Dedicated to my wife, Lisa, who's done so much to support my climbing.


This year she surprised me by suggesting we book a stay at the magical Devils Tower Lodge. What a treat to be spoiled in luxurious splendor, rub elbows with famous authors and journalists, and learn more about climbing from one of Frank Sanders' expert guides.

7/15/2011: Weather is perfect with light clouds, no wind, and a full-moon to hike by during the approach.

2:30 a.m.
In the Windows room at Devils Tower Lodge I awoke 30 minutes before my alarm, rolled over and tried to drift back to sleep. After 15 minutes I got up, went to the lodge kitchen and flipped the switch on the pre-loaded coffee machine, and then took a peek at a few of the many books on the shelves and coffee table in the living room. Juliana appeared and began preparing a breakfast for my guide, Felipe and I. We finished huge bowls of oatmeal fortified with some weight-lifter protein/energy powder and chunks of honeydew melon. Usually I skip breakfast but Juliana insisted, even at the early hour we planned, and it really hit the spot. THANK YOU JULIANA!

4 a.m. we are in the car driving to the DT parking area. Felipe directs me to park in the gravel lot because the rangers appreciate it if the climbing community does not hog the closer paved parking spaces.

4:15 a.m.
We are walking to the climber registration kiosk to sign in for our attempt to summit by way of El Cracko Diablo. A few minutes later with headlamps off we go up the main path and to the right of the pile of fallen columns/boulders. We hike until the viewing tubes for the old stake ladder near to where the path to the Durrance and ramp to El Cracko begins. We scramble up to the beginning of Durance and put on our harnesses. Felipe puts me on a short rope and leads through the 4th class ramp section some of which was very exposed.


About 5a.m.

Felipe begins leading the first pitch of El Cracko Diablo


Pitch 1:
The climbing begins at a flaring left-leaning crack. After about 10 feet the crack is mostly vertical. It was a struggle for me to start when it was my time to follow, but when I got to where the crack goes more vertical I found it has a very positive edge that runs inside for long stretches.


Instead of jamming, I could use my left hand and lieback with my left shoulder against one side and me facing the other wall. When the edge inside the crack didn’t work well I could rest, as Felipe demonstrated, with my shoulder jammed into the corner and my right foot stemming on the other side. There is a bulge/roof on this pitch that was easy to pass using this technique. This pitch ends at a hanging belay.

6 a.m?
Felipe begins leading the second pitch of El Cracko Diablo

Pitch 2:
Even more vertical the Devil’s Crack continues with more of that wonderful inside edge. More left hand lieback, mixed with more shoulder and foot stemming provides a magnificent climbing experience. I had to take several rests on each pitch to catch my breath. At the crux of the 2nd pitch I was desperately tired and grabbed a sling and aided my way to the more positive holds above. Other than that I didn’t fall, or grab any other gear; however, Felipe had me on a very tight belay and I think this helped me ‘float’ through a couple of the tougher shoulder jam stemming situations.

Short rope scramble to the top:
As we re-racked gear I looked to my right and noticed a death block perched at the top of the route, and asked about it. Felipe said it wobbles and that the park rangers know about it and have no plans on trundling it, which would require a permit. It is about the size of a dining room chair and has that shape except it tilts outward. I’m guessing it weighs about 400 or 500 pounds. As we scrambled by we avoided this and grabbed some harder to reach hand holds to begin our scramble to the top.

Off belay and stroll to summit: 7a.m.


Felipe motions for me to stroll up to the summit and says he’s going to go set up the rappel. It was nice to have a few minutes alone on the summit and reflect on how I got here.


I must be getting more emotional as I get older because again, like at Crazy Horse, I was moved to tears. There is something powerful about this place. I offer prayers of thanks, take a picture of my shadow and then sit down near the summit post opening the register to read some of the recent entries before adding our ascent to the list.

Felipe arrived and we sat down for a snack and water. At this point I was still a bit ‘woosy’ or feeling that slight sense of nausea from the exertion of getting here. I brought some beef jerky and dried cranberries and blueberries. The dried berries tasted good, and after some of those I started to crave salt again and had the dried beef.


After the snack I set up for a photo of Felipe and I, and then was taken on a tour of the summit. I got to see the pile of cans left behind from when a parachutist stranded himself there in the ‘40s. The man planned on parachuting to the summit and succeeded in landing; however, the next part of the plan went wrong, but probably saved his bacon. He’d planned on having a 1000+ foot long rope dropped on to the summit. The rope was released too late and bounced across the summit and then dropped getting hung up below the top. A second rope landed in a knotted mess and was useless. As the story goes, he had no gear or knowledge to use it if he did to make a safe descent; so it’s probably best that part of the plan failed. He was rescued 6 days later and lived happily ever after.

Here are some good accounts of the story:

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/devilstower.html

http://climbaz.com/interviews/devilstower.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1124545/3/index.htm

The pile of cans is probably considered part of the park, and packing them out as litter might be a crime. The only other litter I saw up there was a plastic Easter egg filled with pebbles.

We then walked closer to the edge on the side facing the parking lot and boulder field. Unlike the side we came up, where vertical climbing gives way to scrambling this side drops off all the way to the bottom. As we got closer I began to express some concern and then Felipe pointed out the bolts and hangers thoughtfully placed at the cliffs edge. He clipped in, sat down, and then clipped my safety line in and had me sit down.

Next Felipe dangles his legs over the side and encourages me to relax and do the same. He pointed out the boulders, and from above, you can see they are columns of different lengths, some busted up more than others. From the ground these look mostly like boulders. Felipe explained this side has the more recent (thousands of years ago) rock falls because of the lack of trees and vegetation.

Felipe then pointed out the shadow cast by the tower. The shadow was just beginning to cross the parking lot circle at the visitors center below. I raised my hand overhead and waved it around to see if I could see such a small detail in the shadow. Of course I saw only the shadow of the tower, and then a flash, and another flash and then realized we were the star of the morning show. Prior to this we didn’t see or hear any people below.

Also, about this time my wife, Lisa, was hiking the trail trying to see where we were. Evidently we climbed this thing too fast and were on the summit by the time she arrived around 7:15am. She was frustrated not being able to locate us and began asking some of the other trail hikers if they had seen any climbers on the tower. Funny how word spreads, but people are curious, shocked, and interested and Lisa began to hear about the “crazy climbers” who were sitting on the edge of the tower above the boulder field.

She found us about 20 minutes later as we emerged from the meadows and set up for the rappels. As Felipe was getting us set up I could see a figure below waving up at us and I knew this must be my Lisa welcoming us back to earth.



This was my latest guided experience, and I am grateful to Felipe for sharing his knowledge with me in addition to giving me a safe and unforgettable climbing adventure.


He and all the other folks at the Devils Tower Lodge have the lucky job of helping people fulfill their dreams. I learned much about multi-pitch climbing and hope to come back someday and climb this route again with my regular climbing partner.