[ozzy]

Well it's kinda been a year of obscure peakbagging so Hans and myself decided to continue the trend lol! The peak desired this go round would be Sefrit! I've always wanted to climb this lil monster since climbing Ruth Mtn back in my first year of doin this thing that we all enjoy! I remember walking under it on the hannegan pass trail and thinking it must be Shuksan with how dominating it was lol. Then recently this year when we climbed Goat Mtn it made a lasting impression for sure! We were able to find a good TR on peakbagger from a dood by the name of Andy Boos! As luck would have it he was kind enough to add a track as well, thanks Andy it probably saved us a lot of misery! Before this discovery I'd always planned on approaching up the north couloir of the mountain in early season as most do. I wasn't too keen on that route to be honest...gnarly! Andy's route went up the south slope accessed from the nooksack cirque trail. This immediately grabbed my attention. So as per freakin usual Hans and yours truly found ourselves at the trail at 5am and hiking by 530am. The first obstacle is the Ford of Ruth creek. We searched briefly for a log crossing but found none. The water was shin deep so I just ran across and had moderately wet feet all day lol, my laziness is confounding sometimes! Hans walked across barefoot. After the crossing we walked the trail 2 miles and after the foot bridge we cut southeast up the dense slopes. The idea is to take the line of least resistance and kind of parallel the creek on up to 5800ft where you bust out into the alpine! Around 2800ft we were a little off route and encountered some horrible slide alder...man I was hoping this wasn't a sign of things to come lol. Luckily we got back on track and the brush died out mostly. We climbed up forested slopes for 3200ft or so, most of it was pretty steep. A lot of it was littered with deadfall too which made travel a little slow at times. At 5200ft we took a break at the first stream we came across, time was 930am. After the break we continued up to 5800ft paralleling the creek on the topo. The trees began to give way and we broke on through to the alpine!! Wow...this lil basin at 5800ft is pretty badass! We had clear views of Sefrit proper, Shuksan, Baker, and so much more!!! Time was 945am. We definitely took another break here to study the surroundings and our route up this bastard!

Nooksack cirque trail

offtrail

closer to the alpine

We saw hundreds of these trees. Stripped of the bark and only one did we see actual claw marks. What the hell would have done all that lol!

first views of the mountain

The basin

cheers with Sefrit behind

From the basin there is an obvious rocky gully that acsends north up to a saddle around 6900ft just east of Sefrit. We started up at 10am and stayed on heather slopes as high as we could, climber's right, before entering said gully. We then trudged upwards to about 6800ft where we located a steep gully to climber's left. This gully went class 3-4 and was pretty loose but it granted passage to join the east ridge up higher at 7000ft. It had been a pretty enjoyable endeavor up to here and it got a lot better! From the ridge we climbed to a sub summit then stayed on the knifey ridge for a bit! The scenery is rather dramatic all around! Nice rock if you look for it and some class 3-4 with some exposure here and there! A little spice is nice baby!! A 100ft below the summit we traversed out to the left to locate a class 4 chimney to gain the summit block for real! There is a left trending gully that we climbed to find the true summit!! Stoked. Truly. Man what a beautiful place in the cascades! From up here the scenery was breathtaking! From Baker to Shuksan, to the Chilliwacks and pickets! The Larrabee group and Tomyhoi! We made it up here around 1130am, so 6hrs from the car which was better than we expected lol! The summit is pretty comfortable so we loitered up there for about 2hrs. We even found the register which can use a new cannister if anyone remembers. What an airy perch indeed! Cheers!

ooh bakey

approaching the gully, just out of sight

Hans and gully

Gully proper

Topping out of the little gully that branches off from the main gully

upper heather slopes leading to the east ridge

on the ridge looking east

Some class 3 up on da ridge

The chimney up towards the top

Hans loving the spice

Block proper

There it be

Dayummm

Hans being Hans lol

Chilliwacks

Oooowweeeee

Larrabee and friends

After a nice nap and sensory overload we retraced our route back down. Time 2pm. The way back down is always more enjoyable taking in all the scenery. We downclimbed all the hazards and arrived back at the basin in an hour. Another break here and water refill. I love looking back at the day's work (the peak) from below and takin it all in. That's one of my favorite parts of these trips. So with the last views of the alpine we entered the woods and made the tedious descent into the woods towards the nooksack. We were kinda dreading the potential shwack down low but we able to stay on Andy's track more so this time! Thank God because the bush was very manageable at worst, and that was just the last 100ft or so, then the trail!! Stoked to be on the trail we made quick work back to the car and arrived just after 7pm, making for a 13.5hr day! I think the mileage was around 12miles. The gain about 4900ft. Another pretty sick peak in the bag we were again satisfied for another week anyhow, lol! Thanks Hans for joining again and cheers to all of y'all!!

Parting ways

Framer

Hans below the summit

Hans on sub summit

Mighty Shuksan

little gully at 6800ft

Yea buddy

Shuk to Baker

Love me some flowers

Sefrit in all it's glory, from this side at least lol

Last look

Last bush

[Gimpilator]

Very very cool. I was not aware that people do this peak without snow. Looks great. Badass

[Midnight Slogger]

Well done and entertainingly written, as always. Gotta love that Lovenox register.

[Mike Collins]

Congratulations on your successful endeavor. The peak has not seen many visitors since Creeden and I left the register sixteen years ago. The Lovenox paper was given out by a drug rep at the hospital. Our fording of Ruth Creek was the crux of the climb for us as we forded it in the afternoon when snowmelt greatly increased the flow.

[raising3hikers]

Might be the best view of shuksan from there. Wow!

[awilsondc]

Nice trip gentlemen! I really like this here photo:

[Brushbuffalo]