[TR] Liberty Bell - SW Face (Beckey Route) 7/20/2008

[Layback]

Trip: Liberty Bell - SW Face (Beckey Route)

 

Date: 7/20/2008

 

Trip Report:

Full TR with photos at http://alpinetarn.com/libertybell.aspx

 

Our team met at the Blue Lake Trailhead at 6:00 AM. The plan was to climb Liberty Bell via the Southwest Face (also known as the Beckey Route). It was good to see some familiar faces (Jay and Tom) and to make some new friends (Ken, Linsey and Robert).

 

With Ken in the lead, we started up the trail at 6:30. As the trail gingerly made it's way up towards Blue Lake, the conversation flowed easily between old friends and new faces. We reached the turnoff for the climber's trail at about 7:30. After a short break to cool off and hydrate (expedited by the presence of mosquitoes) we began our move towards the base of the climb.

 

As we worked our way up the gulley we came across three goats (a mother, a baby, and what looked like last years baby - now a "teen"). Happy that I brought along my DSLR, I pulled the camera out of it's chest harness and fired away.

 

Having fully enjoyed this pleasant distraction we started off again. By 8:30 we were at the base climb racking gear and flaking ropes as we watched a pair of Canadians working the lower pitches of the route. Once the first pitch cleared, Linsey and I were ready and I started off.

 

The first pitch, rated somewhere around 5.3, is fun climbing up a chimney/gulley and past a chock stone to a ledge. Though the stone felt cold in the shade it was good to be back on alpine rock. I was rewarded for my efforts when I reach the belay station, which was well situated in the sun with a views southeast towards Blue Lake and Glacier Peak. Linsey made short work of cleaning my pitch and soon she was with me on the ledge.

 

Racked up and ready to go, Linsey set off to conquer the second pitch. Rated a solid, sustained 5.6, the second pitch works it way up a sometimes awkward and off-width chimney. Placing solid gear, and moving gracefully, my new friend climbed the pitch in style. She did it so gracefully in fact that I was amazed at the technical difficulty and I grunted my way up the pitch carrying our pack. When I reached the belay ledge I was all too happy to have a seat and rehydrate. After a short break it would again be my turn to lead.

 

As I looked at the third pitch, what lay before me appeared to be both well protected and insanely fun climbing on very solid rock. I soon found out that I was right! I started up a crack on the left, working foot and hand jams through a crux to far left of an overhanging wall. Unfortunately, I had misinterpreted the guidebook's description and I found myself on the far left of a feature that I should have been to the far right of. I had somehow bypassed the crux (5.6) via a more difficult route. (Admittedly the hand-jam section felt more like 5.8). Since downclimbing didn't seem like a fun option, I had Linsey take the rope tight as I pendulumed over the crack leading around the corner to the right. A few moves later and I was around the corner at the top of pitch three ready to bring Linsey up.

 

After Linsey made short work of the third pitch, she set off to conquer pitch 4, which is basically low 5th class climbing except for an unprotected 5.7 move up a friction slab (that sounds a lot scarier on paper than it really is). In reality, after a high step onto a knob, it's an easy reach over the ledge to grab a big old bucket hold. It was a quick scramble to the top from there.

 

Linsey and I got to spend over two hours on the summit as we waited for Jay and Robert who got held up helping Tom with some issues. We used the time to nap and take photographs under a clear sky on a bluebird day.

 

Great climbing on a great route! Truly a classic!

 

 

Gear Notes:

Standard Alpine Rack. Brought along a #3 and #3.5 Camalot. Used one (if not both) on the second pitch.

[marc_leclerc]

Nice... that is definitely on my list of things to do!

[olymand]

Nice report! Thanks for the great description and pictures. Enjoyed that climb a couple of weeks ago. We had lots more snow on the approach, but I thought the scramble up the gully was almost as hard as the climb. BTW, I hadn't read up at all on the route, so it was interesting to hear your description. We didn't know that pitch 4 was actually a pitch, so we more or less scrambled it--which I probably wouldn't have done had I read the rating.