not the summit. The next point Jeremy scouted was also NOT the summit!
Well beyond a reasonable turn-around time, ha ha
Well beyond a reasonable turn-around time, ha ha
A glimpse of our ascent ridge
A glimpse of our ascent ridge
Shuksan floats in the mist
Shuksan floats in the mist
A glimpse of Baker
A glimpse of Baker
Lack of visibility and our earlier trail scouting mission had now run us out of precious time. It was after 5pm, and time to turn around bawl.gif Of course, as soon as we pulled the plug, the true summit appeared out of the mist to taunt us for a moment, just beyond the last rock spire. How hateful! mad.gif It was probably another 45min away, and we had already pushed beyond any reasonable turn around point by now. So we decided to go for it! Just kidding. We stopped for a snack and sadly headed down. Going down was easy enough. Just follow the footprints in the snow....until the snow disappeared. Jeremy and I decided we needed to traverse right to stay on the ridge, while Tisha and Yana insisted we needed to traverse left to stay on the ridge. We descended about 400ft to the right and then relented that, indeed we needed to traverse left. The next several hours were spent negotiating cliff bands and devil's club. Then it got dark. The next few hours were spent negotiating cliff bands and devil's club in the dark. Lots of cursing, slipping, falling and close calls. The only part that sticks out in my mind about this awful descent was hanging onto a tree branch out over space while the boulder my hand was on came loose and crashed down into...whatever was below! Wow, that was scary! Lost my trekking pole at one point, but found it eventually. There was also an incident involving slipping while straddling devil's club, but I won't elaborate too much. We eventually heard and then saw Ruth creek, then traversed left for another 6 miles (felt like it) or so, eventually clearing the final cliff and popping out about 50 yards from the trail head sign in box. Now we only had Ruth creek in the dark between us and the car, and guess what? Piece of cake. smile.gif No summit but plenty of adventure. I was prodded into writing this TR by SOMEone, who claims that reading about epics/pain/suffering/ and mistakes is way more fun than "We got to the summit, THE END." Perhaps?? biggrin.gif

I'm not always sure I like being older but being less stupid has advantages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/32121172@N00/sets/
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Dayhike Mike
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Dayhike Mike
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 12:07 pm 
Way more fun! smile.gif Great TR, dicey! Thanks for sharing it with us.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke "Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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BPLlama
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 12:35 pm 
Re: Mt. Sefrit - Adventure 101!  6-6-09
dicey wrote:
The only part that sticks out in my mind about this awful descent was hanging onto a tree branch out over space while the boulder my hand was on came loose and crashed down into...whatever was below! Wow, that was scary!
Pleaseeeeee be carefulllllll !!! Sounds like a namesake trip hockeygrin.gif up.gif

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gone
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 1:30 pm 
Off-trail summit hunting via wet grassy goat-slaying vertical ridge walls? Check! Gravity assisted cliff-strewn bushwhack in the dark? Check! Butt-scooting logs over raging torrents of death in the dark? Check! Adventurepic! up.gif eek.gif hockeygrin.gif You guys sure know how to get it done. smile.gif

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Stefan
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 1:37 pm 
that is interesting you folks chose the hard route. nice going! the only route I know if the northwest glacier route which starts about a mile before the end of the road. Now I know your route...and I won't try it! thanks for the info! biggrin.gif p.s. don't trust Beckey on everything!

Art is an adventure.
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Schmidt Alti-Dude
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 1:57 pm 
Here is a estimated map of our route. The way up seemed fine and we would of made the summit with: a) the extra time we spent "familiarizing with the area b) a little visibility so that we would of stopped climbing all the false summits The lower track is our way up and the higher one is our way down. The blue line represents what we thought we were doing by staying right of our up track.
Mount Sefrit attempt map - labeled
Mount Sefrit attempt map - labeled

Anything stated by me in no way reflects the attitudes or opinions of my wife
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Sennin
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:06 pm 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't seem to find thier way up to some summits.....errrr....I mean, nice TR, bummer on the non-summit! Serious, I'm glad everyone made it out unscathed. Devil's club + bushwacking down a slope is no fun at all!

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Yana
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:11 pm 
Thanks for writing up the TR, dicey!
Quote:
I was prodded into writing this TR by SOMEone, who claims that reading about epics/pain/suffering/ and mistakes is way more fun than "We got to the summit, THE END."
Uh... I thought that was you. Are we having a multiple personalities moment? lol.gif Sennin - it actually wasn't terribly bushwhacky. In fact, in places I really wished there was more shrubbery (of the non devil's club variety), not less. embarassedlaugh.gif I was, at one point, convinced that we'd have to spend the night up there, but we got past the last steep part just before headlamps became necessary.
Jeremy tries to find a way around the steepness
Jeremy tries to find a way around the steepness
Our route below pt. 6931
Our route below pt. 6931
Something poking out of the clouds
Something poking out of the clouds
Jeremy, Tisha, and Whippets high on Sefrit
Jeremy, Tisha, and Whippets high on Sefrit
Jeremy
Jeremy
Carla on the W ridge of Sefrit
Carla on the W ridge of Sefrit
Our ascent route
Our ascent route

PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
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fwb
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:29 pm 
Ah, I missed another fun adventure... waah.gif Much more adventure than I had on Shuksan. I think you saw it's summit more than I did. I can just see Dicey spending time here and there expressing to the Devils Club her love of it rant.gif fencing.gif Thanks for the entertaining TR!

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Sennin
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:29 pm 
Haha Yana! https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7975332 On this trip we got ourselves stuck in a grove of alder and devil's club. We started at 10am, and got back to the truck at 6am the next morning. That's when I decided to take up knitting instead of trekking. tongue.gif

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DIYSteve
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DIYSteve
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:30 pm 
Sounds, well, dicey. biggrin.gif Great pics and fun read. up.gif

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yukon222
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:40 pm 
I can't believe I had to miss this trip due to that appointment in Eastern Washington. mad.gif Always miss out on the epic fun trips!! tongue.gif clown.gif Happy to hear everyone made it thru with only a bit of mental anguish. hockeygrin.gif

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dicey
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dicey
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:46 pm 
Yana wrote:
Quote:
I was prodded into writing this TR by SOMEone, who claims that reading about epics/pain/suffering/ and mistakes is way more fun than "We got to the summit, THE END."
Uh... I thought that was you. Are we having a multiple personalities moment? lol.gif
Nope. It was Tazz with the prod.gif

I'm not always sure I like being older but being less stupid has advantages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/32121172@N00/sets/
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Mike Collins
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 2:47 pm 
FWIW I have climbed Sefrit. I will describe our exit route as I believe it is the easiest line from Ruth Creek. You will need to look at the map. When on the trail to Hannegan Pass at ~4200 ft there are two watercourses draining NNE off Sefrit's slope. Between those two watercourses can be found a route to the summit ridge connecting just north of 6295. From there on you can make it easily to the summit. This route can only be done when the slopes are snowy as higher up will be steep slab when dry. Fording Ruth Creek is dangerous via this route and you will probably not find a log jam (trees adjacent to the water are slide alder). If I ever make it back to Sefrit I will make the ascent from the Nooksack River side. The angles are friendlier there. When atop the summit block it looked favorable.

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Tazz
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PostTue Jun 09, 2009 3:27 pm 
lol.gif I knew it would be a good report after she told me the story. Now, I can laugh at all 4 of you together! ykm.gif winksmile.gif

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