Early Winter Spires, South Spire, Direct East Buttress. To a degree greater than anywhere else in the Cascades, rock climbing has become a sport in its own right in the Liberty Bell region. Certainly nowhere else in the range are there so many routes of such superlative quality. The very name “Early Winter Spires,” a morphologically connected mass to Liberty Bell, does not betray anything of their flavor until one sees them while driving the new cross-state highway to Washington Pass. They have a definite appearance of evil. The classic climb directly up the buttress of the major spire, the south one, had not yet been done, although two excellent routes had been made on the eastern exposure well out on opposing flanks of the buttress.* Blank sections had discouraged a direct continuation of these routes which had both begun at a central point at the base of the buttress. Telescope activity convinced Doug Leen and me that the upper section of the buttress would not be as bald as it indicated. Sporadic cracks and bubbly areas appeared in places that did seem to indicate bolting, but we felt the grandeur of the buttress warranted any work put into the climbing project. After a one-day reconnaissance in early summer during which we reached the half-way point on the 1100-foot buttress, we were in a great mood to climb it at the first weather opportunity. This appeared at the very end of July. Two-and-one-half days after starting, we coiled ropes on the summit and thought about the many problems, frustrations, and thrills the climb gave us; there had been a good deal of bolting, but not as much as we had been lead to fear; both the free and aid climbing had been superlative, mostly on grand rock. In short, this is a climb in a region of great alpine beauty that can now be repeated in a long day; while our effort justifies a Grade V rating, it will become a Grade IV now that bolts and additional holes are in. A good selection of pitons, including 2 of all bong sizes up to 4 inches, is advised, and a tapered skyhook to fit ¼-inch drilled holes will be needed until a succeeding party drills these out and inserts needed bolts. Summary: 2 bivouacs; 68 pitons; 3 nuts; 9 belays; 26 bolts; 4 hookholes; 3 skyhooks. NCCS IV, FB, A4.

Fred Beckey

*Lower east buttress and northeast face route, by Steve Marts, Fred Stanley, Don McPherson; and the lower east buttress and southeast face route, by Don Anderson, Jim Richardson, Margaret Young, Paul Myhre. (A.A.J., 1966, 15:1 p. 133 and photo plate 75.)