Devil's Tower
At some point in a rock climbers life, they decide they want to try something big. For a lot of climbers, Yosemite
is the big wall that calls them to come climb. However, for Ben and I, Devil's Tower was going to be our "big test" and it certainly lived
up to every bit of that.
I guess climbing in Oklahoma doesn't really prepare one for all of the incidents that multi-pitch trad climbing
entails. I guess mostly because there really isn't any multi-pitch climbs in Oklahoma, period. Well there are a few in the Wichita's, but
they are so far away and few and far between. As for crack climbing in Oklahoma, that too is foreign. Crazy Alice on Zoo Wall is probably
the best thing we got, and it's only 80 ft tall. Nothing compared to 865 feet like Devil's Tower. Nevertheless, Ben packed his bags and
met me in Colorado (where I recently moved to) and the next morning we left. About six hours later we saw the volcano shaped tower in the
distance and got all excited. That is until we discovered all the fees we would have to pay to get in and camp there. The entrance fee
was $8, but it was good for the whole week. Camping was really close to the tower, but was $12 a night. We would later find out, this
wasn't a bad price for real estate. Especially one with running water and weather updates via satellite. It really was like base camp.
We hiked around the mountain for a bit and then we decided we needed our sleep, for tomorrow was going to be a big day. We seperated our
gear into one combined rack that consisted of thousands of dollars of gear and crashed for the night.
The next morning we woke up around 8:30 am and began to eat some Oatmeal and some bagels as we loaded up my truck
and went to the visitors center where the trail begins and you have to sign in. We signed in and got some beta from the ranger there that
does a lot of the routes. We were going to do the Durrance route (the easiest way up) but things changed quickly. We couldn't find the
walk-up but instead found a pair of guys who have climbed for a long time. They spawned some red and pink jumpsuits straight out of the
80's, but nevertheless, they were fun to talk to, and they suggested we try TAD. TAD is a 5.7 and it's two pitches to the top. They told
us it was really clean and less glassy than the popular Durrance route (glassy from all the climbers on it) and that we would enjoy it a
lot more. We were pumped. Ben and I did the walkup to TAD, which is over by Soler. The walkup is kind of exposed and well, needless to
say we were a little scared doing the whole thing with our packs on while wearing Teva's. But we made it and the route looked beautiful.
Sure enough it was a great crack that ran the whole way up it. Ben took lead and he made it to the hanging belay which was 130ft up. Now,
you gotta understand, for us Oklahoma climbers, 130ft is a LONG ways. By the time I cleaned the route, I was dead tired, and wishing I had
water. Being the relative newbies we were at multi-pitch climbing, we decided to back off, about 40 ft from the top. We made it down
safely without losing any gear, and that in itself was worth it. If you really want to know what happened at this point in the story just
ask me. Picture if you will a hanging belay station about two-thirds the way up Devil's Tower. We are both tied into these rings that is
tied to one piece of webbing that is tied to this rock that is wedged in the crack. Anytime we put our weight on it, the rock sags, it
literally moves. Not good. Ok, so then we are trying to exchange gear to get Ben back on lead. In my state of mind, I am not capable of
doing a whole lot other than realize I need to clip into something else. Ben tries to unclip but there is no easy way off this hanging
belay. It was a mess. By the time he got back on lead with all the gear, the ropes had twisted all around everything and the friction
going through the system made it hard for me to even feed him rope. This was not good. Especially when I was just hanging by this stupid
rock that kept sagging more and more with my Toid belly. So yeah, figuring out how to rap off this sucker was a victory in itself. Ok, on
with the story. We found some beer in a nearby gas station, and took the rest of the night off. It had taken us 7 hours to get to the
visitors center, fend off tourons with a stick, walk to the route, get our gear out, lead it, follow it, and then decide we need to come
down.
The next day we decided that we were going to do the Durrance route no matter how busy it was. We wanted to summit
and so we did the normal morning routine and went to the route. We decided to add an extra pitch (150ft) to the Durrance route by doing
the 5.5 crack that leads up to it, since the walkup looked REALLY exposed. Here we met some goons from Oklahoma, who would become great
friends with us by the end of the day. We did the 5.5 pitch and soon began to notice the massive amount of people (and guide services) on
the route. We sat at the bottom of the first pitch for four hours while family's and everybody else slowly made it up the pitches. We got
to know the guys from Oklahoma even better, and found out they knew some people that we did! The first pitch wasn't too bad at all. It's
a 5.6 that is on th leaning column. Once you get about halfway up it turns into a chimney and if you have a lot of crap on becomes hard to
move in. However, there are old pitons in which you can attach quickdraws to for pro, and so it's all good. At the belay station atop the
pitch you can fit about four people max. And I do mean max. Ben started up the next pitch which is the crux of the climb. To speed
things up, the Oklahoma guys ahead of us fixed our rope for us, so we basically top roped it. Ben slipped once because of the slickness of
the rock, but basically there are two cracks. The left hand crack takes really good gear, and the right hand is where you jam your feet
and body. Upon discovery of the slowness of the people ahead of us, we decided to bail. It was now 5:30 pm and we had checked in at 9:10
am. We had been sitting on the side of that tower for a long time and were hungry and wanted water. We could have made it had there not
been some really slow people on the route ahead of us. But we decided to head back to camp once again not reaching the summit.
The next day we decided to go to Mt. Rushmore and go check out the Needles in South Dakota. This was pretty cool as
Mt. Rushmore was free (well if you park a half mile away and hike up these long stairs) but Crazy Horse isn't free, so don't go there, and
besides, it's not even finished. Well, we didn't feel like doing any long runouts on the needles so we decided to begin our drive back to
Colorado. Finding free camping is very hard. You have to backpack to go find it. However, we paid an arm and a leg to go camping at a
KOA in South Dakota that night to get some showers and stuff. I got caught taking a fat crap in the women's bathroom (didn't see the sign)
which was kinda funny now that I think about it.
We left and I got a speeding ticket in Wyoming. Stupid cops have nothing better to do than catch the one car that
is actually using their highway system. I got clocked going 80 in a 65 zone. I was surprised my Durango (chevy S-10) would even go that
fast. Let alone with all of our gear and us in it and at elevation. We spent the night around Boulder, after we played a round of frisbee
golf in Ft. Collins. Eventually the next morning we made it back to Denver where we went to the REI store for some beta on local climbing.
We went to Castlewood Canyon for some bouldering since it's really close to where I'm staying at in Denver. We met some people there and
had a good time, and we left right before a big snowstorm came through. It's a good thing we did because we would have frozen our butts
off if we were camping.
All in all the trip was a good learning experience. Basically things cost more than you expect them to and take
longer than you think. Weather can sneak up on you whenever it wants, and tuna and ramen get's old after a five days. Multi-pitch climbing
usually means exposure and well I actually had to admit I didn't want to look down at some points. But even though we didn't make it to
the top, I'm not looking down on anything...including myself.
--Matt
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