Forum Index > Trip Reports > Liberty Mt. ski attempt 4/21-22/12
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Jim Dockery
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Location: Lake Stevens
Jim Dockery
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 5:21 pm 
Liberty Mt. above the clouds
Liberty Mt. above the clouds
I'm a sucker for a beautiful line on a mountain, especially if it stares me in the face every day as I drive to work. Liberty Mt., a sharp little peak on the north side of the Mountain Loop Hwy. caught my attention 20 years ago when I moved to Lake Stevens, but it's small size, and lack of trails kept me from climbing it for 10 years.
Liberty Mt.
Liberty Mt.
At some point I thought up a personal project to climb all the peaks that form the skyline from Lake Stevens (a work in progress), so ten years ago I headed up solo on a sunny summer morning for what I thought was going to be a relatively easy scramble. Leaving the decommissioned logging road that is the trail in to Canyon Lake I found a perverse pleasure navigating devils club, small cliffs, river crossings, and fields of slide alder, but it all slowed me down. Then I barely missed the end of the road on my climb back out of the valley in the evening and ended up doing my first unplanned bivy in Washington (which I still haven't lived down).
Moonrise over Liberty Mt.
Moonrise over Liberty Mt.
Ten years later I convinced myself (Shred & Jameson were also sucked in) that spring snow covering the brush would make the approach much easier and we might be the first to ski this obscure little mountain, so last Saturday morning we went up for a look see. It was just before 5 a.m. when we left the car at a major washout I doubt will be fixed on FSR 4111 a few miles before the old trail head. In about a mile we reached continuous snow and started skinning, but soon came to another creek washing across the road that forced skis off and on. This process was repeated every few hundred yards for the rest of the road, which slowed things considerably.
Carefully keeping skis on for this crossing
Carefully keeping skis on for this crossing
A little more than two miles past the former trailhead we came to a funky foot bridge over a little ravine that I didn’t remember. Looking at the map we thought we might be on a lower road, so we headed straight up some open icy slopes where ski crampons would have come in handy, but booting worked.
When we got to the ridge top we were glad to get oriented properly with excellent views of Three Fingers, Big Bear, and Liberty. We saw that we had been on the right road, but the climb cut a few miles of flat road slogging. Looking at Liberty we saw a waterfall where we’d hoped to climb a snow filled gully, so changed plans and decided to head up the south side.
Three Fingers
Three Fingers
Liberty Mt.
Liberty Mt.
We took off skins and skied crusty snow down the east side of the ridge to the end of the road, then skinned back around toward Canyon Lake.
Skiing from ridge, Liberty Mt. behind
Skiing from ridge, Liberty Mt. behind
After a lot of hemming and hawing discussing the best route we finally took off the skins and descended just north of the outlet of the lake managing to make it to the valley bottom 800 ft. below without taking off the skis (much easier than summer brush).
Skiing to valley bottom
Skiing to valley bottom
We lucked out to hit the river right at a couple of good log crossings.
After a snack and water fill up we headed up into the big timber on the lower west slopes of Liberty where the snow soon gave way to booting on forest duff, with the occasional fallen log to navigate or little cliff to circumvent.
Eventually we worked our way into the valley south of the peak where we put the skis back on and traversed open sunny snow slopes. There was a lot of wet sluffy avalanche evidence, but only a few small ones came down as we traversed below the south face and climbed a protected slope to the SE. We had to cut back across a major drainage, but did so quickly, then climbed a series of protected ribs to just below the summit.
Final slopes
Final slopes
We arrived below the final rocky pinnacle late in the afternoon. Even though we'd brought a rope and some slings to protect this section, we were too tired to use it and realized we'd be struggling to just get back to the road before dark (which we didn't manage). Jeff managed to get a cell call to my wife asking her to order pizza then put it in the fridge so we could heat it up when we finally got home.
Panorama south & east from Liberty Mt.
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Panorama south & east from Liberty Mt.
The first turns were good, but the descent soon turned to an exercise in sluff managment where the first skier would cut across the slope and slide the top layer below him (easy to stay above it), then we'd all ski down on the lumpy cleared firmer snow.
Only a few hundred feet of good skiing
Only a few hundred feet of good skiing
Pushing off a sluff
Pushing off a sluff
We had to take skis off to traverse back to a protected rib, and descend an area too exposed to ski.
skedadling out of the avy zone
skedadling out of the avy zone
We thought we'd seen a good line of snow in the forrest on the south side of the creek so tried crossing high in the valley and following it down, but found difficult steep terrain that led to a frustrating slow pace.
Creek jumping
Creek jumping
Finally we were back in the bottom of the valley desperately heading for the log crossing we'd taken so that we could follow our ski tracks back up to the road. We barely made it in the last light.
By this time Jameson and I were having trouble keeping our skins on, so we wrapped em with a couple of Voile straps, clicked on our headlamps and kept on slogging. The road march turned into a Zeno's paradox as we went slower and slower it seemed we'd never get there. At many of the stream crossings we just said !@#$ it and walked across the rocks and water with our skis and skins on if we thought we could climb out the other side. Finally it was almost over when I hit the clear road and dug out the three beers I'd stashed in the snow there. Jeff and Jameson needed theirs to motivate them for the final slog, but I wanted to reward myself when I finally hit the car, which we did around 3:30 a.m. I'll let you do the math, but it isn't a car-car time I'm bragging about!
Jameson can't quite believe he's out
Jameson can't quite believe he's out
I kept Jeff awake on the short drive back to my house (might have been the most dangerous part of the trip) where we scarfed the pizza and salad Debbie had waiting for us. The boys stayed the night and had a pleasant late morning breakfast on the deck. I wasn't worth much for the rest of that beautiful Sunday, and my right foot is still feeling the effects of trench foot. Even though we didn't make the summit, I'd imagine we were the first people crazy enough to ski back there. I think I may have finally learned my lesson and won't go back, but there are many first descents waiting if you want to work for em!
Lake Stevens, Liberty Mt. left of Mt. Pilchuck
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Lake Stevens, Liberty Mt. left of Mt. Pilchuck

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iron
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iron
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 5:33 pm 
330am, back at the car, huh? gotta like a trip like that. stellar pics!

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dicey
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dicey
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 6:32 pm 
Gotta watch out for those "little" mountains! smile.gif

I'm not always sure I like being older but being less stupid has advantages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/32121172@N00/sets/
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puzzlr
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 6:44 pm 
That is a hard mountain to get to, in almost any season. Great story, glad I wasn't there!

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the Zachster
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 7:29 pm 
Geez-o-man! eek.gif up.gif What a trip! So would you do it again?!

"May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am"
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RichP
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 7:36 pm 
That's an intriguing peak. I bet you'll take two days to do this one next time.

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Sabahsboy
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 7:40 pm 
Jim Dockery and all! Terrific story! Glad you survived to tell the tale! Wife may be wondering out loud about the adventure? Whew! Nevertheless, the captured scenes are thrilling! Often I wondered about that pyramid peak so prominent in view from Lake 22 trail. Also, wondered these recent yeas how doable it was to reach Canyon Lake; guess I missed the opportunity?! Thank you all for such an exciting read!

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lopper
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PostWed Apr 25, 2012 8:21 pm 
I never pass up a chance to read a Liberty Mtn trip report.....much appreciation for hikers who are drawn to obscure and difficult places. Thanks for your contribution . Great reading! On a long June day in 1978 we enjoyed the cliffbands and underbrush that you describe. Here are four pics from that day.
Liberty(Canyon Creek bushwhacker approach)
Liberty(Canyon Creek bushwhacker approach)
ridge at last
ridge at last
Liberty portrait
Liberty portrait
3F spine from Liberty ridge
3F spine from Liberty ridge

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Matt
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Matt
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PostThu Apr 26, 2012 12:19 am 
Great trip report! I love your introduction, with the photos of Liberty framed in such different ways - clouds, moon, etc. I can also sympathize with your "Zeno's Paradox" description of the hike out, where the pace slows to the point that it seems like you'll never get there. Actually, I ususally feel like the road or trail is lenghthening at a faster rate than I am hiking on it.

“As beacons mountains burned at evening.” J.R.R. Tolkien
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Bedivere
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Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
PostThu Apr 26, 2012 8:29 am 
When I saw the title and that it was you posting I thought to myself "wow, wish I could've gone along on one of Jim's adventures this year." Then when I read the report I thought to myself "glad it wasn't this one!" tongue.gif up.gif up.gif

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beaudaddy
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beaudaddy
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PostThu Apr 26, 2012 10:51 am 
Thanks for going on this adventure, then sharing it Jim!!! I love viewing this peak from the local area. Here is an image from last winter around the Lake Stevens area... Liberty always has such a daunting look... Again, ya to go!!!
Seen from the Lake Stevens area
Seen from the Lake Stevens area

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Stefan
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PostThu Apr 26, 2012 11:04 am 
that's the bees knees! thanks for sharing!

Art is an adventure.
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ale_capone
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PostThu Apr 26, 2012 12:59 pm 
all the log crossing looks brutal...! Beautiful peak though. big day, and strong work guys. diggin the ski what you see style.

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Jim Dockery
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Jim Dockery
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PostThu Apr 26, 2012 3:34 pm 
Thanks for all the comments guys, and esp. for the additional pictures. I love the old slide scans. I wonder if the approach up the other side is easier, that road is also washed out I hear, so for now it's a grunt any which way.

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mustang sal
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mustang sal
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PostThu Apr 26, 2012 9:50 pm 
Really enjoyed reading this honest report. Thanks for posting.

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