When I started doing my research into Devil’s Tower (DT)
and the Durrance route I found that good information was
particularly hard to find. I went to my local bookstore
and bought the Flacon guide to climbing Devil’s Tower and
the Needles, being the only guide available. Big mistake,
the book is worthless and adds no info except for hazy black
and white pictures. I was unable to secure a decent
guidebook until I actually got to the tower and bought
Devil’s Tower National Monument Climbing Handbook at the
ranger station. You can order the book at P.O. box 37,
Devil’s Tower WY, 82714. I hope this TR helps you plan in
case your are planning on doing the Durrance route.
We contacted
Frank Sanders who runs a B&B literally next to the Tower.
Frank, who is not only a great host, but is also a guide
with many a first ascents in DT and offwidth lover
extraordinaire, set us up with a cabin in a local ranch 6
miles from the park and with a view of the tower that is
hard to beat.
Our plan was for
me to get there Thursday afternoon, recon the approach on
Friday and do the climb on Saturday really early. That left
Sunday free for another attempt or other routes in case
something didn’t work out Saturday. Deb, my climbing partner
was to join me on Friday night. The best single piece of
advise I got from Frank was to get to the climb way and I
mean WAY early, because, to put it in his words, “there are
lots of people on this route on week ends and frankly, lots
of them are wankers…” . We were to do the shoulder approach
in our climbing shoes and to carry a small pack for water,
camera and to shove our clothes as the day warmed up. Once
on the climb, the leader will haul the bag on the second
rope (you need to carry two ropes for the rappels). This
worked out pretty good except for a couple of snags. The
optimal would be to go packless, if you can carry water on
your harness. A camelback would be torn to pieces in the
first 3 pitches…
Deb, arrived
Friday night, and after a quick dinner we turned in for the
night. We were up at 4 AM. After a high carbo breakfast we
left the house at 4:28 AM, two minutes earlier than planned
as pointed out by Deb. When we got to the parking lot,
(15-20 minutes later) there was another party racking up. As
I signed us in, I met the leader of that party, Larry
leading a group of teachers from Minnesota, 8 of them in
total, 4 of them new climbers… We politely exchanged some
verbal niceties and then rushed back to our cars and on to
the approach trail, the race was on… We could hear them 30
yards behind us, the clanking of too many hexes being their
give away.
Approach:
The approach
begins heading right on the paved trail (tower trail) which
loops around the tower. After about 20-30 yards, when the
trail reaches the trees, your will see a faint trail leading
left (towards the tower) and through a boulder field. As
you look up you will see the tower shoulder (bench) and dead
ahead you will see a ramp formed by two or three bent
columns reaching into the boulder field the approach aims
left of those ramps.
The boulder
hoping was done in the light provided by a nearly full moon
(we were too rushed by the clanking Minnesotans to have time
to put on our head lamps). Once we reached the shoulder a
sign reminded us to register if we hadn’t done so. At this
point we took a right and followed the edge of the shoulder.
The goal was to turn the West side of the Tower towards the
South. It is hard to describe the rest of the approach other
than to say that after about 100 yards of scrambling /
traversing you will have to climb a couple of ramps to reach
the base of the Durrance route. If you traverse too far
right, you will reach a gully called the bowling alley, at
this point if you look up, the Leaning Column will be above
you and you’ll know you’ve gone too far… Overall, the
scramble is not too technical although I believe a couple of
moves may be 5th class. Tower guides regularly rope up their
customers for the approach. A fall, would have nasty
consequences since the shoulder is 100+ feet from the base,
“and all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men…”
Once you reach
the area below the first belay, if you take the time to look
up, there is an easy scramble up a broken ramp, there is
also an exposed ramp further right and directly below the
first belay (left of the belay)
In the twilight
of dawn and the rush to beat our mid-western friends, I
missed the easy ramp and we wound up doing the exposed ramp.
The ramp went at about 5.2 with grassy footholds in most of
the available cracks. While on the ramp, I could hear a
party of two already on the route. We beat the party of 8 by
less than half a minute (they dropped one of their 6 ropes
and had to retrace their steps losing vital seconds). As it
turns out, being 2 minutes early in the morning made the
difference between starting the climb at 6 AM and starting
it at 11 AM (time in which the last of the 8 was blasting
off the first belay).
In no time, there
were 12 people besides us at the foot of the climb. In
addition to the Minnesotans we had a group from Iowa
University that was planning to cycle something like 20
folks through the Durrance on that day. Unlike us, the
Iowans had decided to climb the last rappel pitch (5.5 130
ft) up to the base of Durrance. This proved to be a slower
method…It was 5:35 AM the approach had take about 25
minutes. After waiting for about 20 minutes Deb started up
the Leaning Column pitch.
Word to the Wise,
the single most important obstacle to completing this climb
is time. If you are stuck behind 28 folks, your chances of
completion are slim, and this doesn’t take into account the
concept of sitting and waiting for 4-5 hours or of being
caught in a late afternoon thunderstorm as you queue up to
rappel…
Pitch one,
Leaning Column :
This is an 80 ft
5.6 pitch up the face and crack of the leaning column,
transferring later to a chimney/off-width behind the column.
There are pins at each of the cracks where the column broke
and good pro everywhere else. Deb led this pitch in a stiff
cold wind and with the 11 people in the queue analyzing her
every move and some of them narrating the proceedings. So
much for savoring the classic climb… Our only hope was
speed… The belay ledge is large enough to accommodate three
people, and when I joined Deb, the first party was
completing the lead of the Durrance crack. My turn to lead…
Pitch Two,
Durrance Crack:
This pitch is 72
feet and rated at 5.7 in the guide book mentioned above. The
best description I have heard regarding the rating of this
pitch is: “ it is rated 5.6 (+), it’s really a 5.7 and it
feels like a 5.8”. Couldn’t agree more.
Some parties
choose to link pitch one and two (leaning column and
Durrance crack) which would make good logistical sense and a
stiff “first lead of the day” (save your large pro for the
Durrance Crack if you do this).
Due to traffic
reasons this was not possible for us to even consider. The
route goes up two parallel cracks that widen and separate at
the top until you have to commit to the right crack (right
side in) which by then has turned into a large offwidth. The
left crack starts at fingers and goes to fist and offwidth,
the right crack starts at off width and stays there, waiting
for you… There is plenty of pro on the left crack and there
are a couple of pins that secure some of the scary moments
on the pitch.
The stylin’ way
to climb this, is to jam the left crack and stem the lip of
the right crack. But that right crack beckoned at me, and I
spend a lot of my lead jamming left and right. The crux
comes 15 feet from the top, after one last good foothold on
the left and placing my number 4 camalot in the left crack,
I moved right into the offwidth and tried to remember how to
squirm up these things… After some toe/heel moves and much
groveling I pulled over a bulge and onto a nice ledge.
Deb followed up
the second pitch with less huffing and puffing since she was
able to stay out of the offwidth until the end, ahhh the
prerogatives of having a rope in front of you…But her turn
in the grinder was next.
As I belayed Deb
up pitch 3 and 4, I could hear teacher Larry huffing and
puffing up the Durrance Crack. The sound came to a crescendo
and then disappeared only to start again 10 minutes later.
Once he reached the belay, he told me he had placed his # 4
camalot somewhere in the middle of the pitch only to realize
he had reached the crux with 15 feet to his last pro and
that the # 4 was the only piece that could protect it…so, he
down-climbed to get the #4 and walked it all the way back
up. Took him about 10 minutes to regain his composure when
he finally topped out.
Pitch Three,
(aptly named) Cussin’ crack:
Pitches 3, 4 and
5 are relatively short (30ft, 40ft and 40ft respectively)
although we could run them together, we had heard that rope
drag is a nightmare, so Deb led 3 and 4 together and
finished off 5 after a short belay to reset the rope. Cussin’
crack (5.5) is scant in pro and high on grovels. The first
10 ft happen on the face of the left column and reach a
small flake that accepts some pro (exposed and awkward).
From there it’s into the Squeeze chimney, over a bulge and
up 10 more feet to another bulge. Exit right onto a small
ledge and walk around a block and up an easy 10ft hand
crack. While following pitch 3, I was able to clear the
first offwidth bulge (where most of the cussin’ occurred) by
staying outside of the crack for the most part (my turn to
have the rope in front of me)
Pitch four,
Flake Crack:
At 40 ft and 5.5
one of the most pleasant and aesthetic pitches. Nice jamming
up a crack/flake dihedral with plenty of pro, footholds and
yes, no offwidths.
Pitch five,
Chockstone Crack:
As mentioned, Deb
dispatched this one too, this is another 5.4 chimney with
pro at the chockstones and lots of footholds. To exit the
chimney, you have to clear an overhang or bulge. The exit
grabbed my attention.
Pitch Six,
Bailey Direct:
The original
route downclimbs right after the chockstone pitch and
“jumps” to the meadows where you then proceed to scramble
some 150 feet of exposed 3rd class dirt, grass and rock to
the top. Having not had our fill with chimneys and
offwidths, I proceeded to lead the Bailey direct. This is a
5.6 150 ft pitch described in the book as “moderate fifth
class climbing”. It is the crack (chimney) furthest left
when you are standing on top of the 5th pitch. Supposedly
there is another crack even further left that is nicer and
merges with the original Bailey half way up. Didn’t see it.
The pitch is
steep and goes from chimney to offwidth and back a couple of
times. Protection is good and you will even find a pin on
the first crux (40 feet into the pitch). The final crux
comes at the end of the pitch where for the last 20 ft you
can follow an offwidth (left side in) or move onto the face
of the column where at 5.6, the holds are abundant but
rounded and the pro is nil, as an added bonus, at this point
in the climb, due to the steepness and length you are
dragging two 165 ft ropes with the corresponding friction.
I wandered up the face and eventually worked my way back to
the crack on the left to place my number 4 camalot yet
again, for a last piece before the exit.
From the belay,
Deb did a 15 foot scramble to the top. We summited at 10 AM.
By then the party ahead of us was rapping down so we had the
summit to ourselves. We lost Larry and his crew at the
Durrance Crack and from then on the experience had become
the intimate classic climb that we had expected. Now we took
the obligatory summit photos, signed the register, pondered
Todd Skinner’s “Deep thoughts” inscription on the register
for about 15 seconds, and proceeded onto the rappels before
the wave of climbers summited and spoiled the experience for
us…
We used the
meadows rappel. It is located left of the Baley pitch if you
are looking from the summit. Marked by cairns it took some
looking to find the bolts and some exposed but easy
scrambling some 10 feet down and right (again looking from
the summit).
The second rappel
was even harder to find. It is tucked around a rock under
the Jump pitch. On the other side of the Durrance route.
Lucky for us Larry was reaching the top of Pitch 5 and was
able to point out the bolts for us. We were standing on top
and couldn’t figure out how to get to them. Standing on the
“landing side” of the Jump scramble down and left from the
rock you are standing and then right and around that same
rock. This brings you to a small ledge. Proceed left and
around on the ledge to the bolts.
Rappels 3 and 4
were straight forward. The last one putting you at the base
of the bowling alley and 50 yards from the tourist trail.
It was 12:30 PM,
there were people on every belay of the climb and we counted
12 folks waiting at the base as we completed our last rap…
Saturday was a
beautiful day topping out at 65 degrees. After a shower and
some hiking with the kids we headed back to the Devils tower
junction (6 miles from the park) to the Crook County Saloon
(another excellent piece of Beta from Frank), where we had
beer, steaks and potatoes that couldn’t be beat . When
we woke up Sunday morning, there were 2 inches of snow on
the ground. A couple I met at the base after the climb, had
queued up for 3 hours and were following the 8 people team,
they bailed after one pitch because of how slow things we
going. They planned to get up earlier Sunday for another
shot… Not this Sunday I guess…
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