Journeys: SEND IT - August 9th - Devil's Tower, WY

I was out of bed and packing up at 0600. Rain moved in at 0630. It sprinkled for just a second, but dark clouds continued to gather all around Devil's Tower. I was worried. I checked the weather map repeatedly and it showed that a significant rain storm was over our heads and another would be on its way later in the day. Climbing in the rain would be impossible for us.

Rainbow over Devil's Tower.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

Somewhat dejected we pushed the rest of our camping gear into the back of the truck and drove from the KoA to the Devil's Tower visitor center parking lot. From 0715 to 0745 it rained harder then stopped. We waited in the truck for an hour to see if the rain would continue. No more rain fell, so we registered as climbers and started the approach to the Durrance Route. We followed the approach in the guide book, which does not clearly reveal that the traverse across the southwest shoulder is a long exposed fourth class scramble that is terrifying when wet from rain. We actually roped up for the last 100 feet in case one of us slipped. It was already a long way down at that point and we were not even on the route. Once we were both at the bottom of the Leaning Column I soon realized that the Durrance Approach is not the best way to go. It would be much easier to walk to the bottom of the Meadows Rappel route then rope up for what looked like 100 feet or so of 5.0 climbing. I also noticed that we could easily traverse to the base of the Durrance Route from the rappel anchors at the top of the last rappel on the Meadows Rappel. This allowed us to stash our packs and extra gear under a stunted pine tree at the base of the leaning column. The Durrance Route is rated at 5.6 and I quickly found out that it would be the hardest 5.6 I have ever climbed. Having not climbed many off widths and chimneys in my short climbing career, the climb was extremely difficult, especially the first two pitches. The second pitch was definitely the crux for us and I was definitely cussing before we reached the third pitch, Cussin' Crack. The second pitch had two parallel cracks. On the right an off width for chicken winging and jamming the right side of your body and on the left a hand crack for your left hand and left foot. I took many rests. It was extremely demanding. Beth Ann also felt that it was very challenging. At the belay at the top of the second pitch I could only hope that there was no more of that to come. Fortunately the route did mellow somewhat through pitches three through five.

Last move of pitch three.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

At the top of pitch five after pulling through a smelly bird poop cave we had to make the decision of whether or not we would traverse to the Meadows the scramble 140 feet to the summit or simply climb straight up on the Bailey Direct finish above our current belay. The Bailey Direct seemed less complicated to me and a better way to climb the tower from top to bottom, so we finished with the 150 foot final pitch over mostly easy terrain with two bold moves on it. As Beth Ann started to follow the final pitch, the second rain cloud that I had seen on the radar earlier in the day crept up over the tower and started raining. I heard a distant clap of thunder and my shoulders sank. Here we were 10 feet from the top of a 900 foot tower, exhausted, getting soaked in rain, and now lightning threatens to strike our metal laden bodies down and permanently end our road trip on the very last day of climbing. Beth Ann finally made it to the belay as the rain increased then she climbed the final 10 feet to the summit. I scrambled up and we took hurried summit photos before hustling to the top of the Meadows Rappel.

Beth Ann's hero pose.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

Chuck's hero pose.
Photograph by BA.

Thunder continued off in the distance, but fortunately there was no lightning close to us. We hurried down the first rappel pitch into the Meadows then traversed to the next rappel station. Three LONG rappels later we were on the ground with our packs. My legs hurt. The stemming and chimney-ing had taken quite a toll and I could not wait to get to the truck and drop my pack.

South east side of the tower.
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

Durrance Route (starts at base of obvious right leaning column).
Photograph by Chuck Bolte.

We hurried away from the tower, thankfully the rain had stopped, past gobs of bikers taking pictures of the tower. One man shook our hands and congratulated us. We turned in the second half of our climbing registration form stating that we had reached the summit and that was it. The final climb of the trip was over. It had not been the most fun route of the trip and it was impossible to enjoy standing on top of Devil's Tower, but we had done it. It was much later than expected when we pulled out of the parking lot. 1800 if I remember correctly. We got in a few hours of driving arriving at a rest stop outside of Pierre, South Dakota where we slept in the truck for a few hours. Tomorrow we continue on our drive back to the east coast, back to the daily grind.