Liberty Bell Descent

[Andrew Farley]

A buddy and I are thinking of doing the beckey route on LB memorial day weekend. I Have been looking at Beckey's guide book for the Beckey route, the climb seems strait forward but the descent on the topo confuses me. Anyone have a good escription of how to get from the summit to the RAP station? and I know there is alot of snow, and getting there shouldnt be any trouble for us, but does anyone know what the conditions might be on route?

thanks

[sobo]

A recent TR for the Beckey route With the anticipated weather for the weekend (hot), and given the weather from the TR above (snow), I would expect that at least part of the route (3rd pitch?) will be a bit wet.

 

The descent is not that hard to find. Scramble back down the way you went up until you arrive at the base of the "5.7 white slab." From there facing south (toward Concord Tower), follow the sandy track down and to the left, aiming toward the high point of the LB/Concord Tower notch. You'll wander downward through the brush until the trail ends at a pocket and cliff. Look to your right and you'll see a yellow/orange wall. It's got a bunch of bolts and slings on it. Start your raps here. You can get down with one rope.

[ivan]

i did this last week - if its as snowy on mem day as it was then, sobo's instructions won't be so helpful as there's no trail to follow - basically, from the shoulder at the base of the final slab, scramble down (we stayed roped) about 40 feet, then cut left on a snowy bench - there's a big ass boulder here tucked under a wall - descend strait from there another 50 feet or so until it cliffs out, then go skiiers right until you hit the bolts sobo mentions. it's 2 single rope raps from there, though the slab above the notch, which is usually an easy walk, had a few inches of fresh, watery snow on it and was made easier by doing a quick arm-over-arm style rap down it to our stuff

[counterfeitfake]

Yup, it's pretty straightforward. The raps are basically right in the middle of the wall that forms the notch between Liberty Bell and Concord. More good beta.

 

I skiied down the gulley two days ago. It was icy snow. I bet even after a warm couple of weeks it will be mostly snow. Depending on the temperature when you go it could be slush or it could be hard ice, no way to say right now. So you might want crampons and/or ice axe- I was glad to have my axe with me. It does face west and gets afternoon sun.

 

There's a lot of snow up there. The climb is likely to be at least damp in places.

[Alpinfox]

I would be very leary of that gully approaching/descending from Liberty Bell this weekend.

 

http://www.nwac.us/products/av_fx_page.htm

 

 

edit: Whoops. Just saw this part:

memorial day weekend.

 

Anyway, I'll leave the caveat about the avy danger here for other looky lous possibly considering this route in the near future.