Quark and sum’tec for liberty ridge or two quarks?

Planning liberty ridge this spring. Thoughts on tools and crampons?

1 quark and 1 sum tec or a set of quarks?

Lynx crampons or horizontals (I have vasaks)?  

I haven’t climbed much ice in horizontals. Used the lynx a bit on some snow and seemed to work fine but usually use horizontals for snow. 

Either option will be fine. I’d go horizontal crampons as they are prob a bit lighter.  

100% i'd go with horizontal crampons.

either tool choice is just fine, whatever you're most comfortable with.

1 quark and 1 sumtec is what I would go with but either is fine. Take the lighter crampons.

How much ice is there to actually climb on the route most seasons?  If it’s 99% Steep snow or ice not steep enough to front point with a few steeper bits on the shrund then horizontals for sure but if there is a fair bit of grade 3 ice then I’m more comfortable in verticals for sure.
from what I gather there are only a few short bits of actual ice climbing though.

Are the technical bits usually sun baked glacier or hard blue ice?

All the beta I have shows pretty easy ice for anyone who ice climbs regularly but just double checking since my experience with horizontals on technical ice is limited and it’s a bit late in the season to practice with them. 

Lots of hard blue ice when I did it. Lots and lots. I can see why you might want vertical frontpoints, but when I did it I used snaggletooths and could not have been any happier with my choice in crampons. There's a ton of steep snow, and I just prefer horizontal frontpoints in steep snow.

We had several hundred feet of easy ice in late May. A lot of it was fairly crusty and the solid bits did not warrant vertical points.
Anything you mentioned would work, but I'd opt for sum tec, quark, and horizontals.

Conditions vary, you might be on a lot of hard ice or it might be softer. I'd opt for horizontals. Depending on your boot your can always put on a narrow toe bail and set further forward to have more secondary point to engage on steeper bits (I used BD narrow bails on vasaks and they're great on WI3). I would not personally bring vertical front point pons.

I think a sumtec and quark would be fine.

I took 2 Quarks on the route and was very happy with my choice.  Would also leave the lynx at home and bring the Vasaks.  The lighter option is the better choice for Lib Ridge.

I would call the route ice hiking (AI2), & not ice climbing.

Koy wrote: I would call the route ice hiking (AI2), & not ice climbing.

Just depends on the conditions you get it in. Some years it's a literal hike, others it's sustained 60degree hard ice with a nice little pitch of AI4 to gain the shrund. 

Thomas G. wrote:

Just depends on the conditions you get it in. Some years it's a literal hike, others it's sustained 60degree hard ice with a nice little pitch of AI4 to gain the shrund. 

That's true.... there is 25 feet of AI4

Thomas G. wrote:

Just depends on the conditions you get it in. Some years it's a literal hike, others it's sustained 60degree hard ice with a nice little pitch of AI4 to gain the shrund. 

Where is the sustained 60 degree hard ice ?? There is nothing remotely close to sustained 60 degrees below the bergshrund. As for the gaining/surmounting the bergshrund AI3 would be more accurate and yes that can be a step of 60 degrees.

As for the OP,  either is reasonable. I have used a similar combo of a Sum’tec and a Quark on both Liberty and Sunset Ridge. Neither are curved tools, old skool straight shafted tools which plunge nicely. Such a combo is nice because there is lots of terrain that is 45 degree or less and two short tools suck so having a bit more length makes it more reasonable.

Allen Sanderson wrote:

Where is the sustained 60 degree hard ice ?? There is nothing remotely close to sustained 60 degrees below the bergshrund. As for the gaining/surmounting the bergshrund AI3 would be more accurate and yes that can be a step of 60 degrees.

We found close to 600 feet of AI2+ ish terrain (50-60 degrees) above the black pyramid. Not hard by any means, but it did require climbing with two tools. Not hiking.

Thomas G. wrote:

We found close to 600 feet of AI2+ ish terrain (50-60 degrees) above the black pyramid. Not hard by any means, but it did require climbing with two tools. Not hiking.

Most people grossly over estimate slope steepness. The terrain around the Black Pyramid approaches 50 degrees at best. As you have been on the GWI, the first pitch is around 60 degrees. The second pitch is around 45 degrees. Now compare that to what you climbed on LR. 

Allen Sanderson wrote: Most people grossly over estimate slope steepness. The terrain around the Black Pyramid approaches 50 degrees at best. As you have been on the GWI, the first pitch is around 60 degrees. The second pitch is around 45 degrees. Now compare that to what you climbed on LR. 

Fair enough, but I would say that Liberty was less steep than the first pitch and steeper than the second pitch.

AI2+?????