FKT's in the CRV
Updated: 6 hours ago
The Chilliwack River Valley (CRV) is home to some incredible trails and alpine summits. As the sport of mountain running has grown, many athletes have engaged in setting "FKT's". FKT may not be a term you are familiar with, but it simply refers to the "Fastest Known Time" on a given route. There are some rules for length of route etc, but generally you can submit a route to get approved, which then allows athletes to upload their efforts if they succeed at besting the existing "FKT". It is a fascinating niche of mountain running culture, and there are some neat things about it as well as some negative things, as with all competition. The neat thing is that it causes athletes to push hard and see what humans are capable of. The negative thing is that it can take away from the experience if we are only focused on doing things "fast" rather than enjoying the experience. At it's very worst, it can cause people to be reckless and overlook the risks, sometimes resulting in injury or death.
I tend to be one that leans heavily on the "experience" side, opting to share days out with partners, but there is an undeniable allure of doing things quickly. Part of that allure is simply that I can do more if I do things faster: I can go further and play in more mountains each day, or I can go home earlier and spend my extra time doing other things. Either way, it is gratifying to move efficiently through terrain that, for most people, entails tedious travel. This progression by mountain athletes has given rise to some incredible feats being accomplished, but as with so many avenues in the mountains, has also led to some unfortunate deaths. After I completed both of these FKT trips, the news was filled with updates on Kallie McCrystals disappearance on the Matterhorn in early September. She was scouting for an FKT attempt. After over a week of searching, they could not find her body, determining that she likely fell while descending from the summit. This is a sobering reminder that, while mountains can be a place to play or even a stage to perform, they remain uncontrollable. Even the most elite athletes with years of experience succumb to the relentless and unpredictable nature of the mountains.
I sincerely intend to adhere to a foundational quote for this blog, by Topher Donahue:
"My goal became to... not be the best or do the hardest or anything like that... it was to climb for my entire life, for one thing, and for my life to be long"
It's fun to test my abilities, but I don't take solo adventures like these lightly; I will always have respect for the severity of the mountains in the forefront of my mind. For most outings, I prefer to go with a friend, have great conversations, and share the experience on the mountain. If we go fast and far, that's a bonus!
But every once in a while, it feels right to set off alone to test my limits...
Solo outing on a familiar traverse
August 11, 2026
It is no secret that I love the Nesakwatch Creek Valley, and at this point it truly feels like playing in backyard... er.. Wackyard I suppose. But it didn't always feel that way. My first trip was in 2021 for the Quest for 10 that Mt Waddington's put out, with "Crossover Pass" as an objective. That was the first time I laid eyes on the East face of Slesse, as well as Rexford across the valley. In September of 2022, I returned with Ben Hall to do my first "real" alpine climb, up the SW ridge of North Nesakwatch Spire and into the Nesakwatch Enchainment from North to South Spire and on to Rexford. While this variation adds about 6 pitchs to the route, the rest of it felt pretty full-on. Over the last 4 years, I have returned time and time again to the Rexford Basin, with the Rexford-Slesse Horseshoe being the culmination of years of scouting and planning. This year, I had a bunch of loose objectives on rotation, and one recent addition formed out of a curious thought:
I wonder if I could complete the Nesakwatch Enchainment on my own?
To be clear: I was not wondering if I could go without a rope and just solo everything up and down. There are a few sections of climbing up to 5.7 and I personally don't feel great about doing that without having a bail-out option of a rope. Instead, I was curious if I could utilize some new skills I'd been practicing of rope-soloing and see if I could apply them in a way that made it feel within my control. Now, even typing that out is a bit tongue-in-cheek: mountainous environments are never completely in our control, but I didn't want to feel reckless out there. The only reason I would even consider doing a trip like this alone was because I'd done the traverse three times prior, plus summiting each peak individually a handful of other times.
Jas had a few tasks to complete during our week off together before she started school, so I geared up for a return to Rexford (which Jas and I had done in June together). I packed my TX2 approach shoes, 40m rope, 10m of cord, some slings, handful of cams, harness, chalk bag, climbing shoes, and my helmet, plus some obvious base-carry items like first aid kit, InReach, snacks, and water. I woke up at about 4:30 am and drove off to the trailhead (or as close as possible due to washouts). Starting off just after 6 am, I caught a stunner sunrise as it hit the Eastern wall of Slesse to my right. Invogorated by the scenery, I chugged away up the relentless hill, getting a big PR on the climb, since I had never been up there with as light of a pack. I ditched my poles and running belt at the start of the boulder field and made my way to the base of the NorthWest Ridge of North Spire (5th class).
I followed a familiar path, weaving back and forth from the East to the West side of the ridge up the path of least resistance, arriving at the summit in 2h22m from the car. I looked over at the imposing South Spire and scooted my way down to the col. I was feeling pretty good as I scrambled up the easy ramps to the steeper 5.7 section I recalled from the year before that Ben and I had climbed. Weighing my options, I decided to plug a cam on a lanyard to protect one tricky move. Above the move, I reached down and took it out, looking up at a steep, blocky chimney-like section above me. Here, I decided it would be more finicky to try bumping a cam up every metre with me, so I just wedged my body in and mosied up the jugs and flakes of granite. While a fall here would have been bad, it felt pretty secure in the chimney with lots of holds and friction with little exposure.
I made it to the plateau below the summit block in good time, finally pulling out the rope for the tippity top. Since the off-width requires a Size-6 cam to protect (which I don't even own), I have always soloed it with a rope attached to me to set up a top-rope and to rappel/lower down. Today would be no different, so I tied on my TC Pros for extra security and wedged my leg into the wide crack until I could reach the crimps and begin lay-backing the upper section. Standing on top felt amazing! I checked my watch and noted that it'd taken me a mere 37 minutes (2h59m total) from North to South Spire. I rigged my rope to lower myself down to the plateau and swapped back to my approach shoes before winding my way down to the next rap station. I wasn't completely sure prior, but turns out my 40m rope was perfect to reach down past the steepest section and onto the easy scrambling terrain.
From the col up to the West Ridge of Rexford has the worst rock quality, albeit short. While this was my fourth time doing all three spires in a row, it was only my third time climbing out of the notch. The few ways I'd taken in the past had been with a rope, so I was determined to find a line of mostly scrambling. I spotted a ramp system further left that I hadn't tried before and made my way over. I encountered a few steep moves of 5th class on bad rock, with one particularly loose block I had to finnagle my way over without touching. As I moved left it became clear that my line would pan out, and I soon reached the right trending ramp that led me up to the familiar West Ridge gully up to the summit plateau. Cruising on up the gully, I went up and over the middle summit (for good measure) and reached the base of the 5.5 chimney pitch to reach the summit. I was feeling quite solid and confident, but I had been prepared to either lanyard cam this section or rope solo if I felt like it. Because I felt really solid and I'd done Rexford 5 times at that point, I decided to ascend the chimney. This was my first time doing it with no-rope, and I found some better beta to exit the chimney that made it feel even more reasonable. I made it to the summit in just under 4 hours (3h58m to be exact). I enjoyed the top for a few minutes, soaking in the views. Even though I'd seen the surrounding mountains numerous times, I will never get tired of soaking them in!
I'd heard of a bypass on the north side of Rexford to scramble around the chimney, so I opted to check this out rather than rappel. It turned out to be quite reasonable and I found myself back on the plateau in no time. For good measure, once again, I popped over to the lowest of the sub-summits to take in the exposure below. Finally, I downclimbed the gully to the easy part of the ridge below and toodled along to the toe of the ridge. Back on the boulder fields, I hopped and skipped my way to the top of the trail. Taking a few minutes to repack my gear, I started down the steep and loose "rockwall" section, only stopping for water at the creek and to adjust a metal cam rubbing my back raw through my pack! From washout to washout, I made it in 5h48m31s round trip. However, for my FKT Submission, I cropped the activity to start and end at the Trailhead shared by Slesse Memorial and Rexford (in case the road ever gets repaired).
I want to re-emphasize that this was only something I would consider doing alone because of my familiarity with the route (this being my 4th time doing the traverse). Mostly, I wanted to see if I could do this route alone while making it feel steady and controlled. I am happy to say that I succeeded in doing that: I felt confident pretty much the whole time and had Type 1 fun for all of it. I brought a rope and some gear along but didn't use it as much as I thought I might. This is not something I will plan to do frequently, but rather something I will reserve for my "best efforts on my best days".
Sunrise hitting Slesse
Speed-effort out-&-back
About a week after my solo Nesakwatch Enchainment, my friend Lukas set a stout out-and-back time on Rexford, going car to car in 3h15m14s. On my way down from the enchainment, I had wondered what my time would be on a dedicated effort for Rexford, since I would be comfortable doing it without a rope and could travel even lighter. At the end of August, I had a Friday off with a forecast of mediocre weather. It rained on Thursday, but was supposed to subside in time for the alpine to possibly dry out in time despite lingering clouds. I waited a few hours in the morning to let things dry longer before grabbing my helmet, running vest, and new scrambling shoes to test out (North Face Offtrail Ultra - pending separate review) and driving up Chilliwack Lake Road. Some rumbling up the FSR later, and I arrived at the washout. Unsure how I would stack up against Lukas' time, I told myself to "go until it doesn't make sense anymore" - if it was too wet, then I wouldn't force it.
I took off at a canter up the shallow incline and made it to my first checkpoint where the true "trail" begins just a bit under my goal pace. Out came my poles and I settled into an uphill rhythm of stepping and poking the dirt with my poles. Every bush I passed gratuitously bestowed upon me an unwelcome deluge of residual rainwater, soaking my t-shirt, shorts, and shoes in no time. The rocks and roots were quite slippery, but perhaps the open boulder field would be dry. "Just keep going til it doesn't make sense anymore," I repeated to myself. I passed the stream at 600m into the climb without refilling, hitting a satisfactory timestamp but pressing to reach the top of the trail as quick as I could. Thanks to my lighter load, I obliterated my previous personal best by over 25 minutes, which I'd set a week or two prior on the trail segment.
At the boulder field, I stopped to assess whether it was wet and discovered that the rock was sufficiently dry to continue. I paused to tighten my shoes and put on my helmet before ditching my poles and hopping onto the first boulder. Things went smoothly as I repeated my mantra in my head: "don't think, just move!" Any pause to consider what might be a faster route eats up precious time, so I didn't waste an ounce of forward momentum as I weaved my way up, over, around, and between the piles of granite. At the base of the West Ridge, I paused briefly to consider if I should turn around, but the rock was reasonably dry aside from a few sporadic bushes retaining water.
Proceeding up the fun bits of scrambling, I reached the flat-ish shoulder of the ridge in good time, and estimated that I could still reach the summit in under 2 hours from the car. Arriving at the gully, the rock was still dry, so I climbed up to the plateau and over to the base of the 5.5 chimney. While it may be just as fast to use the bypass on the side, I think it is in better style to at least ascend via the chimney, which I did. I took a quick photo at the summit, arriving at 1h55m39s. As with the Nesakwatch Enchainment, I descended via the bypass on the north side and carefully downclimbed the gully. I started to feel my sartorius muscles in both legs get a bit crampy, so I took my time not to rush as I reached the easier epaulette of the West ridge.
I relaxed a bit as I neared the end of the technical section, but just before I was off the ridge, I did a high step and got a full lock-up of my sartorius.
At that moment, I figured my attempt was over; I wouldn't be able to move across the boulder field and run down the trail in this condition. But, I still had 500ml of LMNT electrolytes in my 3rd bottle, so I chugged half of it while stretching out my legs. After a few minutes, I slowly continued down and off the toe of the ridge and proceeded across the boulder field at a conservative pace. By the time I reached my poles I was feeling better and I looked down at my watch, realizing I still had a chance to best Lukas' time if I didn't biff it on the downhill. I set off as fast as I could reasonably go with the wet conditions, only falling once as I motored past all my checkpoints. I quickly filled a flask in the stream before blasting down to the FSR, where I once again checked my watch to see that I needed to really push it back to the car. After redlining it for the last 2km, I finally crossed the washout in 3h13m23s.
New kicks!
With some more specific training and with better hydration strategies (i.e., more water in my body, less water on my body), I know I could shave some time off this effort. But for now, I am pretty content with a fast effort on a familiar mountain.
I highly encourage folks to read a guidebook (such as Kevin McLane's Alpine Select), or read up on info from Mountain Project before attempting such a serious objective to make sure you have accurate information before setting out.
It really is not my intention to encourage individuals to go solo into the mountains. I don't want to understate this: the only reason I am comfortable with doing a technical route like this or the Nesakwatch Enchainment is because I have done them many times prior. I highly recommend first going out with a friend before attempting a route like this solo. Accidents happen, but knowing the area well increases your odds of avoiding incidents and even self-extracting if something minor were to happen. Stay safe out there!
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