Blogging is Hard Work

Well, I told some of you that I would give this blogging thing a shot to share some pictures and keep you posted, so here goes. Please bear with me as I try to figure out this brave new world. I know I will have at least two loyal readers (Thanks, Mom and Dad!). I apologize if the entries are too long and detailed, but than, you don't have to read them.

As most of you know, I quit my job in Atlanta about a month ago to spend some time climbing and traveling. It was definitely a somewhat scary thing to do in this economy but I have to be honest, being unemployed is fantastic. (Check back in a few months as the bank account starts to dwindle though!) I moved out of my place, put my stuff in storage and hit the road. Thomas and I spent about 10 days climbing at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky at the end of June, I drove up to D.C. for a quick visit with Mom and Dad and to drop off Brandy who is graciously being dog-sat by my sister Kim, and then on July 1st, Thomas and I headed West for Wyoming!


This first post is coming to you from Devil's Tower in the northeast corner of Wyoming. We arrived here on the afternoon of July 2d. I think by the time we arrived, we were both just happy to be out of South Dakota. Seeing the tower is really amazing. It rises up so starkly out of the surrounding landscape, with nothing else like it anywhere in sight. We rolled into the National Monument land and scored a pretty nice campsite.

We had originally planned to spend four or five days climbing here but the climbing has proven to be so good that we've decided to stay a bit longer. We've had six days of climbing so far (with a rest day sandwiched in the middle) and decided this morning that we will rest here again today and then climb here for two more days before heading to Squamish, B.C.

This place is awesome. The setting is beautiful and the climbing is classic. Everything we have done here has been so good. The routes are primarily long, sustained cracks (most pitches are 150 feet or more) which you can follow all the way from the base of the tower to the summit. Many folks tend to do the first two pitches of routes because these tend to be the highest quality. The climbing gets a bit more "adventuresome" as you go up. We have done this with some of the routes but have also followed five all the way to the summit:

Assemblyline (5.9, 4 pitches)

Belle Fourche Buttress (5.10b, 4 pitches)

Durrance Route (5.8, 5 pitches)

El Matador (5.10d, 5 pitches)

McCarthy West Face (5.10b, 4 pitches)

Here's Thomas starting up the finger crack on the crux pitch of Bell Fourche Buttress.

The classic pitch on this route takes a steep splitter finger-to-hand crack to the top of one of the tower's columns. This route was the one that was the most intimidating to me of all the ones that we had eyed beforehand and put on the "to do" list. This was despite the fact that I knew I'd be on toprope and following Thomas.

On our second day climbing at the tower we ran into local legend, Frank Sanders, who was guiding some other folks. Frank has been climbing and putting up routes on the tower for over 30 years. He also happens to own a beautiful chunk of property that borders the federal National Monument land where he runs a bed and breakfast (http://www.devilstowerlodge.com/) and climbing guiding service. Frank graciously offered to let us camp in his yard which is equipped with an outdoor shower with quite a view (that's our tent on the left):

We took Frank up on his kind offer and now, I am sending out this blog entry to you from Frank's living room, which is equipped with wireless.

The climbing here has been so good, I could gush about every route we've done. They all seem to leave us saying that each one must have been the best one yet. In addition to the routes we've taken to the summit, we've also climbed the first two pitches on a number of routes:

El Cracko Diablo (5.8+)

Soler (5.9-)

Mr. Clean (5.11a)

All of these routes are again, highly recommended and just a huge amount of fun. The two pitches on each route that I led on El Cracko and Soler were long and some of the most sustained, long crack climbing that I've led. I am definitely getting more comfortable with crack climbing, and learning the importance of finding a rhythym and to just keep moving! Here's a pic of me on the second pitch of Soler:

Of course, one of the classic routes on the Tower is a route called El Matador. This line goes up between two columns and involves a good bit of stemming with one hand and foot on each column, slowly working your way up, inch by inch. Thomas cruised right on up it while I had to take some hangs on the toprope because my calves were burning from all that stemming!

I could go on and on about this place and the climbing here but it has taken me so long to figure out this whole blogging thing and Thomas is patiently waiting outside to start cooking dinner. To anyone who has stuck with me for this long, thanks for reading. More later!