Climbing Liberty Bell Spire

[kndrewa]

The Jeep climbed HWY 20 to Washington Pass. My buddy and I climbed the Beckey Route to the summit of Liberty Bell.

To see a hundred more photos with the route descriptions, click here.

 

[TORX]

Totally rad, Andy!

That looks like so much fun. Thanks for sharing the pics, definitely gave me the itch to get out again.

 

[kndrewa]

It was a great day of climbing! The approach hike is about 2 miles - but 2000ft of elevation gain. Took about 3 hours to hike to the base of the rock. Then 3 hours of roped technical climbing to reach the top. Of course, after that, it's an easy 4 rappels and we're back to the trail in a half hour.

 

[kndrewa]

Liberty Bell is the spire on the right, just behind my head.

 

[solomon7]

Gorgeous shots man! Makes me itch for winter.

Hey I see a hanger/bolt in one of those shots.
The wife doesn't object as much to quickdraws when I go, but it's hooks, tapers and cams in my rack that scare the hell out of her (thanks a friggin' lot Vertical Limit and Cliffhanger lol).
Don't even get her started on Aid climbs !

Is it a bolted route, or mixed trad and sport?
Looks like at least a 5.7-9 most of the shots, that about right?
4 raps down so assuming standard 60M coil doubled about 6-700 feet technical ascent?

 

[kndrewa]

Gorgeous shots man! Makes me itch for winter.

Hey I see a hanger/bolt in one of those shots. The wife doesn't object as much to quickdraws when I go, but it's hooks, tapers and cams in my rack that scare the hell out of her (thanks a friggin' lot Vertical Limit and Cliffhanger lol). Don't even get her started on Aid climbs !

Is it a bolted route, or mixed trad and sport?
Looks like at least a 5.7-9 most of the shots, that about right?
4 raps down so assuming standard 60M coil doubled about 6-700 feet technical ascent?

Thanks for noticing - you just about nailed it! It's a fully trad route, put up by the infamous Fred Beckey in 1946. But there are 2 bolted rappel stations. 3 (or 4) roped pitches with the crux being about 5.7 - a really great mixed bag of climbing, some chimneys, some smear moves, nice hand jams on flaring cracks, even a tunnel! The 4th pitch is really just a scramble to the summit, which just out of sight over these blocks, but it starts at the base of this big featureless slab in this photo, which was a fun lead!

The approach was about 2 miles and 2000 vertical feet, then about 1000ft of roped climbing. I enjoy spending time in the mountains, and this is a good way to do it. I've never done any aid, and don't even do much sport, to be honest, but I love the work out of climbing, and should do more local sport climbs. I like being outside, and can't bring myself to train in the gyms.

 

[kndrewa]

That 4th rappel isn't in the books, we just wanted to expedite our descent down the rocky couloir. Wish it had been covered in snow, that would have made the ascent less of a pain in all those loose rocks.