Intermediate Alpine Climb - Liberty Bell/Southwest Face

I have climbed at the pass before but had not ever climbed the Beckey Route on Liberty Bell. Dima reached out to climb and said LB was something she was interested in. Being a newer trad leader, but a fairly good climber, I figured this would be an excellent route for her. We left the cars at about  8am, making quick work of the trail, climber’s trail, and then the gully by starting on the left side and moving right about halfway up. We were at the base of the climb at 9:45am. One party was rapping back down to the gully, leaving the route entirely to us.

Dima was interested in leading the first two pitches. She made her way upwards from the gully, making good use of places for excellent gear, bypassing to the right of the tunnel on pitch 1. She made an anchor on a tree and brought me up.

Dima then took off up pitch 2, navigating the chimney pitch (which really feels more like oddly stacked blocks and a flaring crack than a chimney). She made the second anchor on a nice flat area with a dead but solid tree, backed up with two cams. I followed up the pitch. When seeing pitch 3, she was interested in leading it as well. I helped her see which way the route went and again Dima took off uphill, placing gear and clipping the fixed piton.

At the top of the pitch Dima noted some serious rope drag. If you’re climbing this, be aware of the wandering nature of pitch 3 and use long draws. At the top of pitch 3 we unroped and scrambled to the slab boulder problem. I led that move and belayed Dima up, where we both then scrambled to the top for snacks, water, and photos before heading down to the rappel route. Time on route was just under 4 hours, which for Dima’s first alpine lead was fantastic! Three rappels later we were back in the gully, packing up and heading down to the car. 

We were lucky to see three goats on the way back, a momma and two babies, and took a moment to appreciate their beauty. When we returned to the trailhead the parking was overflowing with hikers and climbers, but we were lucky to have a classic route to ourselves. The temperature was perfect, with a bit of a cool breeze and scattered clouds. All around a spectacular day with a lovely friend.