Kirk Schumacher - Liberty Crack
July 12 -13, 2008
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| This year was a milestone for Kirk and his
wife Jen as they welcomed a baby girl into their lives. This
year, for his first Father's day, Jen bought Kirk a couple of
days of guided climbing with Larry. Being a strong climber already,
Kirk decided to push his limits a little and take on a route
he had thought about for years - one of the 50 classic climbs
of North America, Liberty Crack on Liberty Bell. |
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| The climb ascends the largest sweep of
rock on the right hand side of the massif, and rises over
1200 vertical feet from the snow. |
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| We took two days to climb the route.
Day one was spent working on aid climbing technique and
rope ascension skills. Here Kirk arrives at the first
belay after ascending the rope and cleaning the first
pitch. |
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| Kirk led the second pitch which passes
over the Lithuanian lip. |
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| Here Kirk works his way over the monster
roof. You can get a sense for its steepness by looking
at the blue trail line in the photo. |
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| We rose early the following day and began
by jumaring up our ropes which we left fixed on the first
three pitches. Here Kirk comes up pitch one. |
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| The fourth pitch is the first real climbing
of the day. Its a beautiful 5.10 hand crack for 100'.
Here Kirk follows this pitch high above the base of the
route. |
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| The route continues with many pitches
of 5.7 - 5.9 climbing. Several pitches below the top comes
a very exposed traverse where we move into the shade. |
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| A tired, but happy Kirk, close to the
top of the route. |
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| The shadows were getting long giving
us a unique perspective on Liberty Bell, Concord tower
and Lexington tower (L to R). |
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| We made a few friends on our way back
down the trail at the end, as this mama goat and her kid
explored the terrain below Liberty Bell. Another magical
day in the North Cascades.... |
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