The Liberty Traverse - Lots of Climbing, Low Commitment

With Fall quickly approaching and freezing levels starting to appear up high, alpine rock season was soon coming to an end. Jake and I wanted to get out on something bigger. With limited time before I left Washington, we wanted as much bang for our buck. It would be our first Grade V route, and although long, has a short approach and several easy bail points. Both of us had tackled Epinephrine(IV, 5.9) out in Red Rocks in the fall, and wanted a similar experience of a big day of climbing.

The traverse is made up of climbing to the summit of all the towers in the group. You can do this by whatever routes you may choose, adding or subtracting from the difficulty, but the “standard” way usually consists of:

Liberty Bell - Beckey Route(5.6, 4p)

Concord Tower - North Face(5.7, 3p)

Lexington Tower - North Face(5.7, 3p)

NEWS - NW Corner(5.9+, 4-5p)

SEWS - SW Rib(5.8, 7-8p)

I ended up getting in pretty late to the trailhead parking lot the night before. We had planned to get a 4am start, getting to the base of the first climb at first light. When we woke in the morning, the parking lot was soaking wet, and it seemed heavy rain had come through. Making excuses that the rock would be wet(or out of pure laziness), we hit snooze hoping the sun would dry up any wet rock. Finally, we departed several hours later for an 8:24am start. Wanting to be “fast and light”, the main camera was left behind, resorting to the phone for pictures of the day.

We debated if we should just do the routes on the Early Winter Spires(better climbing), or do the first half of the traverse on the three easier towers. The whole traverse seemed unlikely given our start time. Ultimately we decided to head over too Liberty Bell and the Beckey Route, seeing how far we could get. Finding completely dry rock, we realized that maybe we shouldn't have slept in.

We solo'd up the first pitch to the ledge with a tree, and started simul climbing on a shortened rope, passing another team. I was able to lead it in one block, and the whole route took about 31 minutes. We were standing on the summit only 2:14 after leaving the car. We were both a little surprised how quick it went, knowing people make a long drive for this single route. It also gave us some confidence that we had actually improved in our climbing over the summer. We only saw (or heard) two other groups the whole time, and they were both on the Beckey Route, giving credence to the popularity of the Beckey Route.

After a quick minute on top, we made a few raps down back to our things, ready to head up the North Face of Concord.

We started simul climbing up the North Face Route on Concord. The climbing is a little harder and route finding not quite as straightforward, but Jake was still able to lead it in a single block and got me to the top in about 45 minutes, 3:52 from the car. We were making good time!

Two straightforward raps, like all the raps throughout the day, got us down to the notch between Concord and Lexington. A quick walk over to the base of Lexington Tower's North Face got us roped up and climbing once again. I took one more lead of simul climbing and got us to the top about 50 minutes after we were standing on the top of Concord Tower.

After a rappel, we put on our approach shoes and did a little scramble over to one more rap, bringing us to a gully above the start of the NW Corner(and West Face) route on North Early Winter Spires(NEWS). We still had a good amount of daylight left, and realized we would most likely get up and down NEWS and over to South Early Winter Spire (SEWS) before sunset.

We took a food break, and then I took back over for the next 3 pitches. This was Jake's longest route so far this summer, where I had done Backbone Ridge on Dragontail(IV, 5.9) and Rebel Yell just down the road on Chianti Spire(III,5.10b), so had a little more endurance going for me. The first pitch was a nice warmup to get us off the ground and then it was into the flakes pitch(5.9).

The bigger gear on our rack was double #3s, and a single #4. I was worried this wouldn't be enough, but didn't want to carry another #4, or a #5 that would stay in my pack most the day. For the flake pitch, I found this to be fine. If you had a #5 you could place it but it didn't feel necessary. I waited and got the #4 right before the crux on the pitch, and by the time you can place more gear you can use smaller options. We started feeling a few raindrops at this point, but luckily it quickly cleared.

The next pitch was the crux of the route(5.9+), and the entire traverse. Once again, the single #4 felt adequate. I had a #3 in soon off the belay, a #4 as the crack widened that I bumped up a bit, and then was able to place smaller gear deeper in the crack. This pitch didn't have a single hardest move, but the difficulty came in how sustained it was, and offered few rests for most of its length. The quality and position was great, and there are several ways you can climb it. I was left side in most the time, but switched around a few times.

Jake took the final pitch to the top, which once again offered high quality climbing, including some short but sweet 5.9 finger crack. Be careful for a fall off the belay, as it is about 20 feet of run-out slab before you can get some gear. It took us about 3 hours for the NW Corner, and we were standing on top of NEWS at 9:08 from the car.

The new rappel route was great, and it was easy to find all the stations. We brought a 70m specifically for this, reading reports that a “short” 60 might not reach. On one of the raps, it did seem that if we only had a 60m it would be cutting it close. After 6 raps, we hurried over and started going up the SW Rib on South Early Winter Spire(SEWS), trying to get as high as possible before night fall.

This was the only part of the route we were familiar with, I had climbed the SW Rib last year, and Jake had climbed the South Arete several years before. Since I knew the route, I started us up, and got to the base of the Nervous Nelly pitch in two pitches. Sunset came in and the headlamps came out as Jake took over for the Nervous Nelly and Bear Hug.

Jake led the Nervous Nelly(run out 5.6 slab) and Bear Hug(5.7) in one longer pitch. With only a #4, he plugged it in at the bottom of the Bear Hug. This section is run out without anything bigger. But after what was already climbed, it felt pretty comfortable. When I followed, I didn't even need to use the “bear hug” technique, and the section is short with big jugs at the top.

I took back over, and did one last simul block to the summit, having just enough gear to get us there. At this point it was completely dark, and the feeling was eerie but awesome. Luckily, it wasn't our first time night climbing, and it is actually pretty fun. Knowing the route helped, and I made sure to avoid the extra rap some parties do before the summit.

We topped out in a little under 2.5 hours for the SW Rib. I was happy to see how much easier it felt this time, as it had taken over 6 hours the first time I did the SW Rib. The descent in the dark was fairly straightforward, and the dark hid some of the exposure that we otherwise may have felt. We down climbed until we found a rap station, and two raps got us down to walkable ground.

We grabbed the rest of our gear from the base of the route, and headed back to the cars, getting in just after midnight, and a total time of 15:38.

All in all, this day went pretty smooth. We were tired, but not completely trashed. If we had started at first light, we wouldn't have had any climbing in the dark. However, we both enjoyed the extra sleep, and the climbing at night was good “practice”. Knowing that it was fairly easy to bail at most points in the traverse also gave us the confidence to go for it.

Key Takeaways:

-The only routes we climbed with packs on were the North Faces of Concord and Lexington. The Beckey Route, NW Corner, and SW Rib all have descents that lead right back near the start of each route.

-We brought a 70m(shortened to about 30 for simul sections) to make sure our rope reached on the NEWS raps.

-Our rack was: 1x black totem, doubles .3-3, and a single #4. 10 single length slings, 4 doubles, and a couple of micro trax. I would consider myself a solid .9+/10- climber that’s breaking into the mid 5.10s, and felt comfortable with this rack.

-The first three towers went pretty quick, if I did it again I'd start with NW Face on Liberty Bell for a more pure traverse.

-Its pretty easy to bail at any point. High on the SW Rib would be the most difficult, and along with NW Corner on NEWS, would require some gear being left if you bailed higher up. Luckily, most the routes would require leaving little gear other than slings/cord, as there are horns/pinches and trees.

-This would be great prep for something like the Direct North Ridge of Stuart, as it will let you see how fast you can climb and is significantly less committing.