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[TR] Liberty Bell - East Face - F.A. Liberty and Injustice for All (5.12- 200m) 9/5/2014


Wallstein

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Trip: Liberty Bell - East Face - F.A. Liberty and Injustice for All (5.12- 200m)

 

Date: 9/5/2014

 

Trip Report:

Liberty and Injustice takes a line generally 10m to 20m or so to the right of Thin Red Line. It is characterized by solid edges and thin crack features. It has a distinctly different feel than either Liberty Crack of TRL. The cruxes are mostly short boulder problems that lead to good holds and progressively easier climbing. Both of the 5.12- cruxes also come at the beginning of the pitches which should make them fairly easy to workout and then send.

 

Two of the pitches share climbing with Liberty Loop, an obscure aid route established by Pete Doorish, Chris Chandler and Jim Langdon in 1975. A couple of their old 3/16" bolts can be seen along the way. A couple of the bolts snapped right off with a slight touch of the hammer!

 

The gear is a mix of bolts and small cams. Some may find the small cams to be tricky to place but they are solid once they go in. Overall the protection is very solid but the occasional move has to be done above your gear.

 

After 5 pitches (about 200m of climbing) it joins at the top of pitch 7 on Thin Red Line. Future parties can either continue on or rappel with two ropes from here. The rap is straightforward. From the top of P3 skip the P2 anchor and go straight to the P1 anchor. All anchors are two bolts with fixed biners.

 

I established this route solo over 8 days of work. I'd planned on doing it ground up but after a fair bit of consideration I thought that pre-inspection would create a better overall experience and would reduce the risk of a botched and contrived route. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I redpointed the route rope solo which definitely added to the excitement and challenge for me! It turns out it is kinda scary to not have anyone holding the brake strand of the Gri-gri when you are pulling tenuous moves of 5.12....

 

 

 

 

 

Topo_lr.jpg

 

Click for hi-res version...

 

IMG_5289_LowRes.jpg

 

Yep that is Liberty Bell.

 

IMG_5270_LowRes.jpg

 

Looking at the P2 face. really good and not that hard 5.11 or so.

 

 

IMG_5292_LowRes.jpg

 

Great 5.12- climbing here. The gear is a bit exciting but solid.

 

IMG_5282_LowRes.jpg

 

Pitch 4 corner and excellent climbing.

 

IMG_5263_LowRes.jpg

 

I got a bit wet up there a few times...

 

IMG_5254_LowRes.jpg

 

Pitch 5 boulder problem. not that hard once its figured out.

 

IMG_5277_LowRes.jpg

 

Looking up at P5 thin crack. one move of 5.11 that is tricky to figure out.

 

IMG_5214_LowRes.jpg

 

Old bolts from Liberty Loop. I left the old sling and bolt for everyone to admire.

 

Gear Notes:

Bolts and Cams... See the topo for the spray

 

Approach Notes:

20 minutes from the road.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jens Holsten and I did this route the other day and found it to be (big surprise) a great addition to the wall, 4 big thumbs up. Thanks Mike! We kept cursing you when that next bolt was JUST out of reach, but it has safe and excellent climbing. We actually stopped in the crack 50' from the top because we wanted to go work out some cruxy sections a little more, and the belays were a tad shivery this late in the year. Having previously rapped over that section, it seems to be far and away the longest vertical crack on the route, which is mostly comprised of thin edges and delicate traverses.

 

Bring doubles of thin cams, with (perhaps) triples in purple and blue TCU for P4/P5, and single green, red, and yellow camalots. A few small stoppers and lots of slings round out the rack. Especially without chalk, there is very little cruiser climbing. Expect slow leads and bring your edging shoes. Mike's description makes the cruxes sound like they both lead to juggy romps up the remainder of pitches 4 and 5. We were inclined otherwise. :-)

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