Mount Rexford - July 2003
Reid stands on the false summit with Slesse behind.
Mount Rexford lies across the Nesakwatch valley from its well-known neighbour, Mount Slesse. With its location near the Canada-US border, the summit of Rexford at 2329m is perfectly situated for 360° panaramas between the Washington Cascades, specifically Baker, Shuksan, and Glacier to the south; the Coast Range, well-past Garibaldi and the Tantalus Range into some unidentified (to us) high summits to the northwest; and far into the interior past Hope to the east. The views of the northeast buttress of Slesse are fantastic. Reid Holmes and I climbed the west ridge of Rexford on July 25, 2003, under clear skies. Due to the great conditions, we were able to make a quick round-trip and only required a 25m rope for two short rappels. See Reid's excellent photos.
The route continues along the upper west ridge around the left side of the summit pyramid. Reid climbs the last few metres to the true summit.
Location
The drive to Rexford is the same as that for the Slesse Memorial trail. From Chilliwack River road, it's 30km east to the turnoff for Chilliwack South FSR. This road is unmarked; a few hundred metres after turning onto it, the road crosses a bridge and comes to a T-junction. Follow the right branch along Nasakwatch Creek FSR for 5km to a gate on the left side. This gate is unlocked 7:00 am - 4:30 pm. We tried without luck phoning to track down a key the previous day. The road continues for 2.0 km past the gate to a fork. From here, a rough road heads left for 450m to the trailhead, marked by flagging tape in a clearcut.
Location
Alpine Select. Kevin McLane. Elaho Publishing Corporation. 2001.

Bivouac

A single 25m rope was perfect for the two rappels we required. The bikes saved a few minutes on the way up, but many more on the way down.
Again, Reid and I had tied the bikes to the car the night before. Again, I picked Reid up at 5:00am. This time, however, instead of the usual drive north along the 99 we headed east to Chilliwack. At 7:30 we were at the gate [640m] tying laces and eating the last bites of a muffin. We biked up 2.5 km to the trailhead [920m]. From there, we hiked the approach trail, first through clearcut, then through forest, then along the edge of a granite cliff to the open talus and boulder field [10:30, 1800m]. After hopping from boulder to boulder to the base of the west ridge we reached the fantastic bivy rocks below the climb. We chose the right side; instead of climbing the snow-filled gully, we climbed onto the foot of the ridge. From here, the climbing is mostly third class with the occasional fourth class step to the base of the summit pyramid. Here the route moves left into fourth class terrain with two short sections of fifth class climbing. We reached the false summit at 12:00 and made our way to the nearby true summit [2329m]. Here we spent an hour eating lunch, taking photos, and enjoying the views. We watched a pair of climbers ascend the South Nesakwatch Spire. Our descent was quick. We reached the top of the trail at 3:00 the car by 4:30. Here we met a pair from Washington/Colorado who were heading up the Northeast Buttress of Slesse the following day.
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