[TR] Liberty Crack - 7/12/2008

[ptownclimber]

Trip: Liberty Crack -

 

Date: 7/12/2008

 

Trip Report:

Big plans for the weekend (Inspiration peak) soon took a backseat to birth-month celebrations: Mike Ness on Tuesday, mountain biking Wednesday, the Wailers on Thursday, and Moira's birthday bash Friday. After big talk about leaving between 4 and 5 am Saturday, I rolled over to Gabrielle's place around 8am. So much for an early departure. Upon seeing the condition I was in, she graciously offered to drive. I gratefully obliged. We made good time down the road, finalized our new plan for Liberty Crack, pulled off above the hairpin turn and geared up. The long road trip was enough to wear off the hangover. We soon discovered that I had NOT packed the ascenders and my extensive aid gear (two tiny grey cams), as I had intended to. Damn. We'd have to make do with the Bachmann knot. This saved some weight but we would soon discover that it makes jumaring that much more difficult.

 

 

We weren't climbing until around 4:00. It was cool in the shade, with the snow at the base...and the mosquitoes were out in force. There were two other parties on the route, one rapping off after fixing the first three pitches, one rapping off after climbing the first three. We made pretty good use of the daylight and had the first three pitches fixed, rapped off and got our little bivy ready on a nice, big, flat boulder. We found some old fire rings here, and enough wood for a small fire which gave us a welcome respite from the flying bloodsuckers. We enjoyed some dinner and got set up for the night. The fire wound down just in time to hit the sack; I could have slept better if I hadn't left the sleeping bag in the car, but got good enough sleep.

 

 

The mosquitoes were back first thing in the morning. First light was early enough that the first pitch was in the sun by the time we got to climbing it (around 6 am). We pared down our gear a little more. We were down to one pack: 2.5 liters of water, food, shoes and two shell jackets. At this point we were still wearing long sleeves and hats - it was warming up quickly but the 'squitoes were still bugging. We dropped the first rope to save weight. Jumaring over the Lithuanian lip seemed harder than leading it, but before long we were at the top of the third pitch. The party from Saturday was back and right behind us: guide and client. We shared most belays with these guys and got great beta.

 

 

The fourth pitch presents that most difficult transition from aiding to free climbing. It was not easy, especially where the rock starts to get crumbly. This took a while, but then we were on to the next long, chimney/crack which presented much easier climbing...and got us back into the free climbing groove. We were now back to the high point letsroll and I reached last year, with warmer weather, much less weight and more energy. Thanks to all for the great beta from that thread.

 

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/54181/Number/722333#Post722333

 

It was nice and warm at this point and thankfully, the mosquitoes disappeared to wherever it is that they go during the day. The remainder of the route went pretty well for us, aside from some GIT distress. We topped out around 4:30, with great views South and West and the breeze picking up. We had a little food and the last of our water - we'd planned on replenishing on the way down. In spite of having been there exactly one year prior, we had a hell of a time finding the rap off of Liberty Bell. I was getting aggravated and had to take a deep breath and remind myself: "...we've got good weather, plenty of time, no mosquitoes...no hurry". Soon enough, we were down to the gully, where we ran into some goats and lost the trail several times. More aggravation...more deep breaths as we still had plenty of time, we now had water and the mosquitoes were just picking up.

 

 

Hiking back down the road, Gabrielle decided to see if we could get a ride. The mosquitoes were getting bad by this point and we were ready to call it a day. Most cars just accelerated past. Finally some dude with a van and matching trailer pulled over. As Gabrielle approached, his big, black dog almost bit her head off, or so it seemed. Undaunted (dog lover), she chatted him up, the canine calmed down and we climbed in. Clearly this guy was on an extended road trip. The van was carpeted in a nice early 80's shag, walls, floor and ceiling. The passenger seat was set back to make room for his dog 'Bear' to ride halfway out the window. Of course the dogs name was Bear. In the time we stopped, the van had filled with mosquitoes, so we're cruising down the road with a dog named Bear and some stranger driving and swatting at the skeeters with a big towel, almost knocking shit out the open window. This ride was over before it started, we bade him farewell and thanks, and headed up to retrieve our stuff. A longer trip with this fellow would surely have led to some interesting stories.

 

 

We had to hike back up to get our gear (car keys were in that pack). We had just enough light to make it up, and we were motoring up without packs. We retrieved the stuff in good time and made it out OK by headlamps, losing the trail only two or three times. We pulled into a campsite down the road, re-hydrated, reminisced and slept like logs. We had a very leisurely drive out the next day, even visiting my nieces and nephews in Bellevue. It's still kind of hard to believe that the whole thing happened.

 

 

Thanks, Gabrielle, for another great climb. Happy birthday to me.

 

Gear Notes:

-green C3 through #3 Camalot, some doubles in the 1/2" and 1" range

-4 tri-cams

-double set of nuts (one would have been enough)

-hummus, naan bread and lots of nuts

-zero luck with rechargeable camera batteries this trip :-(

[ivan]

congrats - a virtual goddam orgasm of tr's lately!

[jport]

Gettin' after it! Good on you!

Nice "training", eh?

[letsroll]

nice work. Lessons learned from last year payed off it looks like.

[dewey73]

I was in the group behind you Sunday. Nice to meet you both and glad to see you made it down okay. We waited a little while at the trailhead to offer a ride but I had to get back to Seattle and it appears you found an even more interesting ride anyway. Happy Birthday.

[ptownclimber]

Ivan - yeah, it's been a good year so far...

 

letsroll...indeed. Let me know when you want to go back and do it in a day.