Rock climbed the Becky Route up Liberty Bell Mountain with DaniilMag. We started early and hoped to hike over to North Early Winter Spire and climb another route, but there just wasn't enough time or motivation. Decided to hike to Blue Lake on the way out instead. Climbers trail up to the base of the climb is steep and gnarly, with some class 3 sections, but the climb itself is fun and chill and views are spectacular. Blue Lake itself is meh. Probably nice during larch season, but I'm unwilling to battle the masses. Good views of the Liberty Bell group from the west side of the lake. We drove through Ruby and Easy Pass active fire zones and smoke smell was strong in places but mostly gone and clear skies on the day we climbed. Ate dinner Sun and Mon at Upriver Grill in Marblemount and it was great! Hwy 20 closed in Marblemount Sep 9-13, so we had to take the detour on the Rockport Cascade Rd, which is a fast detour.
We arrived at the TH Sun 7:30pm to camp - me in SUV, Daniil in hammock, 2 cars left in the lot that ended up being climbers returning in the dark. 2 more climber groups showed up after us that night to camp as well.
We were off at 6:30am, first of the groups. Hiked 2 miles on the Blue Lake trail then branched off to the climbers trail that goes to all the peaks in the Liberty Bell group. There's clear signage. The trail gets steep and rocky quickly! It was tiring with 35lb packs. Up higher there's another branch that goes left to Liberty and right to the Spires. The final push is the steep gully between Liberty and Concord tower. We tried to stay as much as possible on rocks rather than trail, since the trail had lots of loose rocks and is slippery.
Pitch 1: We climbed the ridge to the right of the chimney up to a flat area and belayed on a tree. Pitch 2: Maneuvered into the awkward crack and up and over the top before placing the first piece, then above into class 4 until setting up a belay in a crack with a rock to sit on. Pitch 3: Up left around the 5.6 horizontal crack move then up and right on an undercling crack around the corner and up to the flat area beneath the 5.7 slab. Another tree belay. Pitch 4: We roped for the slab and then took our gear off for the final scramble to the summit. On the way up, Daniil spotted the rappel anchors on a tree and we left the rope and our harnesses and gear here. Spent some time on the summit enjoying the views and taking pics and vids and having a quick snack. Then we went back down and did the 3 rappel descent. First rappel is cord around a tree. Then 2 freshly bolted anchors. Unfortunately the rope got stuck after the last rappel and Daniil opted to climb up the first pitch of Overexposure to unlock the rope. Then he climbed back to the chains and down climbed on top rope as I belayed. Thankfully, the rope came down clean the 2nd time.
We had foolishly thought we might do the 5.9+ Northwest Corner of North Early Winter Spire next, but at this point it was 1pm and the math would have us coming down the other climb in the dark. It is a much harder route. So we opted to take a long lunch break down lower in the warmth and then check out Blue Lake, which added 1 mile round trip. Lots of people coming and going to the lake. It's not that compelling this time of year, but we did get some good views of the entire Liberty Bell group of peaks.
Stats: 6.3 miles, 2200' gain not including the climb
Gear: Alpine climbing gear setup, layers as it was cool and windy in places, lots of water since we planned to be out all day. Approach shoes for the scramble. 2nd smaller bladder pack for the climbing portion. We brought radios but forgot them in the vehicle - gets hard to hear with wind and distance on some pitches.
Water sources: None from the TH up to Liberty Bell. There is some coming off the lake.
GPX: https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=2638564
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