Peak Climbed: Liberty Bell Mountain

Peak Height: 7,740'

Route: Beckey (some variation)

Difficulty: 5.6 (5.8 for our variation)

Location: North Cascades, Washington

Trailhead: Blue Lake

Mileage & Gain: 5 mi & 2,500 ft RT

Date Climbed: July 3, 2019

Liberty Bell is a well known Washington summit, though it lacks great height or prominence. Easy access from near Washington Pass lends a feeling of alpine cragging as opposed to committing alpine climbing. It also draws the crowds. Expect to find plenty of noobs fumbling around up there (not to imply there's anything wrong with that!).

We'd hoped to climb some longer and more challenging routes in the Washington Pass area, but were deterred by a fickle weather forecast. We set up our tent in a downpour the night before and all of that rain dampened our motivation a bit. A return trip is in order!

We climbed the first pitch of the Beckey Route and then broke off to climbers right to pass an extremely slow party. The crux of our unknown two pitch variation was a short section of 5.8ish climbing. We rejoined the standard route a bit below the famous 5.6 slab problem.

Even though the climbing itself was more or less forgettable, the summit and overall Liberty Bell experience were well worth the effort. Views of the neighboring Early Winter Spires and the rest of the surrounding Cascades were excellent.