Rarely visited, Mt. Sevy is a fun climb with a unique setting
- September 13, 2009
- Team: Sean
- Summit:
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Mt. Sevy, 10480', 3200' climb, 5.5 miles, 4.5 hours
- Car-to-car: 11 miles, 9.25 hours
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Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Sean and I had been talking about a climb together for seemingly forever, and finally we put together a trip to Mt. Sevy. Sean had some beta on the route and was willing to drive to the upper Hell Roaring trailhead, so I met him on Hwy 21 at 6am. We were on our feet at about 9:15, moving swiftly up the valley. It was a beautiful day, if a little warm for September. I hadn't been up in this basin since a climb of the Arrowhead in the early 70s, so it was nice to be reminded just how beautiful it is. |
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| The beginning of the route ascends the east ridge and then traverses west to avoid a big cliffband at the bottom of the south face. We were looking for 400 feet of Class 4, but it was easier than that. Lots of fun. Lots of goat beds. The problem we had was that it's difficult to tell exactly where the summit is. So we climbed the closest (and easiest) of the three summits to eyeball the mountain. |
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I was examining our options with a great deal of intensity when Sean caught a glimmer in the corner of his eye. From our vantage point, we had a great view of this guy as he wandered about. |
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We debated a bit, but I was convinced by a photo I had seen on Idaho: A Climbing Guide. Sean still wasn't convinced, but agreed to go for this route to the middle "tower." After this short but awkward lead by Sean, I took over and did a series of easy, bouldery moves onto what I thought was the summit. Nope. Up and over, down into a notch, then finally the summit fin. No cracks on the fin for protection, but on the backside we found a few more bouldery moves would get you to the top. |
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Sitting at the last belay, all I could see of Sean as he tagged the summit was his head. |
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| We spent some time re-rigging the rappel, not even interested in discussing the old, rotten slings. And we took a few pictures of the amazing view. That's the Finger of Fate in the middle of the picture, with Hell Roaring Lake on its right. Note the broad buttress immediately right of the Finger: we'll be heading there shortly. |  |
| But first we did two short rappels. Extra short because we were using a single 30m rope. |  |
When we got off the rappels, we reversed the ridge traverse, more or less (there are lots of possible lines) and then started long ridge walk toward the aforementioned buttress. Looking back, that's Mt. Sevy in the middle, with Dave's Peak on the left, then the Arrowhead. On the right, Chocolate Layer Cake or Birthday Cake. |
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Here's a zoom of the three summits of Sevy. The true summit is the right tip of the middle tower. A really great position. |
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| We had fun negotiating the "kerf of the saw" on the way to the buttress, weaving our way around towers and up and down through gaps. A little Class 4, and several opportunties to drop down to the basin above the Finger, had we so desired. The buttress itself was easy, and had a monstrous flat flake on top. It looks comfy, but there is a huge drop to the left of Sean. |  |
Looking across the drop, you're less than 100 yards from the summit of the Finger. The popular routes for the Finger are on the other side. Here's a trip report for the Open Book. I had a really great time climbing with Sean. And this was a great outing. |
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