A Devilishly Good Time

Well! This post is way overdue, but the day I planned to post it, I rolled my car, and it took me a while to get back to it.

Back on July 14, after I finally got the new tire for my now defunct car, Jason and I drove to Devil's Tower. We got in late, drove out to the National Forest and camped. In the morning, we headed into the park (or, "National Monument", technically) for our first day of climbing.

It's quite an imposing piece of rock!

For our first climb, we chose to summit via the first pitch of Patent Pending (5.7 or so) to Assembly Line, a 5.9 hand crack that goes on, more or less, until the end of time. I really thought it would never end. It was a major test of endurance. We were both totally exhausted when we got to the top.

Racked up to lead the first pitch of Patent Pending. The pitches are long, so we brought lots of gear....

Jason leading Assembly Line

Jason and Me on top of the Tower

For our second day, we chased the shade, going to the west face in the morning, and heading around to the east side in the morning. In the morning, we climbed a 5.9+ pitch called Man Without a Planet, and in the afternoon, we climbed a classic 5.9 called Soler. The climbing at the top of the tower is less than stellar, so, having reached the summit once, the rest of my stay at the tower, we skipped the final pitches and rappelled off after the good climbing.

Friday, Jason headed home, and I took a rest day. Saturday morning, I met my partner for the weekend, Carl. A bird biologist working in Wyoming to help the power company stop electrocuting eagles, Carl was interesting and a lot of fun to climb and hang out with.

Carl and I also chased shade, climbing McCarthy's West Face Free Variation (5.10a) in the morning, and a route called Broken Tree (5.10b) in the afternoon. I was very pleased to get Broken Tree clean. It had a couple very difficult crux moves which I didn't think I was going to make, but did.

Sunday, we started the day with El Matador. The first pitch is mostly easy, with a short 5.8 crux. The second pitch is the business: A short technical crux in the first 30 feet or so leads to the endurance crux, over 100 feet of stemming between two opposing dihedrals. The crux is keeping your calves from exploding.

Carl following the first pitch of El Matador

The Second pitch of El Matador

After El Mat, I was beat. I just wanted to curl up and die somewhere. We had lots of day left though, so we headed to the East side to to El Cracko Diablo (5.8+). Jason led the first, mostly easy pitch and threw me at the longer, more sustained crux pitch. I whined, cried, complained, sewed it up, almost ran out of gear, walked a piece, back-cleaned pieces, and wanted to quit most of the way, but I made it to the top, and was happy I'd done it. It really was a great climb.

Carl headed home (well, to the hotel he was calling home, in the course of his work), and I drove back out to the National Forest for one more night in the shadow of Devil's Tower.



Monday, I drove to Cook Lake, and hung out by the lake reading for a while, then headed toward the Black Hills. On the way, I got a message from Kate and Jay, two climbers I had met (thanks to Carl, who was super-outgoing and talked to every climber we encountered) at Devil's Tower, saying they had decided to go climb at Mt. Rushmore, so I met up with them Monday evening. Yay! People to climb with. :-)

And so, the sun set on my Devil's Tower experience.....


Route List for 7/14-7/19:

• Patent Pending Pitch 1 (5.7, Trad) (Onsight)
• Assembly Line (3 pitches, 350-400 ft, 5.9, Trad) (Followed pitches 1 and 3, onsight pitch 2, 5.7?)
• Man Without a Planet (5.9+, Trad) (TR clean)
• Soler (Onsight pitch 1, 5.8+, Trad; Followed pitch 2 clean, 5.9-, Trad)
• McCarthy's West Face Free Variation (Followed pitch 1 clean, 5.9+, Trad; Followed pitch 2, 5.10a, Trad, with a hang or two)
• Broken Tree (Onsight Pitch 1, 5.7, Trad; Followed Pitch 2, 5.10b, Trad, clean)
• El Matador (Onsight Pitch 1, 5.8, Trad; Followed Pitch 2, 5.10d, Trad, several hangs)
• El Cracko Diablo (Followed Pitch 1, 5.8, Trad; Onsight Pitch 2, 5.8+, Trad)