Liberty Bell - Liberty Crack 9/8/2007

Not sure who came up with the bright idea of doing Liberty Bell, liberty crack route but my buddy “P” and I were packed up with borrowed gear to supplement our own and on our way Friday afternoon. Long 7 hrs later we arrived at the parking lot for lib bell to catch some zzz’s. After some discussion on the drive up the plan was to get an early start fire off the first three aid pitches and if we were done with the aid by 11 am then we would go for the entire route that day. We slept in a bit but were still started the route early enough. I was up for the first aid pitch. After looking at the “4th class scramble” to the start of the aid I put on my rock shoes and thus started aiding in my rock shoes. The first pitch was very slow to start, some tricky placements and couple of areas that required me to get out of the aiders. Couple of placements I thanked my parents for the genes that made me tall. Not sure how long it took me but it was FOREEEEVER. Damn I suck at aiding!!!! P cleaned the pitch, and racked up for what I thought was the money aid pitch, the Lithuanian Lip. It took a bit for him to figure out how to pull the roof but he did it in fine style. Now I got to clean it. Damn that sucked. I was slow. Cleaning roofs is hard! Place jumar above piece, take bight pull in to clean gear lower back jug up to next piece. Then to pull the lip, my abs got tired on that one. When I got up to the belay he was very cold so I let him fire off the final pitch so he would warm up. By the time he finished that one I was freezing so I told him to clean the route on rap so we could get the heck out of there. I wanted my pant legs and a warm jacket that was left at the bottom since we started out in sunshine and thought those would be unnecessary extra weight. Big mistake. Day 2., early start. We jugged the lines and the roof was no problem for me, second time around. Oh I jugged in my hiking shoes and what a difference, so comfortable. As I was starting the first fixed line a couple from Seattle started and were French freeing the aid pitches…WOW. They were making great time. P racked up for the 5.10 pitch and went for it. That was a tricky pitch and we were moving slower than thought. I seconded it with the extra gear, shoes, water, clothes and rope coiled and packed away. Climbing 5.10 with an extra 20-30 lbs SUCKS donkey d$%k. I was so tired after that pitch I really started to wonder if we were going to be able to finish in a day. The couple was a pitch below and was clearly moving faster than we were so we decided to wait for them and let them pass. When they finish the wide 5.8 I started up and had a hell of a time getting into free climbing after all the aid. My head from the get go was saying get the heck off the hill. I started up and about half way up I succumbed to my brain and had to be lowered off. DAMN. After having a good head for North ridge of Stuart this was a step back. After looking at the time, all the weight for the second and my head we called it. P fired off the 5.8 pitch in fine style. We left all the hear and I packed the rope up. I was still having some head problems but got up the sucker and we did a two rope rape back to the last belay station to collect gear and get the heck out of there. I rapped down to the station and forgot to clip in, nice comfy ledge. P caught my error and basically saved my life. After getting to ropes unstuck from the first rap we were back at the bottom. The last rap we rapped over a guy aiding the first pitch, man he was aiding in fine style, basically showing us how it is done. WOW is all I can say. On the entire trip we were keeping a mental note of lessons learned on the trip. 1) Extensive aiding in rock shoes sucks.2) Aiding in rock shoes with Velcro is not good. Velcro catches on everything making a cluster.3) We both needed to eat a lot more and drink water. First day we drank one liter for the both of us and I only ate 2 bagels besides breakfast (most likely major contributor to my head f$%k). Second time this lesson was learned for me, North Ridge of Stuart I did not eat or drink enough. 4) Bring warm clothes with you up on the rock, blue toes, hands, and the shivers at belay is not fun5) We need a way to figure how to shave off lbs for the free climbing. 6) From Portland it is quicker to drive I-5 to Liberty Bell rather than taking the east side.7) Bring extra batteries even if you thing the ones you have are good. Damn camera was out for the first day. The best day for pics too.I like to thank Dan and Justin for loaning me the extra gear. Dan thank for taking me aiding the two times prior at Broughtons. I need a LOT more practice. Beacon??? It was an exciting 3rd time aiding A2 can be a bit freaky when you are new to it. Two lobes on a micro cam will hold body weight but does not like to be moved around a lot. P thanks for the good time, we both learned a lot and next year with some refinement and aid practice we will fire that thing off. We did a lot right; we just need to do more. It was a huge step up for both of us and we both has a great time. P lets fire some more sh$t off. I am game

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