August 13-15, I made a 3-day trip to Rexford-Nesakwatch Spires Westside with Neha, Jasone, Justin and Oudi from BC Mountaineering Club. Last week, I shared details about our North Nesakwatch Spire climb via North Ridge. This post is on Mount Rexford climb via West Ridge.
After we got down from North Nesakwatch Spire, we had a good rest. It was sweltering in the afternoon, but it got better later in the day, and the smoke also cleared. We slept around 9 pm and were up the next day at 3 am. We were on the trail by 4:30 am.
West Ridge
The Alpine Select guide book has the West Ridge route going through the gully (marked in red above). But, based on Steph Abegg’s report, we started at the bottom of the West Ridge (marked in green above).
It was a short hike to the base of the ridge. I had created a trip plan in Google Docs with descriptions and pictures from Mountain Project and other trip reports. Before the trip, I had saved this trip plan as a pdf on my phone for offline use. As we started our scramble, it was helpful to refer to the description/photos and ensure that we were on the right track.
Soon, Jasone spotted the flagging on the route. After that, it was relatively easier to scramble our way up the lower part of West Ridge. It took us about 45 minutes to arrive at the saddle that connects the lower and upper West Ridge. The route up the gully also connects here.
West Summit
Once we gained the upper part of West Ridge, it was an easy hike to the base of the West summit tower.
We scrambled up some easy sections to a broad ledge and roped up.
We had the same teams as our North Nesakwatch Spire North Ridge climb – Neha, Oudi and me on one rope, Justin and Jasone on another rope. I was tied into the middle and would go first; Neha and Oudi would follow. Based on our experience from the previous day, we shortened the rope for simul-climbing, with both Neha and Oudi taking in coils.
As we climbed, we traversed left and made our way up to the base of what looked like the last section to the West (false) Summit.
Just 10 m below the West summit, we could see a traverse on a flake followed by a short crack. There was a direct (and probably standard) route connecting the ridge crest. But not knowing how broad the ridge is, I went right on the flake. It made for an exciting climb to the West Summit.
It took us about two hours and forty-five minutes for all of us to reach the West Summit.
East Summit
We had a short walk along the ridge to the middle summit and then a traverse to the right to get to the base of the East (true) summit.
Oudi put me on belay, and I gently made my way to the notch. I climbed up from the notch and checked options going up the left face. There was a nice crack climb, and it seemed doable. But, considering the rope drag, I went up the chimney. This was the route I had seen pictures of in other trip reports.
The chimney was interesting and fun, with good places to protect the climb. Once at the top, I secured myself and belayed Neha and Oudi up the route. From there, it was a short scramble to the summit.
Photo by Neha
From the West Summit, it took us about an additional hour to reach the East Summit. It was just 8:15 am.
Photo by Neha 
Photo by Neha
After a long break and an elaborate photo session, we started our descent.
Stuck Rope
The location of the rap station on the East Summit felt a bit odd. If we rappelled down the side we climbed up, there was a possibility of the rope getting stuck as the rap rings were further back. On the other hand, the rap down the North East side seemed like a natural line. But, it would mean a traverse on a narrow ledge and scramble back to the notch.
Oudi went down first, secured himself and gave a fireman’s belay to the rest of the group. There were some loose rocks in the section, and we had to be careful with each rappel.
I went down last and pulled the rope. The rope flowed well initially but then got stuck. I put my weight on the rope and pulled it, but no luck. Finally, I climbed up as Oudi put me on belay. The rope was stuck between a rock and the face.
It was a low-5th section but very exposed. I was breathing heavily as I downclimbed to the ledge. It was close to 10 am, and we had done just one rappel. It was going to take much longer than I had expected to get back to our bivy site.
Are you okay?
The rappel down from the West summit was relatively easy. We could have joined our two 60 m half ropes and done just one rappel to West Ridge. But given all the blocks where the rope could get stuck and the loose rocks in some sections, we decided to do two rappels.
At one of the rap stations, Neha asked me, “Are you okay?” I was shivering a bit. I thought I was just cold from all the waiting, but then I realized that except for the small piece of cheese that Oudi gave me at the summit, I hadn’t eaten anything since we left at 4:30 am. It had been seven hours. Neha – thanks for asking the question.
I reached into my bag for cliff bars and then searched again. Nothing. I had forgotten to take the bars from the food sack I had stored at the bivy rock. Thankfully Neha and Jasone had some extra food, and they shared their granola bars with me.
Now, we were at the last rap station and getting ready to rappel down to the gully between South Nesakwatch Spire and Mount Rexford. We had considered hiking down the West Ridge and then doing a short rappel to the basin but thought it would take longer.
Trust the System
We joined our two 60 m 8 mm half ropes and tied the stone hitch to set up the rope for rappel. Here again, Oudi went down first. He first had a quick look over the cliff, tossed the ropes, did a quick check and rappelled down. It took some time before we heard “Off-Rappel.”
Jasone, Neha and Justin followed. It had been a few minutes since Justin had rappelled down when I heard “Rock.” Justin had dislodged a small piece of loose rock, and it hit his head. But, thanks to the helmet, he was still smiling when I saw him later.
Soon it was my turn. I took out the stone hitch, set up my prusik and belay device. I checked the system one more time, unclipped myself from the anchor and started rappelling down. Before I went off the cliff, I gave the anchor one last look and mentally crossed my fingers.
This was my first 60 m rappel over a sketchy terrain. I was very cautious coming down. Occasionally I would look up and see if the rope was going over any sharp edges. When I had doubts, I just muttered, “Trust the system.” The only other time I had a similar experience was when I had cleaned the anchor off an alpine ice climb and was rappelling down on a v-thread.
Finally, I reached the last few metres of the rope, and I realized that the ropes didn’t go all the way to the gully. They were short by about 3 m or so. Oudi had made a loop using his tech cord and put it around a horn to create a secure handline down to the gully. Genius!
The issue was the last person to come down had to clean it up and downclimb to the gully. Before I got off the rappel, I kicked few blocks, and 4 out of 5 were loose. I didn’t feel good about it and was nervous. Oudi asked me to just come down, and he would retrieve the tech cord.
I untied the barrel knot from the blue rope and started making my way down while holding on to the tech cord. There was still a knot at the end of the pink rope. As my belay device caught the knot on pink rope, the rope was being pulled down.
A few steps down, and I had a good stance. So, I thought, why not flick the tech cord and see if I can clear it over the horn. It took a couple of attempts, but finally, it worked. A few more moves, and I was safely down.
Oudi later mentioned that it was too late when he realized that the ropes didn’t touch the ground. He had to improvise. If he had seen that earlier, he might have used the intermediate rap station.
The Good, The Bad and The Gully
Climbing to the summit was good, the last rappel was bad, and then we had the gully. The hike down the gully had its own challenges. The day before, we had watched two climbers manage to displace some big rocks that came tumbling down. So we decided to stick close to each other and avoided being in the fall line.
We were no better and made our own contributions to the rock pile down below. Thankfully, Jasone and Neha were already clear of the path and were getting close to the bivy site. Oudi, Justin and I reached the bivy rock at about 2 pm.
We took an hour-long lunch break and made our way down the Mount Rexford Trail. Our packs were lighter, but still, it was not an easy hike down.
We stopped at the creek to drink some water and reached the trailhead around 6:30 pm. We were all exhausted and were looking forward to dinner in Chilliwack.
After weeks of planning, we had finally made this trip and managed to do two excellent alpine climbs. For me, there was a lot to learn about managing ropes, communication and risk assessment. However, I was also pleased with how I performed physically and mentally on this trip. The Uphill Athlete training that I have been following since last year was paying off. Even if this was my last alpine trip for the season, I would be happy. It had been a great summer so far.
Resources:
Route Info: Mountain Project
Trip Reports: StephAbegg | Mountain Wagon | Steven Song
GPX: GAIA GPS
Glossary of climbing terms
Alpine Skills: Alpine Savvy | Ortovox Safety Academy Lab Rock
Weather Forecast: Yr.No | Spot WX | Windy
Leave a Trip Plan: AdventureSmart
Disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of the above individuals or organizations.
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