glassgowkiss Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 (edited) why pack? bring everything on your harness!!!! if things don't go your way, you can ab from the top of pitch 5 in 30 minutes. we started 7 am, on the top 3pm, back to the car at 5. the only aid we did was above the roof (about 3 rp palcements and 3 shitty bolts. don't know where the grade V is from? The rest goes up to 11+ with majority of climbing in 9/10 range. Edited May 8, 2003 by glassgowkiss Quote
Lambone Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 well, i was thinking shoes for the decent, Possibly 1 super lightweight axe, two light shells, some water and some grub. And a headlamp. That calls for a small pack... I'd like to think we'd be that fast, but it's not likely. Quote
scott Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 (edited) you really don't need a tool at all. you might want to take one bd hook -- for one move on the third pitch where there is a carved out pin hole. when you pull the rope at the descent gully, it stands a good chance of getting wrapped around the dead tree that is sticking out-- happened to me twice. water, food, rainjacket, headlamp. Edited May 8, 2003 by scott Quote
Buckaroo Posted July 14, 2003 Posted July 14, 2003 "tell me about the crux on liberty crack please" WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TOO MUCH BETA the worse crux is the psychological one. The climbing cruxes depend on how hard you can free climb. 1st pitch a1-a2 or 2- 5.11a moves 2nd pitch straightforward a1 unless you've never aided a roof (or 5.13) 3rd pitch fixed a1 or 5.11d-R long runout on sparse pro. the "manky" bashies on the 3rd pitch have been there for over 10 years. 4th a1 or 5.10b 5th 5.8 (FULL 50m pitch, conserve gear) 6th 5.10a (one move) or a1 (rotten block) 7th 5.10c (one move) or a1 8th , 9th, 10th 5.6 (can be simuled) 11th 5.9 (60m required if you belay from the tree ledge.) the 3 button bolt "belay" above the rotten block is a decoy. If you keep going straight up the dihedral there's a nice fat gear belay with a good stance. The button bolt "belay" is an old rap station used to get down to a bivy ledge when the thing was being seiged. the hardest, slowest climbing is in the first 3 pitches, once you get past those it just keeps getting easier. Take only one 60 meter rope, you can retreat from anywhere below the 8th pitch without leaving gear. Regular rack, set camalots to #3, set TCU's, doubles of 2 or 3 midsize cams, set nuts, set HB offsets, maybe a few extra midsize nuts. you don't need an axe on the descent anytime after march, the snow gets soft, and is probably gone by now do the 50m rap in 2 separate 25m raps to avoid the hangup dead tree, which you will anyway if you only bring one 60m. The bolted rap is about even height with the top of the last pitch, dead center above the top of the notch between spires and on a large vertical face above a same sized ledge. If you park at the base and not the descent trailhead, you can shortcut over a mile of trail/pavement. The trail makes a long descent towards the road, then turns left toward the trailhead and parallels the road for about a mile. Right where it turns left it's very close to the road (100 yds.) Listen carefully and you will hear the cars close by. You saved hiking that section of trail down and walking back up the pavement. Quote
PONCHO&LEFTY Posted July 15, 2003 Posted July 15, 2003 Dont bring any gear or rope. I grade it a grade I class 4. I did it in a half hour-any longer and you should stay off the route. I climbed down the route to save time so no need for an ax. Oh, there was no crux unless your a week climber. Quote
pope Posted July 15, 2003 Posted July 15, 2003 I don't think the 3rd pitch is A1. Sure, all you have to do is clip that crap, but unless things have been upgraded, I remember a sequence of several questionable fixed pieces. Quote
clintcummins Posted July 25, 2003 Posted July 25, 2003 Buckaroo's beta is very accurate. I did the route on July 7 2003, and I can offer a few minor additions: >1st pitch a1-a2 or 2- 5.11a moves We did a "0th pitch" by soloing across the 3rd class from the left side, and setting up a belay on some gear below the long thin crack. >2nd pitch straightforward a1 unless you've never aided >a roof (or 5.13) I was surprised to see the start of this pitch was entirely fixed with pins and a big bolt to reach the roof crack one move from the lip. With "old school" ratings, roofs always get A2 even if the gear is solid like on this pitch. >3rd pitch fixed a1 or 5.11d-R long runout on sparse pro. >the "manky" bashies on the 3rd pitch have been there >for over 10 years. There were 2 moderately old fixed copperheads in a row, which looked pretty good. Also a fixed bashed small stopper that looked pretty new (i.e. 2003). As mentioned in other posts in this thread, there is one pretty solid hook move (standard Chouinard/Black Diamond skyhook) in an enhanced piton hole. "Old school" ratings give A3 for any hook move, but probably it is fairer to call it A2. Many fixed pins. >4th a1 or 5.10b This is mostly a friendly 5.9 hand crack, then the crack gets thin and the rock somewhat crumbly at the end of the pitch where I aided a few moves. A 70' pitch. >5th 5.8 (FULL 50m pitch, conserve gear) Perfect description, although the topo we had said 5.9 and my partner didn't disagree. >6th 5.10a (one move) or a1 (rotten block) Another full 50m pitch for us, with my partner belaying on top of the big block. There was a scary semidetached flake below the block, too. >the 3 button bolt "belay" above the rotten block is a >decoy. If you keep going straight up the dihedral >there's a nice fat gear belay with a good stance. The >button bolt "belay" is an old rap station used to get >down to a bivy ledge when the thing was being seiged. We belayed at the 3-bolt belay (all 1/4" buttonheads, but in fairly decent shape; it was the first belay anchor without at least one big bolt). There is good gear to back up the bolts as well. We couldn't go any higher because it was a full 50m to there. It was a nice place to sit on top of the block, so I thought it was a good place to stop. It appears that some people stop about 40' below, where there is a small stance and a single 1/4" bolt (a second 1/4" bolt is out of reach on the wall to the right) but good gear in the corner. This lower belay looked inferior, because the next pitch would get a lot of rope drag going around the block. >7th 5.10c (one move) or a1 We did this as an 80' pitch, up the slick but low angle dihedral, and stopped at the 2-bolt belay 10' below the small overhang with the 5.10 move. Here you stand on a thin semi-detached flake. This was the "2 bad 1/4" bolts" belay mentioned in some trip reports, so my partner backed it up by clipping the haul line to 2 fixed pins at the overhang. Before I jumared the next pitch, I removed one of the bolts (a 1/4" x 1") and replaced it with a 3/8" x 2.25" stainless and a stainless "ASCA stamped" hanger. To remove the old bolt, I used a "tuning fork", which is a #4 Lost Arrow with a 5/16" slot hacksawed down the middle - a very effective tool. I would have replaced the second bolt as well, but the carbide tip on my drill bit got chipped and I had trouble even finishing the first bolt.... >8th , 9th, 10th 5.6 (can be simuled) > >11th 5.9 (60m required if you belay from the tree >ledge.) We did these pitches as follows: 8th 5.10 move at the roof, then 5.6 ramp to belay at trees below an obvious chimney. 9th 5.6 chimney, with a couple of hard steep moves at the end to reach the belay ledge with tree (I pulled on the slings on the tree). Awkward to follow this pitch on jumars, because of the pack we had and spare rope loops hanging up in the crack. 10th 5.9 fun pitch up a steepening corner. Near the end of the pitch, I moved into a 5.7 hand crack on the left, ignoring fixed pins in the corner on the right. I belayed on a sloping ledge in a small chimney in the left crack system, but made a belay anchor in the corner to the right. 11th 5.8 steep corner, with a few lieback moves to reach a long easy ramp. Full 50m pitch to reach belay tree at top of ramp. From here, a 180' 4th class traverse left on ledges reaches a big left-facing corner, where gear can be dumped to bag the summit (one 20' 5.4 slab can be soloed safely). Then downclimb 40' from the gear cache to reach the first of 2 rappel anchors into the notch/gully. Clint Cummins Quote
Sargent_Rock Posted July 25, 2003 Posted July 25, 2003 I truely believe "the crux on liberty crack" is getting out of your sleeping bag at 04:00 AM and taking that first step upward. Quote
Buckaroo Posted August 1, 2003 Posted August 1, 2003 Just to clear up some confusion here >>1st pitch a1-a2 or 2- 5.11a moves > We did a "0th pitch" by soloing across the 3rd class >from the left side, and setting up a belay on some gear >below the long thin crack. correct, a solo start diagnally from the left to the base of a right facing dihedral. One other note, the first roped pitch is 30 meters, so rapping on a single 60 will only get you to the top of this solo section. >>3rd pitch fixed a1 or 5.11d-R long runout on sparse pro. >>the "manky" bashies on the 3rd pitch have been there >for over 10 years. > There were 2 moderately old fixed copperheads >in a row, which looked pretty good. Also a fixed >bashed small stopper that looked pretty new >(i.e. 2003). As mentioned in other posts in this >thread, there is one pretty solid hook move (standard >Chouinard/Black Diamond skyhook) in an enhanced >piton hole. "Old school" ratings give A3 for any hook >move, but probably it is fairer to call it A2. Many fixed >pins. yeah, I last climbed it in '01, it's good that someone left/created a hook move, before it was just clipping fixed bashies. This brings to mind some good stories about this pitch. I climbed it first in '94 and noted 3 or 4 bashies in a row, one of them with a rusted cable. The next time in '98? I climbed it with a partner that wanted to free this pich I told him to not clip the bad bashie, but there was some confusion as to which one it was so he clipped the bad one and passed up one of the good ones. So he was basically climbing 5.11D with a 20 ft runnout. The next time I climbed it in '00 I was (aid) leading this pitch and 4 people were waiting at the ledge below me. I clipped the rusted cable bashie and then started lecturing about how to ease onto suspect placements. Right on cue, just as I finish my lecture I suddenly hear this snapping noise and the rusted cable breaks and much to my chagrin I fall on the bashie below, luckily it holds. Just one side of the loop on the bashie is broken, so knowing everyone's depending on me to get off this thing before dark I hero loop the swage on the bashie and climb through. Now here's the best part, I climb the thing a year later in '01, again leading this pitch, and what do you know, the manky bashie is still there with the broken cable, and my hero loop is still on the thing. >5th 5.8 (FULL 50m pitch, conserve gear) > Perfect description, although the topo we >had said 5.9 and my partner didn't disagree. not by index standards >6th 5.10a (one move) or a1 (rotten block) Another full 50m pitch for us, with my partner belaying on top of the big block. There was a scary semidetached flake below the block, too. correct >>the 3 button bolt "belay" above the rotten block is a >>decoy. If you keep going straight up the dihedral >>there's a nice fat gear belay with a good stance. The >>button bolt "belay" is an old rap station used to get >>down to a bivy ledge when the thing was being seiged. > We belayed at the 3-bolt belay (all 1/4" buttonheads, >but in fairly decent shape; it was the first belay anchor >without at least one big bolt). There is good gear to >back up the bolts as well. We couldn't go any higher >because it was a full 50m to there. It was a nice place >to sit on top of the block, so I thought it was a good >place to stop. It appears that some people stop >about 40' below, where there is a small stance and >a single 1/4" bolt (a second 1/4" bolt is out of reach >on the wall to the right) but good gear in the corner. >This lower belay looked inferior, because the next >pitch would get a lot of rope drag going around >the block. >7th 5.10c (one move) or a1 >We did this as an 80' pitch, up the slick but low >angle dihedral, and stopped at the 2-bolt belay 10' >below the small overhang with the 5.10 move. >Here you stand on a thin semi-detached flake. >This was the "2 bad 1/4" bolts" belay mentioned in >some trip reports This is the bad/decoy belay I was talking about, on the next (7th) pitch, above not beside the rotten block, I may have been confused about the number of bolts. If you stay right in the dihedral and climb past the roof/overhang you can belay on a comfortable ledge with good gear. >>8th , 9th, 10th 5.6 (can be simuled) >>11th 5.9 (60m required if you belay from the tree >ledge.) >We did these pitches as follows: >8th 5.10 move at the roof, you must have missed something, maybe a stem, this roof/overhang has always been 5.8 or 5.9 for me, I've led it 3 times now. >9th >10th >11th at the end of the 3 short 5.6 pitches you climb to the last big tree/ ledge below a left facing dihedral-slab, from here a 60m reaches to the end of the roped climbing. Quote
clintcummins Posted August 7, 2003 Posted August 7, 2003 I drew a topo which hopefully incorporates Buckaroo's corrections on the ratings of pitches, and the alternative belay for pitch 7: http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/wa/libcrack.gif Clint Cummins Quote
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