I spent the last few days climbing up at the Nesakwatch Spires, escaping the heat down in the valleys. It was the first time there for both my partner and I, so these conditions aren't based on a great familiarity with the zone.

Approach
The Nesakwatch FSR has a few short rubble sections that felt a little rowdy in a vehicle without high clearance, but all in all pretty manageable to the Slesse Memorial fork. The road past that would require 4wd HC or a skilled pilot. The approach trail is in decent shape, and has you clambering over or dodging a few small snow patches until hitting the snowline in earnest at around 1650m. A dry and dusty trail on the climber's left will take you up into the basin, or there were tracks from other parties heading up the firm summer snow.

Conditions
The area seems to be at a transition point, where the routes with a southern tilt (SW ridge of N Spire, Dairyland) have melted out nicely and are climbing dry, but the ridges still harbor snow on their polar sides. Snow in the basin is sun cupped and provided fast travel in boots, with no need for spikes. There were at least a few flat bivy-boulders that have melted out, and I'm sure the rest are melting out pretty quickly in this heat. There was nothing for refreeze overnight during our stay. No obvious water source in the basin, but it was warm enough overnight to melt snow left in pots and bottles.
Steep snow on the standard descent from N Spire steered us to a rappel route on the S face. Snow on the N ridge of S Spire would likely make it a more of an alpine adventure than the 5.7 grade implies. No view of the N ridge of N Spire, but likely holding snow on the climber's left as well. Another party reported that the couloir down from S Spire provided a quick and easy descent.
Large rumblings from the Slesse side of the valley occurred a couple times a day, and smears of rock fall over the snow were evident. There are still patches of snow on Slesse.

Wildlife
Comfortable camp living with no bugs, and a shy pika somewhere nearby. Fresh bear scat on the road between the fork parking and the trailhead.

All in all a nice time to be up there, climbing good dry rock in comfortable temps without the crowds.

Jake Foster
ARG/ASG