Devils Tower

Finally, our travels have brought us to the doorstep of this monolithic intrusion known as Devils Tower!! A true test piece of our climbing ability.

Approximately 1% of the Monument's 400,000 annual visitors test there skills by climbing the Tower, here are a few unknown climbers perched near the halfway mark on their way to the summit.

This picture helps demonstrate how truly massive the 867' structure stands....and how tiny you feel when climbing it.

 Here I am after successfully completing pitch 1 of 5.....still feeling strong!!

Here is the view after pitch 2, (not quite the halfway mark) Sarah and I took a break here to rest our arms, appreciate the the view, and refuel on water and power bars. Climbing at Devils Tower was our first real experience of climbing a multi-pitch at this magnitude, it required us to climb with an extra pack for our food, water, wet-weather gear, and headlamp(s).

 The best view available, still on top of pitch 2!!

Climbing at the tower is a little unique, our entire climb was within view of all the visitors walking around the tower on trail beneath. It wasn't uncommon to hear people talking, shouting encouragement and clapping.

We had to use two separate ropes to climb this little gem....preventing 400 feet of rope from coiling and knotting takes a little discipline and was probably the least enjoyable part of the job.

We had to divert from our original route and make a hairy traverse to an adjacent route that was more suitable for our gear....the guide book said nothing about needing size 5 & 6 cams.....luckily we were able to adapt and we still found our way to summit.

The climb took us just over four hours, just in time for a sunset summit, Sarah is standing at the old signpost that used to read, "no climbing above this point" as ridiculous as the sign was, most climbers would climb the sign for a photo opportunity....the summit log is next to her right foot.

 Still feeling strong at the summit!!

We're a little haggard-looking, but it was nothing but smiles as we enjoyed the top of the tower. We had the entire football sized summit to ourselves to take-in the moment.

 Old signpost and cairn

 Sarah working the rope in the first of three rappels needed to get down the tower.

 The first rappel station.....this would be the only station we would use with any daylight.

The view from the second rappel station.....nothing like lowering yourself into the black void knowing you're a few hundred feet above the deck, yet not exactly sure where your next station is....Sarah really stepped-up and took one for the team by doing the last two rappels without a headlamp..... second headlamp was dead

Sarah has always been my favorite climbing partner, but that feeling was truly cemented during the next section of this problematic climb.

I had just lowered to what I thought was the third station, only to realize that I lowered too far and I was actually 40-50' below where I should've been. I explained the situation Sarah...."don't panic, but I'm out of rope and I'm not at the anchors"........and I asked her to keep her eyes sharp for the right set as she lowered towards me in the dark. Worst case scenario, I was going to build an improvised station, I would have to leave some expensive equipment behind, but at least we wouldn't be stranded on the wall all night.

With a bit of luck and a bit of hyper-vigilance, Sarah actually spotted the right set of anchors, but she would have to set the next rappel without me or my headlamp.

Sarah started working on the setting the rappel and everything was going smooth until she uttered the dreaded words, "the rope is stuck".  Devils Tower is a magnificent structure full of columns and cracks and despite the enjoyment you get from jamming on those cracks, they are sometimes difficult to avoid when lowering or pulling up your ropes.....and just like that, when we thought we were moments from getting back to the ground, the rope was wedged tight in crack above me and below Sarah.

Despite being faced with the real possibility that we were stuck and would be forced to spend the night on the wall, our moods did not exacerbate the situation, they were lighthearted and calm as we focused on retrieving our rope.

After an hour of yanking and pulling, Sarah worked enough rope free to lower to me and I was able ascend the rope back up to the choke point by using my belay device and a technique that combined flailing, yanking, and spastic jumping.....once we had the rope free, it was nothing but smooth sailing back to the ground.

Nothing but smiles, simply happy to be back on the ground after six hours on the wall.

There's nothing like being faced with the impending situation of nearly being stranded on a wall in the darkness of night that can bring two people closer together. I think we both learned a little something about climbing and a little something about each other that night.

I love you Sarah.

The next morning, we talked to a few fellow campers that had followed our progress with binoculars from the security of their camp chairs, a few even helped us document this climb by taking photos while we were climbing...we'll update this post as we receive those photos.