Trip Reports - 6/17/98 - Wyoming - Devil's Tower, Vedauwoo, Lumpy Ridge, CO

The Devil's Too Hot for me...

Summary: The tale of Wayne's trip to Devil's Tower , Wyoming, with DeDe Gerard and Guy Humphry,  July 16th - 21st, 1998.

There were signs ...

They started one night I stayed up way too late. Close Encounters Of  The Third Kind mezmorized me to the late show. Though I really needed sleep, I couldn't stop watching the movie for chance sightings of that enchanted piece of rock. I came to realize someday I would climb Devil's Tower.

Enlarge photo of Devil's Tower

The next sign was soon to follow.  A few days later, my friends DeDe and Guy e-mailed from Ft. Collins, Colorado. They were putting off their plans to tackle The Diamond on Long's Peak, and were thinking of heading to Devil's Tower, Wyoming, instead. Our free-time schedules meshed perfectly. I replied with a non-committal " I sure would like to climb there someday ".

The final sign came a few days later. One morning at work, I returned to one of my patients to find his breakfast neatly sculpted into a remarkable likeness of Richard Dreyfuss' mashed potato efforts in the movie. Amazing what you can do with grits. Now I had to look - a few minutes on the web found the cheapest tickets to Denver were out of Gainesville; it was meant to be.

Thursday  7/16

I flew into Denver on Thursday, meeting Dede and Guy at the airport. We passed the next 6 hours (and change) on the highway to northeastern Wyoming, and a campsite beneath the mystical tower around 6 pm. The heat was oppressive. We would have to do our best to minimize it. Once our tents were pitched, we took a quick driving tour of the Monument. It glowed with the last radiation of the setting sun, climbers apparent on several routes. It was thrilling to see.

See larger photo of Devil's Tower

"We found it, I can climb it, let's go eat!", was my most intelligible comment. My long day of travelling was hitting me, I wanted to eat and hit the hay. That's when we learned how isolated Devils Tower National Monument is. The nearest town advertising food was Hulett, about 10 miles up the road. We were treated to a pizza like none of us had ever had before. Unique style, must be local. It was washed down with a brew at one of the two saloons on the way out of town. Next visit, I'll drive the 30 miles into Sundance. It's reported to have much more to offer.

Friday  7/17  

View bigger image of tower crack

We chose a climb on the Tower's northwest corner,  McCarthy's North, with the expectation of shade by the middle of the day when the sun moved behind the tower. Like almost every other route, it follows a crack along one of the vertical fluted seams that run the circumference of the rock from base to summit. The first pitch was listed as 5.8+, and would be a nice free climb. I planned to aid climb the second pitch, a 5.11 finger crack that ran straight as an arrow to just below the top. The third pitch would be a rough scramble to the flat summit. Then the Devil came out to play...

Enlarge photo of Wayne

The rising sun was on the horizon when we hit the trail around the base of the monument. As soon as it became full, the heat came on. The scramble up the ledges at the towers base with our heavy packs was a good bit of work. Like giant steps, we worked up them more than 250 feet, and around to the start of our chosen route. The first pitch was a jamfest up a long crack with a few face and lieback moves thrown in, fully worthy of its 5.8+ rating - sustained thrill, but the holds are there when you need them.

See bigger image of Dede and Guy

The guidebook mentioned the first pitch was long. No problem, we had our 60 meter ropes, 10 meters longer than a standard length climbing rope, nothing to sweat about. When the Devils says long, he means long! I ran out of rope 30 feet below the anchors. I had to stop climbing, and build an anchor to bring my partners up to me. We'd been caught in the Devils trap. The delay led to more baking in the sun, and by the time I brought my partners to the end of the 5.8 section below a small roof, they were looking pale and feeling the effects of the sun. It would be hours before the shelter of the shade would offer any relief. It was getting hotter. Most of the water was gone. It was time to go down.

The devil laughed at us as we packed our way out on the trails. He taunted us with inquiring tourists on the hike out. He roasted us at the campsite. Climbing here would be miserable in this heat wave. Time to cut our losses and run. You win this time Devil, but we'll be back.

Saturday  7/18 

Enlarge view of Guy

We returned to Ft. Collins, Colorado with a plan. It would be cooler at higher altitudes, so we'd plan our next climbs at places up high. Saturday, we drove to the town of Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Lumpy Ridge sits to the north of the town. At nearly 8000 ft. elevation, we hoped it would be a little cooler.

Our hopes were rewarded with a nice climb in the Left Book area, Manifest Destiny, a 5.7 ish, 3 pitch variation of the normal route to capitulate to the crowding. Though shaded most of the morning, the heat beat us down by 1 o'clock, and we returned to sweat out the afternoon at home. We tried to pretend it cooled off in the evening with a quick visit to a favorite bouldering spot on the rim of the Horsetooth Resevior up in the foothills to the west of town, Rotary Park. Some great problems, nice rock.

View large image of Lumpy Ridge

Enlarge view of Wayne

Still hot. Not climbing high enough yet. Longs Peak is the highest thing on the mountainous western horizon, it had to be cooler up there. Sunday we set out to see the Diamond, a sheer rock wall beneath the 14,220 foot summit of Longs Peak. The sheer wall is over 1000 feet high at it's center, an extreme challenge for the best of high altitude climbers.

See bigger image of Guy

Poor DeDe was stifled by a cold today, abandoning her climb at treeline, about 10,000 feet elevation. Guy and I pressed on to almost 13,000 feet to Chasm View, where the landscape consisted of nothing but boulders and sheer rock cliffs. The dominant vegetation was the colored lichens on the variegated stones, though tiny alpine flowers bloomed fiercely where little patches of tundra could hide amongst the stones. Long patches of dirty white snow clung to the inclines to our right and above us. Perched atop boulders at the edge of the great chasm, a cool alpine wind rewarded our efforts. There were climbing teams on several routes, both rock and snow. It was inspirational, a sunday service unrivaled. Refreshed, we raced down the trail and back into the heat.

Monday  7/20

View larger photo of Vedauwoo

It was back to Wyoming on Monday to Medicine Bow National Forest, outside the town of Laramie. Vedauwoo is a collection of lumpy, grey, islands of globular rock with many fine climbs of all varieties, and met our criteria of at least 8000 feet elevation. We found a shady corner with a fine challenge - Friday the 13th, a strenuous 5.10 finger /hand crack. I aid climbed it for the practice and rigged a top rope. Numerous blood stains along the crack warned of the challenge ahead. We took turns working out the moves for the rest of the morning. We wrapped up the day with a nearby 5.9 face/stem climb, then spent some time exploring this unique area.

See bigger image of rocks

Tuesday  7/21

I flew out of Denver at 7:30 am. We'd covered a lot of territory; I'd climbed in three new places, two new states, and been nearly 13,000 feet high. The heat wave, with it's 105 degree afternoon temperatures, broke Wednesday, the day after I returned to Florida.  Nonetheless, it was a wonderful week.

Devil's Tower Photo Gallery

Lumpy Ridge Photo Gallery

Vedauwoo Photo Gallery

Long's Peak Photo Gallery

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