Devil's Lake Wisconsin Climbing History

Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 21 - 40 of total 235 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
MH2

climber
Dec 13, 2009 - 01:50am PT
Ha! That looks like Devil's Doorway with the block at the top of the wide crack seen in 1872 missing.
Chinchen

climber
Anacortes, wa
Dec 13, 2009 - 03:59am PT
I dont think most people know how gnarly that place is. The rock is so slick. Scary trad.
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Dec 13, 2009 - 06:27am PT
bah, southern illinois is more south than midwest.

True enough, in the same way SoCal is more Southwest than West Coast.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Dec 13, 2009 - 06:36am PT
I posted these a while back but this seems like the place for a repost. Two from the Lake, 1966;
10 yr old Jaybro Climb?


My Dad Carl the same day climbing the Wyde with pride (Climb again unknown.)
If my math is correct he was 43, tren years younger than my present age


Bill Thompson

Ice climber
Marquette
Dec 13, 2009 - 10:08am PT
Love this thread! Keep the stories coming!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Dec 13, 2009 - 07:01pm PT
Nice kid bowline tie-in Jaybro! I was two years older when I started climbing. Great photo!
ericulner

climber
Southern Illinois
Dec 13, 2009 - 07:41pm PT
<bah, southern illinois is more south than midwest.>

Education for you is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest

and:

Mid·west (md-wst) or Middle West
A region of the north-central United States around the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi Valley. It is generally considered to include Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. The area is known for its rich farmlands and highly industrialized centers.

and:
IL - a midwestern state in north-central United States
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Dec 13, 2009 - 08:06pm PT
Cool. I have never climbed there, but one of my old roommates, Dennis Drayna, climbed there a lot back when was a Hoofer at U of Wisconsin, in the early 70s. He told us stories about Sometimes Crack ("Sometimes you make it, sometimes you don't...), and getting the first lead of a route right after Chouinard started selling the 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 Stopper.

I always liked that F9b rating!
Classic ratings isolation problem, too.

Bagatelle B1, then F10c, now 5.12c/d

Phlogiston B1, then F11, now 5.12d

http://www.mountainproject.com/v/wisconsin/devils_lake/east_bluff__east_rampart/105730622
Clint Cummins

Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
Dec 13, 2009 - 08:20pm PT
And here are the comparison photos from Steve's post from Master of Rock

and MH2's post on Devil's Doorway in the Same Scene Years Later? thread.

Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Dec 13, 2009 - 08:45pm PT
Growing up in Chicago we always kind of thought of So ill as more like the south than the midwest....
Shrug

Trad climber
The hell that is the midwest...
Dec 13, 2009 - 09:04pm PT
Thanks for posting, this is great stuff.

Devil's Lake is my "local" crag and I try and get up there every weekend. About 95% of folks TR in masses. I learned to avoid the masses after about my 2nd trip.

I rather enjoyed these comments:
"I dont think most people know how gnarly that place is. The rock is so slick. Scary trad."
and
"Watching people climb there is kind of like watching people boulder, it seems trivial until you try it."

and to clear up: "bah, Southern Illinois is more south than midwest."

If you're from the Chicago-area, "Southern Illinois" is "The South" Hell, Kankakee is the south. If you're from Southern Illinois, it's the Midwest. Having lived down there for years (Around Carbondale) and meeting my wife down there. I'll say a couple things... Most folks around there don't drink "sweet tea" or eat "grits". They do drive pickups though. The climbing down there is great though. (Except for the recent closing of Drapers Bluff, great trad area).

Anywho, Back to Devil's Lake stories. My favorite story about the Lake takes place on the East bluff around the Rainy Wednesday Tower, I forget which climb exactly. My partner and I were had sat down to grab a bite to eat before we headed up some climb. A little ways away was this group of folks in the 60s and 70s climbing (top rope) using old nail boots. It was like watching folks shoot the sh#t Sunday morning at a small diner. They'd be making small talk and the person climbing would occasionally stop and yell back down. They were passing around food drinking coffee, tea what have you.

Couple of my favorite pics from my travels up there:




franky

climber
Davis, CA
Dec 13, 2009 - 09:26pm PT
Defensive about being a southerner? Southern Illinois doesn't feel like the midwest, it feels like the south.

While not everyone eats grits for breakfast they are available, it doesn't get cold in the winter, there are f*#king chiggers everywhere, there are lots of baptists, etc...

Everyone knows southern illinois is a different state from chicago, even if the boundaries don't honor that.
Shrug

Trad climber
The hell that is the midwest...
Dec 13, 2009 - 09:31pm PT
Oh... the bugs... ya, can't forget about the bugs.

Shrug

Trad climber
The hell that is the midwest...
Dec 13, 2009 - 09:36pm PT
rgold,

I'm 99% sure that's Sewing Machine 5.6

Might be "Cheetah"
rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
Dec 13, 2009 - 10:48pm PT
Thanks, Shrug. I think the one you called "Cheetah" we might have called either "Peter's Project" or "Michael's Project."
matty

Trad climber
los arbor
Dec 13, 2009 - 10:49pm PT
No pics of the needle yet? Great summit! Brittons was my first lead there, followed by congragulations.
Shrug

Trad climber
The hell that is the midwest...
Dec 13, 2009 - 11:07pm PT
Here ya go:



rgold, I think you're right that that's peter's here's a shot from right below, the crack looks a lot like the one in your pic:

Nudge Nudge

Trad climber
WI, now CA
Dec 13, 2009 - 11:22pm PT
H.H. Bennett shot, so sometime pre-1908. Stop by the H.H. Bennett museum in the Dells for some amazing stuff.
matty

Trad climber
los arbor
Dec 14, 2009 - 12:30am PT
^^^^^^
Great shot. Love the scarf/flag/streamer in the wind.
Bill Mc Kirgan

Trad climber
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Dec 14, 2009 - 02:24am PT

Hey now whadda know... Pork Chop is where I did my very first trad lead: The Bone. I think that's the same route you posted a picture of Shrug. Funny, after I led it there was a slight sprinkle of rain and the rock became too slick for my friend to climb on top rope. The rock is slick, and sharp, but once it gets wet it's impossible.


The sand stone area is great for those rainy days. I went there with the CMC on such a day. No one was there to mind when we set up about 14 top ropes and sampled the easy and hard routes. While it looked like it would rain all morning by noon the sun was coming out and the climbing was fantastic.


There's a few places to get some multi-pitch simulation / practice. My climbing partner and I had a fun time moving up Turk's Head Ridge. So much so we decided to make it a regular training circuit where we will try to go faster, and take harder routes to the finish at Turk's Head.


Misery Rock area was my very first DL experience as a guest of CMC. The Chicago Mountaineering Club is a fun and diverse group of people of all ages. CMC has been a fixture of Devil's Lake climbing since the 1940s.



Messages 21 - 40 of total 235 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta