We were 8 pitches up on Liberty Crack, sitting atop the "rotten block". Some things were good: we were in the shade. We were on the first ledge big enough for two asses at once. Weather was perfect. Plenty of daylight left.
But the downside: we were wasted. Not enough water. Not enough food. Not enough sleep. Not enough motivation. Tired. Lethargic. Pooped. So I popped the question: do you want to bag it? Give up? Admit defeat? The bolts would get us down painlessly! Leon was in just as much mental anguish as I was - the trip down would be so easy.
From above, a voice drifted down: "if you quit now you'll be really pissed with yourselves!". "Come on - you can make it". It was easy for them - they were a pitch ahead of us and well provisioned. They were Locals. Cascade Climbers, tanned and fit. Leon and I were impostors - academics who were but dallying in big wall climbing. Leon was sympathetic: "yeah - it would feel great to go down. We could come back next year, right?". "You know, it's not that great a route. We don't really have to finish it."
Our thoughts traveled back to the events leading up to our predicament.
My flight was late coming in from Connecticut. I got lost looking for Leon's place. We didn't have our gear organized. We finally staggered out of Seattle around 2am and eventually had to stop for sleep before we even reached Concrete.
The next day we arrived at the pass around 10. No hurry - our plan was to fix the first aid pitches and then finish the climb the next day. The hike in revealed my total lack of conditioning - somehow a few days at the gunks and a summer of sitting in front of a computer just didn't do much for my stamina.
While approaching we saw someone leading the first pitch. Damn - not first in line! We watched for a while and Leon commented "what's wrong? That guy's not moving at all!". Leon had a lot to learn about aid climbing.
We waited patiently for the other guys, Anthony and Brian, to clear the first pitch. Since Leon had never done aid before, I decided to take the 2nd pitch with the roof and let Leon take the more straight-forward bits. I lectured Leon for a while in the finer points of aid climbing (as if I'm any expert - last time I was on aid was years and years ago) and we were on the way. I tried to convince him that he wasn't an aid climber but rather a cheating free climber. This worked for a while but he soon found that it's a lot easier to stay in the aiders than to step out for an occasional free move. After the usual aid-induced pissing and moaning he was at the belay.
The next pitch turned out to be quite a bit easier than it looked. Fixed gear to the Lithuanian Lip (where are the other Baltic republics? Why no Latvian Ledge or Estonian Erete? The mind boggles) and then some easy aid to a bolt ladder and thence the belay ledge. Leon wasn't particularly happy following through the roof but eventually managed to dangle and thrash his way over the lip. It was taking about three hours per pitch - no speed climbers here! - and we wanted to bag one last bit. The other guys cleared out and Leon was ready to go. Still not in the "direct aid" mindset he fussed with the first step for a minute before I pointed out that it was OK for him to stand on my shoulder. Above, he headed up the fixed mank. The infamous "hook move" proved to be a joke - talk about an A1 hook! You could have hung a truck off it. Anyway, Leon persisted, fixed the rope, and we rapped with enough daylight left to make the hike back pleasant.
Dinner plans were foiled by the late hour and the need for sleep. After some extended snacking we curled up and promptly slipped into a much needed slumber. Anthony and Brian had told us they were leaving the road at 5am so we gave them a head start and staggered up around 5:45.
Leon had never jugged a roof. Acting as if I were some sort of expert, I showed him how to do it just right. Except what I thought was just right turned out to be totally screwed up when I hit the roof. Damn, I could swear I used to know how to do this! A little help from the fixed pin was needed to get my jugs clear of the lip but I finally thrashed up. Leon was going slow on the easy stuff so I rigged a belay for him at the roof and was able to add my muscle to his pulling the roof.
Sitting at the 3rd belay we were wasted from jugging. We agreed we never wanted to do those pitches again, on lead or on jugs. We're wimps. But now it was time for some free climbing. The first crux: putting on our rock shoes on while standing on the tiny belay ledge. I was secretly hoping to drop mine so Leon would have to lead the whole thing but it didn't happen.
We didn't have a topo with us but the other guys had three different topos dangling from their harnesses they let us peek at. Laminated, even. This pitch was supposed to be 5.8 crack with a short 5.10 finish. The "aid / free" switch in my brain was stuck in "aid". Everything felt way harder than 5.8 except when I was pulling up on the gear. Listening to Anthony tell me what a great pitch it was didn't help. Finally, I abandoned my climbing ethics completely and contented myself with pulling up on just about every piece I placed.
The next pitch looked grim. Good thing it was Leon's lead. A long, widish crack shot up over our heads. Just 5.8 but we were tired and roasting in the sun. Leon managed it brilliantly and I huffed and puffed up behind him.
The next pitch was only rated 5.7 but looked ugly. The only upside was the climb finally entered the shade here. The first 30 feet were the worst - sandy, grainy rock. Lichen. Skating feet. At least there were a couple of trees to yank up on while my feet slipped off the holds. The rest of the pitch was fine but the crap at the start of it had me climbing scared.
The other guys had combined two pitches - the next was the rotten block. I didn't have my aiders so I brought Leon up and then led through again. The aid turned out to be dead easy with all the fixed gear and my ass was soon resting on the cool, comfortable ledge.
Leon took the next lead - a 5.9 that the party above had been sweating on. Enjoying the shade and ledge I barely noticed that the rope was rising without hesitation - Leon cruised the pitch. Following, this section turned out to be what the previous pitches hadn't been: fun! Good pro. Good rests. Slabby. Exposed. Classic.
The next pitch started with a short overhang, well protected by a fixed nut. The little voice was telling me "aid it! aid it! - you're on an aid route!" But after a while I went for it and (to my surprise) made it. This led to a long, enjoyable 5.7 crack and then to a big, fat ledge with a tree. Damn, we might make it!
Leon took the next pitch, the only gimme of the route - a 5.6 chimney. I hauled the #$*! extra rope on my back and flopped onto yet another nice ledge. After sucking down the last drop of fluid in my pack I did what I had to do: I told Leon he could take the last hard pitch. Leon was surprisingly good-natured about this and was soon on his way. His progress was interrupted occasionally by Brian and Anthony who were hauling their bag slowly up the pitch just ahead of him but Leon soon pulled into the blocky summit area and went off belay.
Following the last pitch was surreal. The climbing was fantastic. The views were incredible. But I couldn't actually enjoy the experience - just file it away for later review. All I could think of was making the next move, getting closer and closer to drink, food and rest. The pitch never let up - I kept wanting to stop and recover but the desire to get the climb over with was stronger. Finally I arrived at the belay and led the last 5.2 bit to easy ground. The other guys had run to bag the top but I was happy to head over to the raps - the sun was setting and it was high time to be heading down.
The descent gully managed to remove any desire I had to return via the Beckey route and sit on the summit. Endless toiling down the loose gravel led to a climbers trail and then to the tourist trail. It was dark but easy to follow the trail by starlight - no headlamps needed. Rather than proceed directly to the road, the trail zig-zagged aimlessly through the woods, mocking my need to get things over with.
I ditched the gear and staggered up the road. Any hope of hitchhiking evaporated when we realized we were out in the middle of nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. Only one car passed me and it didn't even slow down.
Leon and I chugged water endlessly at the overlook. Bliss. Heading back to the trailhead, we found Brian and Anthony just arriving and gave them a ride to their car. I was repaid with a quart of cold Gatorade - a gift beyond price. Their rope had gotten stuck on the rap and they had to worry about retrieving in the the morning but Leon and I headed back for civilization, satisfied and content.
The aid was really pretty easy. Leon had no problems with P1 and P3 even though he had never done aid. P2 is almost all fixed. All of the "hard" aid on P3 was off fixed pieces - no need for any extreme gear at all. Just one big hook and few tie-offs for the fixed pins is all the special gear you need.
We took too much aid gear along - a standard free rack (we used camalots to 3.5, doubling the #2) with an extra set of aliens and maybe a few extra small wires does it. The other guys did the aid in their approach shoes but we used our rock shoes and were able to sprinkle a bit more free climbing into it.
Light and fast is the way to do the upper pitches. Carrying the second rope was a major pain is the ass - it would have been just as easy to fix just P1 and P2 on a single 60m line and then do P3 on the second day carrying just one rope. Or drop the extra rope from P3 and hike back up for it. You would have to leave a little gear to back off on a single rope from P9 but not too much. Above that it looks a harder to retreat given the slant of the route.
In our condition, there was no way we would have made the route in a day. If you were fast on the aid pitches, though, it probably wouldn't be too hard.
Although a number of pitches are described as chimneys, we both did the whole climb wearing light packs with no problems.
The rap stations were in good shape to the top of P4. P5 & P8 had one good bolt and one manky one. The three bolts at the rotten block were all old SMC buttonheads. Good trees for the rest.