wa. pass the info along

[bobbyperu]

hey all you washington pass climbers... couple of questions on some routes i've been thinking of checkin out, and not found too much first hand knowledge on. first off i walked underneath the serpentine crack route on the west face of liberty bell, on a recent trip and this thing looks pretty rowdy, i've heard from a mazama local that it was " twice as hard as the headwall crack on chianti spire", i've read anywhere from 10+ to 11+... i know difficulty is all realitive between differnt folks, and i found the chianti pitch to be straight forward, this on the other hand looks like way steep fists or rattly fists through a corner and roofy bit on the first pitch, then a cool looking coner system, i will check-it soon but just curious what anyone else has found...pro on the wide pitch? 3-4x?. also was on cutthroat the other day and was intersted in any info on the 1976 choinard,bard,? route on the east face, i know right where the burdo line goes, but again, am interested if anyone has any info on these lines... also, fuck what burdo says about east face of lexington in his cascades rock guide, that route is rad! full-on 5.9 on good rock, the wide pitch has a bolt off the belay, and is steep offwidth, into a tight chimmney, then a cool move and a good cam lead into more exposed offwidthy fun, check it out! great position, and a fun morning route, goes well with e.face of minute man... soooo much goods!!!! thanx for any info, and share your thoughts. bp

[daylward]

Serpentine Crack... I did that with Mark Westman, I'm guessing about 6 years ago now? I remember the roof. Mark led. He vocalized loudly; he made it sound like it was the end of the world... but he worked through it, as he always does. I don't recall having much difficulty with it on toprope. Comparing it with Chianti... um... yeah, I'd say it was harder. More exposed-feeling too. But my memory is fading.

 

The rest of the route was really fun. If you're quick you can do both it and the NW corner (another fun one with an exciting 5.9 runout in the middle) in the same day.

 

Dan

[bobbyperu]

dan thanx for the info... i knew someone would eventually respond to my queries on such a cool looking route, glad to hear you had a good time on it, do you remember if it took 3-4" gear or what? how many etc. i know i sound like a little bitch trying to ask about pro and how much of what to bring but these are sizes that i typically dont double up so borrowing more if need be would be a consideration, anyway i'll probably heft more than less when we go, also yeah the nw corner rocks did it the first time a week ago, in the late afternoon,early evening and it was gorgous in the sun, after living in the area for three years i was kicking myself for not gettin on it sooner, in any event was a fun discovery, and beats the hell out of the standard routes in that area, i too was thinking the linking posibilities with those climbs, more like finishing a towers in a day climb over on that aspect being it gets the last rays of the day. anyway muchos gracias hermano, for the info, and your thoughts. bp