[TR] Liberty Bell - Liberty Crack 7/6/2007

[counterfeitfake]

Trip: Liberty Bell - Liberty Crack

 

Date: 7/6/2007

 

Trip Report:

Liberty Crack! Liberty Crack!

 

I heard the name a billionty times before I even went up to Washington pass. Liberty Crack! Classic! My buddy Robert (fenderfour) got stormed off it twice in the last couple years so when he suggested the third time could be his charm I was game.

 

July 5 we went up and climbed the Beckey Route, for fun, and to scout out the descent. Y'know, in case the next day we summitted in the dark? Be prepared! Three pitches of 5.6 climbing, ought to be small potatoes for alpine hardmen like us.

 

We got lost immediately. After free-soloing low fifth terrain above treetops we found ourselves at the base of the West Face and traversed around to some rappel anchors and into the right gulley. The climb went nicely as a one-pitch simulclimb. We thought "excellent, now to scout out the descent route."

 

We got lost immediately. I skiied down the worst scree I've ever seen and downclimbed a chimney with a solid dirt waterfall raining on my head. We eventually made it back to the trail and got to the car about 6 hours after we left it.

 

Since things were going so smoothly... we decided to fuck up dinner as well, by going to The Palace in Winthrop. There are about three things on the menu and one of them was the chili burger. We both ordered it. Forty five minutes later it showed up and we ate it. We also pounded several Pepsis. Robert got clumsily hit on by the 16-year-old hanging out with her friend behind the counter.

 

Between the caffeine, the flatulence, the heat, the mosquitos, and the gravelly surface of the parking lot at the Washington Pass overlook, sleep was nearly impossible. We were both appalled when the alarm went off at 4:30. But we got up, sorted gear, ate some Krispy Kremes, and took off.

 

Weeeellllll, you all know about the route and if you don't the search button is right there waiting to deluge you with trip reports, so I'll try and keep this succinct (yeah right):

 

Here is the topo we had, from this page.

 

Approach: Not hard. We hit snow a couple hundred vertical feet below the base of the route. From the parking lot in which we bivvied it looked steep and scary, when we got there it wasn't so steep and scary. We brought ice axes but a stick just for balance would do. Calling the base part "third class" is pretty freaking debatable; we roped up.

 

Pitch 1: Robert's lead. We aided the whole thing. Not very remarkable except in that while I was jugging and he was hauling our pack, my two red bulls in the top compartment both exploded. I caught up to it and chugged what was left but now everything we owned smelled like pez.

 

Pitch 2: The Lithuanian Lip! The Lithuanian Lip! I led this. The lip was real easy. I thought the mantel move getting to the anchors was the hardest part, maybe I was missing something there (I now see there are some dots on the topo, hidden bathook holes? I dunno).

 

Pitch 3: Robert reported that the fixed gear on this pitch is basically all in good shape (or as good as it has been the last couple of years). One pin somewhere in here could use a good banging.

 

Pitch 4: Free time! I started out but found myself plagued by greasy-feeling fingers (we both ended up feeing like this all day... bring handi-wipes next time?). The 5.9 section went but when I got up to the 5.10 I found I suck at climbing, blew it and took a nice fall. A little shaken I batmanned up the rope and then french-freed through the hard part, then some more free and to the anchors.

 

Pitch 5: This pitch is probably legit 5.8 but it goes on forever. Reportedly hauling on it is a real pain as well.

 

Pitch 6: The 5.7 stemming was pretty wild in places, but I can't argue with the use of the terms "scary flake" or "crumbly". The 5.10 move on the right of the block looked tough so I improv-aided the left side, pulling the most magnificent beached whale maneuver of all time, if I do say so myself.

 

Pitch 7: I took the lead on this one too, aiding up the funky corner to the easier terrain above. The 5.8 slab corner felt greasy and difficult. We had decided to go up to the pitch 7.5 belay spot so I went to pull the roof with the "5.9" move and found it to be way hard, so it became the "A0" move. Looking at other topos later on, it seems the standard approach is to traverse left under this roof and climb something on the left side of it. Bummer. Belayed sitting on a nice block, halfway wondering how firmly attached it was.

 

Pitch 9: Robert's lead. He took off on the cool airy traverse and then made his way up the 5.6 chimney above, to a nice tree belay. At this point looked at the clock and found that we were doing pretty well on time! It was something like 5 pm.

 

Pitch 10: MONEY PITCH. Finally some fun climbing! I really liked this and if it was near the ground would go back to do it again. Nice exposure, good finger holds, fun moves. I belayed on the sloping ledge in the chimney like the topo said, but I think both Nelson's and Beckey's topos show this pitch finishing up the 5.8 section before building the anchor.

 

I told Robert I wanted to haul on this pitch, just because I wanted him to enjoy it. The pack ended up getting stuck in a hole and he had to go retrieve it. But even this had a silver lining because he found a booty biner and a nice shiny nut stuck in the hole. How it got there is a mystery to me.

 

Pitch 11 and 12: These sucked. Bad! I've never seen an overhanging fist crack called "5.0" before. Maybe I was just tired and had a bad attitude but these pitches pissed me off. NOT CLASSIC.

 

We unroped and looked at the clock- 8 pm. Looks like we fell into that fatigued time warp. We both agreed that actually summitting was not necessary at this point. Rapped down and nailed the descent this time, and pretty soon we were rolling into the Cutthroat Lake trailhead to meet our friends and get down and dirty with some canned food and PBRs.

 

 

Overall this route was a disappointment to me- maybe it was the hype, but it just never felt like the classic line I expected it to be. The aid was pretty good aid, and pitch 10 was excellent, but the rest of it was just kind of awkward grunty climbing on mostly crappy rock. I am not sorry I did it but it's going to be a while before I feel like going near this particular pile of kitty litter again.

 

The base.

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

Tiny Fender.

 

Gaper's non-summit summit shot.

 

Gear Notes:

We brought ice axes but should have made do with a stick.

 

Lots of fixed gear in good shape on the route, many pins and bashies on the aid sections, and some convenient pins on the thinner free sections.

 

We had two sets of zeros, a set of offset aliens, a set and a half of nuts and a set of offset nuts, single cams to hand-sized and double hand-sized cams. I think we brought too much pro, Robert doesn't. He's the one who led the harder aid sections. YMMV.

 

Approach Notes:

There is some hard snow at the base.

[Alpinfox]

That's too bad you didn't like it more.

 

I thought it was pretty sweet due to the position and the "big wall" feel (thank god Kevbone has defined that for us so we know what it means now). I don't remember THAT much kitty litter; none on the lower half.

 

You want kitty litter? Try the SW Face of Kangaroo Temple. Wear gaiters!

[counterfeitfake]

thank god Kevbone has defined that for us

 

Seriously- dude was off my ignore filter for about one hour before that.

 

Yeah, I feel like I am in the minority on this one and I'm missing out on something. Oh well, experiences are subjective. More sleep and less chili burger next time.

[fgw]

it just never felt like the classic line I expected it to be. The aid was pretty good aid, and pitch 10 was excellent, but the rest of it was just kind of

...forgettable.

 

We did it the day after you guys 7/7/07 and I kind of had same impression of it. i also thought the best part was being on this cool, big wall that I've looked at for years before.

[kevbone]

thank god Kevbone has defined that for us so we know what it means now

 

 

Wow.....I don’t remember doing that! By the way....could you recap what the definition is? You know.....since I don’t remember doing that. Thanks....

 

Great pics....I tried to do that climb 11 years ago and bailed due to inexperience.

 

[fenderfour]

it just never felt like the classic line I expected it to be. The aid was pretty good aid, and pitch 10 was excellent, but the rest of it was just kind of

...forgettable.

 

We did it the day after you guys 7/7/07 and I kind of had same impression of it. i also thought the best part was being on this cool, big wall that I've looked at for years before.

 

Did you find the Hybrid Alien I dropped on the snow?

[fgw]

pm sent.

[goatboy]

This is an absolutely hilarious, well-worded, witty trip report. Nice pix and good job on the route!

 

BTW, I have heard similar complaints about this route from lots of aid climbers....never done it myself. Probably never will...but you never know....

[fgw]

couple more shots from following day:

 

Pitch 6

Pitch 2

Pitch 3?

[counterfeitfake]

This is an absolutely hilarious, well-worded, witty trip report. Nice pix and good job on the route!

 

Thanks dude! That's nice to hear.