I think, I’ve been doing it all wrong. When I first started this blog, I had an extended vacation and the only things I did were climbing and writing blog posts. I thought I would keep it up when I return, but of course I did not. Free time is not as readily available anymore, so I figured, I just write once in a while about things that are worth writing about.
But what is worth writing about? I thought I should pick the most special trips or most intense trips, where I suffered most. But then, I ended up picking very few and writing barely anything, thinking that everything I did was really only averagely special.
So, maybe I should just write about any trip, without getting my indecisiveness or perfection in the way. So here it goes, a story about the average beauty of the Nesakwatch Spires…
September 5 – 7, 2020:
The Nesakwatch Spires are such a close alpine climbing destination, just SE of Chilliwack, so when Alex and David suggested to go there over the long weekend, Todd and I were in. We checked some satellite images to make sure there would be some snow patches left for drinking water and drove to the trailhead on a rainy looking Saturday morning. It was not supposed to rain for the next couple of days, so we hoped that we would be above the clouds after finishing the 1200 m of elevation to get to camp.
The hike was surprisingly easy compared to the ordeal we endured a couple of weeks earlier, hiking a trail of similar elevation into the Bugaboos with an 8-day pack. This one almost felt like a chill hike.
After hiking most elevation, there was a boulder field to cross to reach the base of the Spires and the camp area with a couple of flat boulders. I spotted David’s orange shirt from quite far away on one of the prominent sleeping boulders and we hiked over quickly and set up our tent as well.
Both evenings we hiked 5 min over to a local high point to enjoy the sunset and the misty views of the valley.
Alex and David at our local high point; Illusion Peaks in the background. 
Looking NW towards Mt. Robbie Reid, the Judge and Golden Ears.
Did we also climb? Well, yes, but I have to say we did take the mornings and evenings slowly and it was quite relaxing. On our second day we climbed Dairyland (10d, 6 pitches) to the top of S Nesakwatch Spire. Of course there was a slow party at the base when we arrived. It was not immediately obvious, but 30 min later it was. They were a group of three, which doesn’t mean slowness by default.
However, if you pair a group of three with a neon orange single 100 m rope, or with any colour of 100 m rope for that matter, then you have a slow party. Nobody brings a single 100 m rope anywhere. In a group of three, 60 m double ropes would have been a good choice. For the non-climbers, if you are thinking that this would make 120 m total, which is even more than 100 m, I have to say, you are correct, but this is not how it works :).. So, what to do with this thick 100 m rope? There are a couple of good ideas, one of which would be that you don’t bring it in the first place, and there are a couple of bad ideas, one of which would be you tie the two followers in at 50 m and 100 m, so you will have to pull up a lot of rope on each pitch, making climbing really slow in a group of 3. Anyway, I think it would be fun to write a post about all the “interesting” “climbers” we met in the last couple of years.
We could luckily pass them after I, partially on purpose, got slightly off route on the second pitch, so that Todd had to climb into the third one from the side. If you think that seems like an asshole move, you are wrong. They weren’t actually on the correct third pitch. And, they were also enjoying an extended lunch break, and after we topped out and had hiked down the gully half way, they had only marginally moved from where we passed them.
When we got back to camp, we had enough time to relax and watch them with binoculars. They made it back eventually, after dark of course.
The next day, we decided to scramble the North Ridge of Nesakwatch Spire. I thought it would be a leisurely scramble, it wasn’t hard, but I would have liked a rope for it. I thought the 5.6 part was a bit too committing without a rope. Especially since we did not know exactly if we could continue safely after climbing up it and it would have been not good if we had to downclimb it again.
There was a bit of a chimney section at the top and since I could not get through it with the backpack, I stuffed it at the back into a constriction and figured I climb over the tricky bit and then have Todd hand me the backpack. Of course, I was too far up after the hard bit and could not reach down anymore. Todd was also not very happy having the backpack on, so I took off my long-sleeve shirt and had him tie the backpack into one of the sleeves. The shirt streeeetched a bit but I could pull the backpack up easy enough and we continued. I have been criticized for not being able to improvise quickly, but, I did it! Btw, I love that shirt and I wear it all the time, it’s a red Black Diamond Alpenglow hoodie, it’s thin and cool in the sun, but also warm enough when it’s windy, you can wear it many days and it does not stink, and you can use it to haul a backpack.
No, I am not paid by Black Diamond… that would be cool though if average people doing averagely special outdoor stuff could be sponsored as well… We continued to the top and hiked down the other side, which was nice an easy and made it back to camp for lunch.
Alex and David had gone up Mt. Rexford that day and came back an hour later and we hiked out together.
