Rafe1234 Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 Trip: Wa Pass - Liberty Traverse 2.0 Date: 8/23/2014 Trip Report: Last August, Jeremy Zachariash and I did a pretty solid linkup day on the western aspect of the Liberty spires at WA pass. Earlier in the year I developed a desire to go up to the western aspects of WA pass and do as many routes in a day as possible, given I could find a partner willing to do a little bit of a sufferfest. A couple weeks prior I met up with Jeremy at Aslan for a beer and he proceeded to tell me he had a couple days before done a through hike from Hannegan Pass to Ross lake in under 24 hours, and as of late, was super stoked and doing big day/through hike endeavors, not just crushing sport climbs. So I was like "Hey, if you wanna do a big day rally-fest linkup, I"ve got one that'll be a lot of fun". Not ever having done alpine climbing he wasn't totally sure, but I was confident he'd be fine. Having done the Liberty Traverse before I was pretty sure about the amount of routes with we could do from dawn till dusk, and still complete the traverse. It went as such, starting on Liberty Bell...obviously.. Rapple Grapple Beckey Route Overexposure North Face Concord South Face Concord North Face Lexington NW Corner NEWS West Face NEWS Chockstone route SW Rib SEWS The idea was pitched and it was a go! We slept at the trail head and woke up at 3:00 am to be on the trail by 3:30. hopefully putting us at the base around 5:00 am to have a full daylight session of climbing ahead of us. I had never hiked up there in the dark so I passed left exit to the spires until I hit the Blue Lake sign and turned around. Even given the detour we still ended up at the base of Liberty Bell before 5:00 am, I think, as it was still pretty dark. We climbed fast and pretty uneventfully and completed the objective, just one rope stuck after rapping from Liberty Bell. It's really fun to be able to move that fast over so much terrain. Also, by the end of the NW corner, Jeremy had some gnarly blisters and couldn't wear his Muiras any longer and finished the day in approach shoes. We topped out on SW rib just as dusk has descended. We down climbed and rapped to the base, and then hiked out, with nightime upon us. We did 44 guidebook pitches, 27 rappels, and 4800 ft of rock climbing car to car in 18 hours and some change. Fun stuff! Man my feet hurt the next day! It's wild how busy the western aspect of NEWS is these days too. You have to que up weekday or weekend for either of the trade routes during the summer. Quote
goatboy Posted February 14, 2015 Posted February 14, 2015 This is a really extraordinary accomplishment. I have climbed 9 of those 10 routes (all but Overexposure) but it took me years to do it. I can't imagine doing them all in a day. Great work! Jesus. Kids these days! Quote
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