The Chilliwack alpine climbing scene revolves around two summits: Mt Slesse and Mt Rexford. Slesse boasts an incredibly aesthetic skyline and the world-renowned Northeast Buttress, while across the valley, Rexford's West basin is often hailed as the "mini Bugaboos". Rightfully so, for there are countless splitters to climb up the granite walls of the Nesakwatch Spires as well as Rexford itself.
Most the climbing routes are between 5.9 - 5.11 and several pitches long; however, the Nesakwatch Enchainment offers a moderate grade of ~5.7 with only a handful of pitches interspersed by engaging scrambling. The traverse tops all three summits in the basin: North Nesakwatch Spire, South Nesakwatch Spire, and Mt Rexford, all of which boast impeccable views of Slesse, especially at sunrise or sunset. While most fit rope teams could climb the Nesakwatch Traverse in a medium-to-long day, it is very worthwhile to do as an overnight excursion to enjoy the panoramic position. It is also highly recommended to do some reconnaissance on the route before attempting it as an FKT due the technical and exposed climbing and scrambling. With that said, you might as well make it an overnight trip to enjoy a few different routes while camped in the basin at "bivy rock". (Editors Note: specialized equipment (ie. helmets) and technical ability suggested for this route)
The FKT route starts and ends at the shared parking lot of Slesse Memorial and Rexford. As of 2026, a washout 300m prior to the lot has made it impossible to drive to it. In case future logging fixes the road, it makes the most sense to have the parking lot as the start/end point. After climbing the approach trail, there are a few options for climbing North Spire, with the NW Ridge being the easiest at low-5th to mid-5th (route-finding dependent). There is a more climbing-focused option for the traverse which ascends SW ridge of North Spire, which goes at 5.8-5.9 and adds 6 pitches to the route. For the purposes of this FKT, it is most logical to take the easier NW Ridge, and therefore this will be the accepted route (however, it someone manages to post a faster time using the SW ridge... it would be incredibly impressive and should be logged as a separate FKT). An easy down-scramble leads to the saddle below South Spire, which itself involves a few sections of mid-5th up to 5.7, culminating in a short off-width summit block. Once again, the path up South Spire is very route-finding dependent as some sections can involve 5.9+ climbing if attempting early in the year when snow lingers on the easier terrain (June to mid-July will have snow on the route). After climbing and rappelling the summit block, a longer rappel leads to the col between South Spire and Rexford. From the col, the rock quality deteriorates until the route rejoins the "West Ridge" route of Rexford and the choss disappears for the most part. From the col, some loose and blocky low-5th to mid-5th scrambling leads to the summit plateau, which then leads to the 5.5 chimney pitch to the true summit of Rexford. There is an easier bypass to scramble on the NW side of Rexford, however, it is encouraged that ascensionists climb the chimney as it is in better style for the enchainment. Descend via the West Ridge with options to down-scramble or rappel based on comfort level.
Gear for the route typically includes a 40m rope and a single rack. Please keep in mind that it is entirely up the individual or group to decide what gear is necessary for their ascent based on their experience, skill, and familiarity with the route.
More beta on routes in the area can be found in Alpine Select (2nd edition) by Kevin McLane or on Mountain Project. Note: MP falsely labels this route as the "Ensawkwatch Enchainment" rather than the "Nesakwatch Enchainment" (pending update). The importance for this distinction is that the "Grand Ensawkwatch Enchainment" is a longer variation of the route, linking the Illusion Peaks into the Nesakwatch Enchainment. Kobus Barnard, John Black, and Emily Butler completed the first ascent of the Grand Ensawkwatch in 1993. Kobus could have named it the "Grand Nesakwatch" or "Rexford Ridgeline Traverse" rather than using the American name "Ensawkwatch", which uses the name of the nearby US peak further South on the connected ridgeline. This "Ensawkwatch" appears to be the American variant of the Canadian name "Nesakwatch" (another example is the Canadian-side "Tamihi" vs the American-side "Tomyhoi" - both seem to result from phonetically-similar derivatives of local indigenous languages). Anyways, McLane calls it the Nesakwatch Traverse, and this is the only logical name for a route on the "Nesakwatch Spires".
Regardless of conflicting nomenclature, this traverse is of high quality and worth doing for any climber, FKT or not!
