Basic Rock Climb - Liberty Bell/Southwest Face

Originally this trip was planned for Friday in an attempt to avoid crowds. Weather showed potential for lightning so we shifted to Sunday.
This was a mentored climb for me, Nick was additional leader and our climbers were Nico, Alex, and Logan.

7:00am headed out from the parking lot. Blue lake trail is a lovely maintained trail. The turn offs for the climbers trail are easy to find and well marked with posts. Terrain starts to get steeper and more boulders. Just before entering the chossy gully we put helmets on. 
8:50 we arrived at the top of the gully where we racked up and stashed our packs. There was another party of 2 in front of us waiting at the base of the climb so we found a comfy spot to “get in line”. Even in the summer the base of the first pitch is cold so I put my puffy on to stay warm. Our rope teams were myself bringing up 2 followers Alex and Logan; Nick led the second rope team with Nico as follower. While waiting we ate some food and discussed climbing strategies and plans for the day. Refreshing on cleaning gear, racking slings, and how to safely have 2 followers climb at the same time and how to manage the traverse pitch to ensure protection for both followers.

10:15 am After about an hour wait we were able to start the first pitch. A bit of waiting to get on the second pitch, but there was plenty of space for both our rope teams to safely anchor here. 

Pitch 2 has the fun crux move to get into the chimney and everyone crushed it!
11:50 our first rope team of 3 were all at the top of pitch 2. The party in front of us was close to being off the anchor spot so our transitions were starting to get a little smoother and faster. 

Pitch 3 bring double length slings for this pitch, there is still rope drag, but long slings makes it better! 

Pitch 4 has one slab move, then easy scrambling to the top. We ditched our ropes near the first rappel before heading to the summit.

1:45 all 5 of us were on the summit. Took a nice break here to take in the views and have a snack.

Down climbed to the first rappel at a tree. 2:30 I was first to rap down with an extra rope to set the next. A 60m just barely gets you to the big ledge below. Plenty of big rocks and ledges to come off rope safely here and step down. I waited for Alex and Nico and we scrambled down together to the next rappel. By the time I set up and was about to head down Nick and Logan caught up and passed the third rope to Alex so we could get the last rappel set up. 
Our rope management and rappel set up was efficient and swift. It took about an hour for all 5 of us to get through 3 rappels and we were back at our packs by 3:30.

We took a break here to get our gear put away and fuel up for the down climb through the gully. Scrambling down the gully was quite hot at this point in the day, but we made quick work of it and got back to the blue lake trail. By 5:30 we were back in the parking lot. Total of 10.5 hrs car to car not bad timing for a busy weekend day. 

Fantastic group of climbers and an excellent trip overall.