[TR] Nesakwatch Spires - SW ridge North spire 05/27/2018

[Michael Telstad]

Trip: Nesakwatch Spires - SW ridge North spire

Trip Date: 05/27/2018

Trip Report:

Thanks to G-Spotter's Slesse Conditions report from two weeks ago, Tess and I were inspired to skip the Squamish crowds and go check out the Nesakwatch spires over the long (for us Americans) weekend. 

On Saturday morning we made the surprisingly easy drive in to the valley after nearly being sent to secondary for trying to take an apple over the border.

Thanks to my mediocre off roading skills we almost got stuck twice in the first washout we hit along the road, but Zoe the 2011 forester pulled through. Not wanting to get stuck in the next real washout we opted for the road walk instead. 

The washout in question.

From there the road is pretty manageable all the way to the actual bad washout. Which lasts for about a quarter mile and would need a pretty serious rig to navigate. There were fresh tire tracks so clearly it is not impossible.

This new signage is pretty sweet, though i'm not sure it's totally necessary.

After the road walking the trail pretty much just goes straight up.

The trail was pretty much snow free up to the base of the rock wall at 5100ft. Tennies were really nice up to that point.

  

Two guys were working on a new line on the rock wall below the spires. If anyone knows them I'm curious to hear how the route turned out.

The snow made for very easy travel through the boulder fields.

And it also made camping much much easier. The Bivy boulder is almost completely snow free but we didn't find it until we had already set up camp. So we used this boulder instead.

The clouds gave quite the show on Saturday night, nothing beats this view.

We woke up to grey skies and a cold wind so decided to wait a bit in hopes that things would warm up a bit 

And warm up it did.

 

The splitter headwall cracks. Felt like easy 5.8 to me. Wish they had been longer. 

Summit!

There was quite a bit of snow sticking around on the NE faces and some decided to rip loose from the ridge in the left of this picture.

In order to avoid steep rotten snow on the standard descent we found a rap route down the S face. This particular station was a little cramped.

 

There is still a lot of snow up there but that shouldn't discourage anyone from making the trek. Most of the easy routes appear to be holding a lot of snow but the steeper stuff like Dairyland looked to be in great shape. Go out and get it folks!

 

Gear Notes:
2x .4-2 1x 3,4 nuts Boots & axe may be nice but no need for crampons

Approach Notes:
Tennies up to the rock wall (5100ft) Boots the rest of the way. Washouts at 2.3mi and 3.3mi depending on your vehicle.

[JasonG]

That looks really great!  I need to make another trip up there and this route (plus Rexford) makes a good excuse.

[eberman]

That was me up there on the lower rock wall! Vertical gardening and swimming up seeping cracks went really well! We got about half way up and will be finishing in the next couple weeks and trying to free. Will be sure to let you know how it goes/what the route ends up being. The rock is quality !!!!

[Michael Telstad]

@eberman Right on, i'll keep an eye out for your FA trip report!

[taywen]

@eberman did you ever end up free'ing the line you were working on last summer?

Tess

[eberman]

@taywen We topped out the line and equipped anchors but didn't make it back to hardcore clean and free it yet. We will definitely be putting in some work this summer and will keep you posted! There are some really good pitches. Cheers!