A few years back Pete and I made a list of 30 "classic climbs" that we wanted to do over the next few years. Two of the climbs on our list were on Devil's Tower so we decided to head out over the Labor Day weekend. 
We caught a flight to Denver CO, met up with our friends Lacey and Jake and drove over 6 hours to Devils Tower in WY. We pulled in around 2am and set up camp on the lawn of Devils Tower Lodge. The owner of Devil's Tower Lodge is awesome and lets climbers camp on his lawn for free :) 
Pete and I were worried there would be a long line for the climb we wanted to do since it was labor day weekend so we woke up at 5:30am to try and beat all of the other climbers to the climb. Jake was a good sport and humored us. 
Turns out we got up a little too early. Nobody even got close to the base until hours later. The first climb we got on was Durrance Route 5.8. I lead the first pitch up the fallen tower. 
Jake lead the second pitch, and Pete linked the last 2. It was an easy climb with a great view from the summit. On the summit there was a leather tablet rolled up in a metal container for everyone who reached the top to sign. 
I wanted to sign it but we didn't bring a pen and the one up there had run out of ink so we settled for a photo with the log. 
After ticking the first of our classic climbs we spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the good weather and taking in the view. I cant get over how absolutely amazing Devils Tower is. I think every other sentence out of my mouth was something along the lines of "This place is rad." 
Pete and Jake were able to hop on one more climb before calling it a day. They got on Mr. Clean 5.11 and said that it was a super fun climb. 
It was super long and looked super hard. 
On Sunday we had one goal in mind and that was to climb El Matador which was the 2nd "classic climb" on our list. This climb really was awesome. 
This route is the most perfect stem box in the world. At first there is a thin hand sized crack that you can lay back and then eventually the columns get close enough together to stem. 
Pete was able to stem a lot sooner than I was because his legs are a lot longer. By the time I reached the top my hip flexors were about to give out. 
Pete and Jake and I were all sore in different places. 
I can't leave out my favorite picture of my feet! After we finished the climb we decided to head back to Boulder CO but on our way we noticed that we were only 2 hours from Mount Rushmore and we figured if we didn't go now we probably never would so we detoured to Rapid City, SD. 
I'm glad I went. Now I can cross that off my list. On Monday we did a little climbing in Boulder Canyon, explored Boulder, and then caught the plane back to Portland.
We caught a flight to Denver CO, met up with our friends Lacey and Jake and drove over 6 hours to Devils Tower in WY. We pulled in around 2am and set up camp on the lawn of Devils Tower Lodge. The owner of Devil's Tower Lodge is awesome and lets climbers camp on his lawn for free :) Pete and I were worried there would be a long line for the climb we wanted to do since it was labor day weekend so we woke up at 5:30am to try and beat all of the other climbers to the climb. Jake was a good sport and humored us. Turns out we got up a little too early. Nobody even got close to the base until hours later. The first climb we got on was Durrance Route 5.8. I lead the first pitch up the fallen tower. Jake lead the second pitch, and Pete linked the last 2. It was an easy climb with a great view from the summit. On the summit there was a leather tablet rolled up in a metal container for everyone who reached the top to sign. I wanted to sign it but we didn't bring a pen and the one up there had run out of ink so we settled for a photo with the log. After ticking the first of our classic climbs we spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the good weather and taking in the view. I cant get over how absolutely amazing Devils Tower is. I think every other sentence out of my mouth was something along the lines of "This place is rad." Pete and Jake were able to hop on one more climb before calling it a day. They got on Mr. Clean 5.11 and said that it was a super fun climb. It was super long and looked super hard. On Sunday we had one goal in mind and that was to climb El Matador which was the 2nd "classic climb" on our list. This climb really was awesome. This route is the most perfect stem box in the world. At first there is a thin hand sized crack that you can lay back and then eventually the columns get close enough together to stem. Pete was able to stem a lot sooner than I was because his legs are a lot longer. By the time I reached the top my hip flexors were about to give out. Pete and Jake and I were all sore in different places. I can't leave out my favorite picture of my feet! After we finished the climb we decided to head back to Boulder CO but on our way we noticed that we were only 2 hours from Mount Rushmore and we figured if we didn't go now we probably never would so we detoured to Rapid City, SD. I'm glad I went. Now I can cross that off my list. On Monday we did a little climbing in Boulder Canyon, explored Boulder, and then caught the plane back to Portland. 
1 comments:
You two are amazing.
Post a Comment