The Rexford Ridgeline Traverse // Grand Ensawkwatch Enchainment
- Greg Luesink
- Jul 7, 2024
- 13 min read
Updated: Mar 26
TLDR: against seemingly all odds stacked against it, the trip happened. But it proved to be much harder than anticipated, we walked away with a proud achievement and lots of lessons learned. Here's how it went down.
If you haven't read the "Prelude" to this trip, please do! It provides a lot of meaningful context and insights for what preparations were required.
Summary of the Prelude: Obsession Interrupted
Nich, Ben, Joseph, and I were going to attempt the Rexford-Slesse High Route, a 5 day mountain traverse in the shape of a horse-shoe.
Nich got minor surgery, Ben sprained his ankle, and Joseph needed to finish renovations before his wife gave birth. Thus, all three partners became unavailable.
My friend Mike stepped in and rescued the trip from inevitable failure and agreed to join me!
I hiked in two drop bags of food: one to Rexford basin and one just south of Labour Day Horn.
Our plan was to get to the Rexford Basin on day 1, and day 2 we would make it to the USA. Day 3 we would make it to Labour Day Horn, and Day 4/5 we would make it to Slesse and out to MacFarlane. Easy, right?
I'd spent months preparing for this trip, hiking and climbing, and meticulously scouring the details of each crux section for the trip. We decided to attempt the traverse in early July, hoping for enough snow to be melted for the climbing, but enough for water sources along the ridge.
My headspace was mixed due to a friend dying in the mountains a month prior, and I was feeling my mortality very acutely being a newly-wed husband to my wife, Jas. My life was not my own anymore, and I was very conscious of the risks of a long trip like this. Also, during one of the drop-bag hikes, Jas and I had a pivotal conversation about a 3-week+ long traverse that I'd been dreaming of for a long time (70 peaks of the Chilliwack River Valley). The Rexford-Slesse High Route was the last big scouting mission. In short, I relinquished this dream becuase it just didn't make sense to pursue. Thus, the upcoming trip lacked some of the purpose it had contained prior.
Packing
For this trip, I decided to use my MHW Alpine Light 50L. Mike and I did a gear sort before our trip, splitting gear where we could, and ditching excessive gear (I am a chronic over-packer). All in, our packs both weighed somewhere in the realm of 40 lbs fully loaded.
Gear Lists
Technical Gear (Greg's gear / Mike's gear)
Petzl Sirocco Helmet / Petzl Meteor
Petzl Ride Ice Axe / BD Raven
Petzl Leopard Crampons / Same
BD z-poles 120cm / telescoping BD Trail poles
C-splint, first aid kit (split up)
BD Solution Guide Harness + PZ Connect Adjust / BD Technician Harness + tether
Chalk Bag / same
Ropes: half/twin 60m ropes ~8.5mm
Rock Protection (split between us): Double rack cams 0.1-2, singles 3+4, ~10 offset nuts
4 alpine draws
240cm sling, 120cm sling / same for Mike
Prussik cord + biner / same for Mike
PZ Reverso + locker / BD ATC Guide
BD Crack climbing gloves
Ascending gear: PZ microtraxion + tibloc + 2 lockers + 120cm sling / same for Mike
4x 5m rap tat bundles (2 each)
Headlamps: Petzl NAO RL 1500 lumens (Greg); Petzl Actik Core 600 lumens (Mike)
Clothing & Sleep System
Food / Hydration / Electronics / Misc
The Traverse - July 3
Day 1 - 16.5 hours, 2350m gain, 4 pitches ~5.7-5.10
Mike's mother kindly drove us up the FSR to the base of the Delusion Bushwhack. Just before 5 am, we began our long trek up into the forest. After about 5 hours, we reached the top of the climb and soaked in the first view of our ridgeline. It had a lot less snow on it than 3.5 weeks prior, but still some patches along the way.
Delusion Peak
The first section was relatively easy tromp through alpine trees to Delusion Peak followed by just undulating bumps until the first scramble up Disillusion Peak. We spotted a brown bear from afar along the way, although it heard us and bolted downhill in the opposite direction. Phewf!
Disillusion Peak
The scramble up Disillusion Peak was gleefully easy, following a treed ramp with rocky slabs on either side - a miraculously easy passageway. We summited and descended towards the next notch, which lay between us and North Illusion Peak. Here, we encountered our first crux, albeit somewhat unexpected. The terrain was too steep to down-scramble, so we set up a rappel to descend into the notch. From the notch, there was no option other than to climb a blocky-looking pitch, which I convinced Mike to lead.
"Do I have to lead this with my pack on?" Mike sheepishly asked
This became a theme of the trip... climbing with heavy packs was very difficult. Like a champ, Mike lead the way up the tricky climbing, which we felt was somewhere around 5.9 or 5.10, although our packs certainly altered our perception.
North Illusion Peak
We strapped on our crampons for a brief time to walk on some snow to the top of North Illusion Peak. At the top, we ate some food, as it was nearly 3 pm already - 10 hours into our day. Looking ahead, we looked at the crux of the day: getting to South Illusion Peak. I'd seen more beta on this section than any other, and it looked quite tricky, requiring rappelling into the notch and several pitches of climbing out of the notch.
The forecast had called for no clouds, so we were a bit surprised when the whole day had either been overcast until now. The skies began to slowly clear, with wispier puffs hovering above us. Up next was the "Au Cheval" or "On a Horse" pitch. It is aptly named, for climbers must butt-scoot along a saddle-like rock feature. It is also akin to scooting on the peak of a house, albeit this roof made of granite. After an awkward rappel onto the roof-top rock, Mike slowly made his way to the other side before I followed. A second rappel lowered us into the notch, at the base of the eventual climbing.
South Illusion Peak
At this point, I will openly say, I'd hit a mental wall. I was too timid to lead any climbing. My mortality was at the forefront of my mind, and that would cloud my mind if I tried to lead, making. it more dangerous. Partly, having a stronger climber like Mike caused my mental state to revert to "beta" mode, and partly I was just feeling the distance from Jas and thinking about a group of guys that had been swept away in an avalanche a month prior and still had not been found. All these things led me to feel quite unsettled, like I didn't entirely want to be where I was.
It's a strange feeling, being in a place you've dreamt of for so long, and wishing to be somewhere else.
Mike graciously led all 3 pitches to the summit of South Illusion Peak, and we hustled to the second higher summit of the saddle-like peak. All that lay between us and our food bag was Lynchpin Hill, which we hoped didn't have any trickery lying in wait for us.
Thankfully, it was quite straightforward to descend S. Illusion Peak and Stumpy Hill was also easy. Soon after, we arrived at the drop bag... and it was whole! No holes chewed, and we happily tromped over to camp in the bowl below Rexford.
We were both excited to hear the sound of human voices, coming from other climbers also camping in the bowl. While the climbing and hiking was done, the day was far from over, as we spent the next few hours melting snow for water and cooking our meal of dehydrated food. By 10:30 pm, we were finally ready to sleep, exhausted.
GoPro Footage of Day 1
Day 2 - 14 hours, 650m gain, 6 pitches ~5.7-5.10
We woke up "late" the next morning, at 5:30 am. The sun had already struck Slesse's eastern walls, which meant we had to get moving quickly. Our plan was to make it into the USA and as close to Rapid Peak as possible, in the bottom of the "U" of the Traverse. We had food for two days in order to make it to the next drop bag. Try as we might, breakfast took longer than hoped, and camp did nuntil 7:30 am. With this in mind, we decided to take the most direct path to North Nesakwatch spire, scrambling up to the saddle and attacking from the south, rather than doing the longer and harder North Ridge route.
North Nesakwatch Spire
The scramble up to the saddle turned out to be harder than expected, with several rappel stations along the way (signifying that it is hard/steep enough that you don't want to down-climb). We were able to get through the first section, but the next hard section was too sketchy and exposed, so we pulled out a rope for a 10 foot step. Finally, we made it to the saddle, and put down our big bags, and set off for familiar terrain up North Spire. I'd descended this section with Ben, so I knew it would be easier, but we noticed a lot of snow on the route, so we brought the rope with us. One section required us to set up a hand-line to get past some snow and loose blocks. We picked our way between patches of snow and rock and discovered a very neat snow tunnel that led to the summit! It was 9 am, so just over 1.5 hours from camp on Bivy Rock to summit. Onto the next: South Nesakwatch Spire.
South Nesakwatch Spire
We retraced our steps down, glancing up to pick out possible ascent routes to climb the South Spire. In our observations, the major barrier was the amount of snow on-route. When I did the Nesakwatch Enchainment with Ben in 2022, it was late September, and thus there was no snow on the climbing routes. We were able to take the easiest path up, but much of the lower angle terrain was covered in snow in July of 2024. The only option was to get closer to assess the situation. As we drew near, it seemed simplest to stick to the ridgeline where there was the least snow-covered rock.
I was scrambling up to the base of the climbing, hand-jamming in a crack to mantle onto a boulder. As I pulled up, I felt my hand loosen and the boulder started to shift! I stepped back, watching as the giant rock teetered back into place.
Mike arrived behind me, and we agreed to pull out the rope to get over this sketchy feature. Once done, we scrambled a bit further until climbing was mandatory. Mike tackled the first actual pitch, which turned out to be a wild section of stemming between rock and snow followed by a sweet corner hand crack. On a ledge, we had a few options to the summit, but opted to bypass a chossy, blocky corner in lieu of an exposed move around a corner.
Mike was psyched to lead as usual, and somehow made it past the corner with his 30+lbs pack on. When I got ready to follow, I simply could not pull the move - it was quite hard (perhaps 5.10)! I resorted to pulling on a cam to get past the burly, exposed section. We made our way to the base of the summit block, guarded by a 5.7 offwidth crack. We didn't bring a size 6 cam, so I opted to lead it.
For some reason, I felt the need to lead something this trip and decided that this was the one... I wrestled my way up the crack, my thigh jammed into the chasm and my arms pulling the rock like opening an elevator door. After a few metres, I was standing atop the block! I set up an anchor sling so that Mike could lower me and top rope the block. We ended up lasso-rescuing the sling after coming down!
It was just after 1 pm, so we stopped to eat some lunch: tortillas with tuna and parmesan cheese. This was quite dry and required lots of water to get down the gullet... lesson learned. Up next was Mt Rexford, which required a long 35m rappel into a notch. Unfortunately, the beautifully solid granite blocks turned into a crumblier rock type in the notch. This made for a spookier climb up Rexford, but it was a necessary evil to surmount.
Mt Rexford
We rambled down to the rappel rings and off the south of the spire into the notch. I couldn't remember which way was the easiest up from the notch, but I did remember that it was harder than it looked. Mike led the first pitch, climbing up then traversing sideways before setting up an anchor due to rope drag. I led the second pitch, crawling through a weird choc-stone and belaying Mike up a dirty pitch. Mike led a hard third pitch (Ben and I definitely took an easier way up in 2022), and I needed to pull on a cam to get through the move. I still shake my head thinking about Mike questing up 5.10 terrain with a 30+lbs pack on his back.
After Mike and I alternated leads up the three 5.7-5.10 pitches of loose rock, we arrived on the shoulder of the West Ridge. From there, we ditched our heavy bags and scrambled a short way to the base of an easy 5.5 pitch to the sub-summit plateau. I belayed Mike up, and we proceeded to walk around a tower to get to the true summit of Rexford, which is guarded by an easy 5.5 chimney pitch. I'd done this pitch before with Ben, so Mike climbed up to the summit and belayed me up.
It was just past 6 pm... which means 9 hours had elapsed since standing on the summit of North Nesakwatch Spire. We had covered a mere 500m of ridgeline. We were exhausted after two massive days, and much of this was due to snow conditions blocking our path up the easiest route. Ben and I had absolutely no snow when I had done this section in September of 2022, which allowed us to traverse from the N. Spire to Rexford in 4.5 hours. That goes to show how conditions are very important!
An Easy Decision
There was really no calculation necessary. I was feeling a lack of motivation to continue, and we also would inevitably run out of food before reaching the next drop bag. So, we decided to cut the trip short. Both of us were satisfied to throw in the towel after a valiant effort with valuable lessons learned. The traverse we had just completed is a major achievement in its own right, so we were proud of what we'd done.
On the mental side, I had been feeling torn between being home safe with Jas and adventuring in inherently risky terrain. My mindset had been shaken from day 1, and this was a big contributor to ending the trip early. When we finally called it quits, a wave of relief washed over me. I was ready to go home: two days away from Jas was enough! As we set up the rappel to get off the summit, we soaked in the last view of our ridgeline traverse. Day 1 (red ink) was a massive chunk of ridgeline, but Day 2 (yellow ink) climbed three of the most challenging peaks. So, although our distance looks tiny on a map for Day 2, it felt like we had gone a long way!
We did one rappel off the summit block, followed by two rappel off the plateau back to our stashed bags. Our rope got stuck on the second last rappel to the bags so we had to climb back up to free it. We descended the West Ridge of Rexford, opting to drop back into the North-West bowl to our exact same camp spot from the night before. The other climbers greeted us, and we were a little sheepish as we had told them of our plans to attempt the entire horseshoe route. They were gracious and noted the scale of our goal, letting us off the hook. As Mike and I unpacked our bags to sleep on the giant (mostly) flat rock, we enjoyed an incredible sunset and dusk with Slesse backlit by a red sky. Despite the trip not going according to plan, there really aren't any negatives when the views are that good.
It was 9:30 pm when we arrived back at camp, making Day 2 a 14-hour endeavour to climb three peaks. Between both days we had been "on the move" for 30.5 hours, accumulating 2900m+ of hard-earned vert in 25km (although likely less due to GPS drift while climbing). We boiled some snow for our dinner before pulling out our sleeping bags for the night, soaking in the fading light.
Day 3 - Alpine Cragging - 2 pitches ~5.10+; 200m gain; 16km
Mike and I awoke somewhat late, ate some breakfast, and decided to get in a quick multipitch climb before heading down the Rexford trail. Jas wasn't able to pick us up before evening anyway, so we wanted to make the most of our day. We'd spotted a cool looking crack on Day 1 as we skirted around North Nesakwatch Spire, so we headed over to take a look. It seemed doable, albeit hard. Mike led the way up 2 pitches of splitter granite, and we decided to call it "Chew the Nuun", which was a running joke from our trip. I'd been using Nuun hydration tablets for electrolytes and had developed an odd habit of chewing them rather than mixing with water. You can check out the route info on Mountain Project that Mike posted. After climbing for a few hours, we packed up our camp and descended the trail, stopping to take a shower in the stream on the way down - so refreshing!! Jas picked us up at the road at 7:30 pm, which made for a sweet reunion.
Keep scrolling for video footage, the GPX file link, and the Epilogue.
GoPro Footage Day 2 & 3
Strava / GPX Link:
Epilogue
Unfortunately, because we bailed on the full horseshoe traverse, the second drop bag was still out there in the mountains... full of ~$350 worth of food. So, on July 19, I set off to retrieve it. It was a stunning day, and I admired the ridge that Mike and I had just completed a few weeks prior. There was significantly less snow present - doing the traverse later would have been better.
I made it to the bag and discovered it unscathed, but on the way back made a very stupid error and decided to bushwhack back through some alders rather than taking the many-switchbacked-trail of Slesse Memorial down. On the way through the alders of death, I fell and lost my sunglasses... which were quite expensive. Thus, the retrieval of the drop bag was a net-loss overall.
Some lessons that I learned from this trip:
Pack less stuff. Meticulously go through everything and take out everything that isn't absolutely necessary. Probably also use a smaller backpack so it can carry less.
Conditions are imperative. Too much snow is almost always a bad thing for climbing.
Find a good "why" to stay motivated. I lost my "why" before the trip even started. Because it wasn't for a scouting trip anymore, it felt a a little empty, and I ultimately wanted to quit and go home to Jas many many times during it. Next time, I want to be emotionally ready for a trip and have my head-game as solid as my physical preparation.
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