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Decko
Trad climber
Colorado
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Sep 29, 2007 - 12:29am PT
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Julie on top about 10 days ago.....
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana
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Sep 29, 2007 - 12:09pm PT
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You called it Tarbuster, that's a nice homage to Frazetta.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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George Hopkins style-bump,
On October 2, 1941 (66 yrs ago yesterday) George parachuted on to the tower.
The ensuing rescue resulted in the FA of the Durrance rte ( I think
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Shingle
climber
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From TIME - 1941:
In northeast Wyoming, near Sundance, one day last week, Parachutist George Hopkins leaped out of an airplane to win a $50 bet. The problem was to collect. For George Hopkins landed, as the bet prescribed, on Devil's Tower. A lava blister, formed by an eruption 20,000,000 years ago, Devil's Tower is a gigantic rock stump rising 1,200 feet into the sky. Teddy Roosevelt made it the country's first national monument. Its weathered sides are fluted, nearly vertical, practically unscalable.
While a crowd held its breath and stared, Hopkins tried to lower himself on a length of rope which had been dropped to him from an airplane. When his foot slipped, he clambered fearfully back. The rope was too short, anyhow. National Park Service officials, who had been sending instructions via plane, ordered him to stay where he was, wait until they could think of something. Hopkins resigned himself to spending the night there. Park Service mountain climbers tried to get up, failed. Planes dropped food, blankets, wood for a fire, whiskey, a megaphone, which Hopkins used to screech out a request for some funny papers.
Several days went by. Officials considered using helicopters, blimps. The climbers had another try. failed. Said one official sourly: "We hate to jeopardize the lives of our men for a stunt that someone thought was smart."
From New York Jack Durrance* and Merrill McLane, ace Dartmouth College mountain climbers, started for Wyoming by airplane. Durrance said that he had scaled the Tower in 1936, thought he could do it again. With Paul Petzoldt, a veteran of Himalayan climbs, and five other men, Durrance and McLane inched their way up the Tower's sides, driving iron spikes ("pitons") into its hard, sheer sides to make a ladder. They reached the summit, roped little George Hopkins into the middle of their column, and carefully edged their way back down again. Safe on the ground, Hopkins drew a grateful breath, departed to collect his bet.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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I'd say equal parts Frazeta / Boris Vallejo; neither one a slouch.
Thanks Nick D that IS what I'm talking about!
-thanks shingle! - imagine if they had used blimps! holy futurama!
The george hopkins photo is more elusive than I thought, even though it's at the tower vc in large, in various books, etc. My copy is two hundred miles away from my scanner. Somebody out there please help!
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Dang, Tom, that's the one I tried to post... maybe it was the weird filters @ work, I could see it, though.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Good call on the Vallejo Jay:
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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is that Leroy or Raypole?
I can't find the george hopkins summit photo. the one taken when JD, fritz, petz(?) etal arrived and found him ensconced in his chute, happy as a clam
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Shingle
climber
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Its a great story, but here is an account of the 1893 ascent:
The best-known early event was the 4th of July celebration held at the Tower in 1893. According to the handbill circulated for the occasion, the principal speakers were N. K. Griggs of Beatrice, Nebraska, and Col. William R. Steele of Deadwood, South Dakota. The handbill announced "There will be plenty to Eat and Drink on the Grounds;" "Lots of Hay and Grain for Horses;" and, "Dancing Day and Night." It also stated "Perfect order will be maintained." The feature attraction, however, of the day was to be the first climbing of the Tower by William Rogers, a local rancher. The event was apparently given wide publicity.
Rogers made elaborate preparations for the big event. With the assistance of Willard Ripley, another local rancher, he prepared a 350-foot ladder to the summit of the Tower. This was accomplished by driving pegs, out from native oak, ash and willow, 24 to 30 inches in length and sharpened on one end, into a continuous vertical crack found between the two columns on the southeast side of the giant formation. The pegs were then braced and secured to each other by a continuous wooden strip to which the outer end of each peg was fastened. Before making the exhibition ascent, the men took a 12-foot flagpole to the top and planted it into the ground. The building of the ladder by Rogers and Ripley was an undertaking perhaps more hazardous than the climbing of the Tower itself.
People came for a distance from 100 to 125 miles to witness the first formal ascent of the Tower. The more conservative estimates are that about 1,000 people came by horseback, wagon and buckboard to see the spectacular feat. For most of them it was a trip requiring several days of tedious travel over rough and dusty trails. Rogers began his ascent following proper ceremonies which included an invocation. After climbing for about an hour, he reached the top Amid much cheering from the many open-mouthed spectators some 865 feet below, he unfurled an American flag, which had been specially made for the occasion, from the flagpole. Devils Tower had at last been conquered in the full view of an assembled throng. During the afternoon, a gust of wind tore the flag loose and it drifted down to the base of the Tower. Here the promoters tore it up and sold the pieces for souvenirs.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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all props to drunken ranchers, that had to have been the wildest ascent of all!
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana
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I'm just wondering out loud...do any of you think a native american ever climbed Devil's Tower, since it was significant landmark to them, prior to the 1893 ascen?. There must of been some restless youth or some rite of passage that made someone climb it, you know..."I dare you, I double dare you.". Now whether they were able to downclimb is another story. I've wondered the same about other famous climbs in N.A...Grand Teton, McKinley, Whitney, Shasta..etc. Just curious.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Who knows, but I'd guess no. Footwear would be an issue. Though there would have been those that could solo one of the weissner's or Durrance and slog up to the top from the meadows. Though they would have to downclimb the ascent route.
I bet if one did it, he dragged a bunch of his buddies up there.
I'm sure 'those guys' climbed Shasta & Whitney prior to recorded history.
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Dick_Lugar
Trad climber
Indiana
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Yeah J-bro...I'm sure those guys did on climbs that had a relatively easier way up than the Tower. I just saw where Nike came out with a specially designed shoe for native americans...the "Native N7". NA's supposedly, on the average, have a wider forefoot than their typical consumers. I wider forefoot may be condusive to OW jamming on the Tower...intriguing!
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Shingle
climber
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I would be very surprised if they never tried this in 10,000 years before the white man came here. You know that the ancient SW peoples were phenomenal climbers of desert cliffs (and no doubt sandstone towers as well). In fact, it would be a surprise if a number of desert towers were not done before recorded history (well before our modern FAs).
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Agreed, but still, I'm betting they didn't get up (and then down climb) Moses.
The southwestern types were, known for chipping holds though. But to put it in perspective, I think it's easier on the earth to carve toeholds for 'middleaged,' 17-yr old dowagers, to ascend to Mesa verde with five gallon, clay, water jugs on their heads than to build virtually any, modern, offramp.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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John, Tracy & lunch.
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Damian C
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 11, 2007 - 01:48am PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 23, 2012 - 01:59am PT
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Einstein was right!
I needed to bump this thread.
I couldn't resist. Don't know why, just had to.
Eintein's probably one of them!
"This is not the lost alien you are looking for."
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Bill Mc Kirgan
Trad climber
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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Nov 23, 2012 - 09:17am PT
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One of the best experiences of my life was staying at the Devils Tower Lodge with my wife, and climbing with Frank's guide Felipe.
I'd love to go back some day and lead that climb.
Such good memories.
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