The world weathered yet the phonolite plug remained, as if divined by a Great Spirit. As time ticked on the magma cooled and its casing eroded, revealing an arrangement of 5-, 6-, and 7-sided columns. 40.5 million years ago a flaring intrusion of magma breached the Earth’s sedimentary layers. Still, the history of the world precedes the Tower’s first ascents.
DEVILS TOWER WYOMING TOP CRACK
I can’t imagine what that would have been like, but I do know that the hundreds of challenging routes on it now make up some of the best crack climbs in the U.S.
DEVILS TOWER WYOMING TOP FREE
It wasn’t until 1937, however, that Fritz Wiessner, placing just one piton on the whole route, made the first free ascent of Devils Tower. The first recorded ascent was in 1893, when two local ranchers pulled themselves up on a ladder of wooden pegs driven into the cracks. Intense heat in the summer months and volatile weather in the fall A Spirited History of Devils TowerĬlimbing Devils Tower has consumed the minds of climbers for more than 100 years.
Photo by Jim and Robin Kunze licensed under CC BY 2.0 The magnificent Devils Tower juts out like a giant tree stump from the rolling Wyoming foothills. I want to share what makes this area so important to me, as well as the people who have lived here for millennia. Personally, I’ve opted to skip the transitory bit and stay right here because climbing Devils Tower is like nothing else. Every year, thousands of eager climbers flock to this alluring summit like migrating geese. An obelisk wrapped with daunting splitters and sheer slabs, it ministers to the crowds about the sanctity of its 200+ routes. One of North America’s “50 Classic Climbs” on one of the most eye-catching rock formations in the world: Devils Tower.ĭominating the horizon of one of the best states for rock climbing, his monstrous 867’ butte defies the sprawling Wyoming foothills. Over the horizon the sun peeks out from behind an obscure cover and shines on the Durrance Route. My limbs are awkwardly jammed into cracks on either side, every muscle slowly draining. I look down and find myself 15 feet above a number four cam.
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