Tensleep

     After driving through the beautiful Bighorn mountain range in north central Wyoming Mark and I finally came to Tensleep canyon. I highly recommend the drive through the southern Bighorns along Highway 16.



   Highway 16 made me wish that I knew more about geology. Along the entire drive there are signs which point out the exposed geological formations as you go by. They identify the type of rock formation, the geological age in which it was formed and how many years ago the formation took place.  As we drove by signs that said things like "granite, precambrian, 2.5 billion years" and "Madison limestone, mississippian, 330-300 million years" I couldn't help but think of all the folks who must drive through and not buy it, we live in a strange world.

Tensleep reminded me a bit of the south fork in Cody, it's freaking huge.

We found a great camp site along the old gravel highway. On the first morning as I sat and waited for the sun to come out and Mark slept in, two military spy/fighter looking planes flew over and broke the sound barrier right above us!  The planes appeared to be flying from the south end of the Bighorns to the north end.

On Belay!

We finally made it up to the French Cattle Ranch area, and then to the Big Kahuna formation

Here's mark leading up a moderate route next to the big kahuna formation. The climb on the right side of the column is a 5.11.

The guidebook to Tensleep is in limited supply and costs one hundred dollars, there has got to be a better way.

 

The quality of the limestone here is excellent.

If you hang out with Mark and I for long enough you are going to run into a moose sooner or later.

 

Tensleep is awesome and I really want to go back, now that I have a better understanding of the scope and what is needed to be successful I can't wait to return.

Bring bail biners. The climbing here is tough!!

Bear Lodge

Mark and I left for Wyoming at noon on Sunday the 13th of September 2015.  We got to Devil's Tower well after dark and took the last available campsite at the Belle Fourche campground.  We woke up and climbed Devil's tower via the Durance Route the next day, despite the heat.

We signed in at the climbing office before getting on the route. 

Here's Mark, doing what he does best, keeping shit organized and on point.

 I took my Mystery Ranch Terraplane Lid which converts to a summit pack, it makes a appearance here. We stuck out like sore thumbs in the throng of tourists on the way to the base of the tower.  I have visited Zion, Yosemite, and other climbing destinations that are also popular with layperson tourists but there is something about Devil's Tower that puts committing climbs right in your face.  Never have I heard so much opining and speculation about the sport of climbing in one place, and all by people who have never engaged with the sport and are probably seeing it up close for the first time.  This is not to say that all of the comments where negative, and in fact most of the conversations that I over heard and took part in reflected a mood of curiosity and wonder.  "How many days does it take to get to the top and then back down?" was my favorite question, and it took considerable effort to convince the enquirer that it is doable in an afternoon.  Luckily for the visitors of Devil's Tower National Monument, Mark and I love to answer questions, of which there where many, especially as we walked to and from the route with all our gear hanging off our persons.  I believe that the only truly negative thing I heard was from a woman sitting, drenched in sweat, to catch her breathe in the heat.  "Climbing is for idiots... idiots!" she said as she looked up towards the crowed El Matador route and shook her head.  I chuckled to myself as I walked by, confident that I, an experienced climber new better; I'm a climber and I'm not an idiot.  Little did I know, that I would find myself, later that day, in the same circumstance as that same woman, saying the same words, at the top of the Durance crack.

Yarr, to the leaning column we go!

Mark, preparing to lead the first pitch. The leaning column has the large horizontal break in it, just up and to the left of Mark's head.

Pre-ascent selfie. I look confident. Right?

Well perhaps I was, until two pitches of climbing later.  I navigated the chimney of the leaning column successfully (backpack not recommended), but once I followed Mark up the Durance crack pitch, which is the most demanding and sustained pitch, the heat got me.  At the top of the route I found myself out of breathe from the physical exertion and unable to regain composure due to the heat, and let's face it, the three hundred foot exposure as well as the gravity of my first committing climb  wasn't helping.  All of this resulted in my stuffing my face into a shady crack where the relief from the beating sun and the cool wafting air helped to soothe my frazzled nerves.  Mark interpretted this move as an ostrich like reponse to my fear of hieghts, which I can niether confirm nor deny at this time/whoich I am working on.  the point is that eventually I got over what I am officailly calling a "heat attack" Mark and I continued on up the next pitch.

Halfway baybay!

Whats wrong with this picture?

 

This ledge made me very happy. All of the belay stations were comfortable but this one was extra spacious and had a little bit of shade. The previous ledge on top of the leaning column was a bit airy and I wasn't super stoked on taking off my shoes until here.

This is the fourth pitch, the chockstone pitch.

At times I was frightened

But eventually we made it to the top.

I arrived in time to greet a party coming up Assembly Line.

Mark on the first rappel.

Me looking up from the bottom of the third rappel at Mark. Thanks for going first on the first two raps Mark!

     

I didn't go to the best possible chains because I didn't see them until I was off rappel, but  I got this great photo of Mark before finishing the descent to the lower anchor for the final rappel.

     Four rappels is the most I have ever done to descend a route. We took the original Durance route, which takes a scramble up the first third if the tower.  The above photo was taken below the start (climbers left) and we still have one more rap to go! Basically the beginning of the technical climbing on the original Durance route is 150 feet above the end of the descent that we took

.

This photo was taken from the safety of the ground. Mark is doing the last rappel, above him you can see the leaning column and the Durance crack.

A parting shot. I almost couldn't believe that I climbed all the way to the top.

If you told me I was going to climb what was is this picture a week or two ago I might not have believed you.

Putting the gear away. Whew!  We met some friendly folks from Missoula who where camping next to us, they informed us that they were enjoying their third moscow mule for the evening, which was evident from the hammered cooper mugs they both held, and that they would not be climbing the tower at any time.  We regaled them with the story of our ascent.
Also, I didn't get a photo, but on the walk back to the car Mark was nice enough to stop and explain to some inquisitive park visitors how trad climbing works.  Having all the gear still hanging from our belts Mark showed a family how a cam or nut can fit into a crack to protect a fall.  I was a bit to preoccupied by my immense thirst to help with the presentation so I politely excused us, but Mark demonstrated excellence as a climbing ambassador to the public.  Way to go Mark!

The tower looks so much better after you get down.  Here in the middle of the top half of the tower you can see the "Meadows" area where we untied, walked to the right, and then scrambled up to the top.  We hiked to the top of the lower left sunlit chunk of stone to start climbing.

The base area of the tower including the campground is surrounded by red volcanic bluffs leftover from the formation of Devil's Tower.

Eek! We walked across the white part!  Though it wasn't super exposed, we where already two hundred feet off the deck when we roped up and began the original version of the Durance Route.

We scrambled across this ledge above the trees and started the climb to the right of this photo.

Here you can see a party on the Durance Crack which is the steep line above the leaning column. There is also a party below them on the direct start to the Durance Route.  We hiked up to where the highest tree is on the left. Do you see all four people?

Here you can see all five pitches that we climbed including the jump traverse.  The route trends up and right and then you jump across to the huge ledge called "The Meadows" about three quarters of the way up.

Yay! I did it! I definitely experienced moments of self doubt, however with the help of my good friend, positive thinking, and good karma from removing some of the trash on the route I made it to the top.  See you next time Devil's Tower!

The Wedge

     On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend we headed out the Maiden Rock fishing access to camp and climb in the Hum Bug spires. Weather was really bad the first day. We hit a full down pour as we went over the continental divide to Butte. One we got to camp everyone decided to check out the adjacent Pioneer scenic byway.

Crystal Park is a major attraction on the byway, we stopped and successfully mined crystals as the weather gradually improved.

The next day it was time to climb the Wedge! I was a bit nervous but never the less we disembarked from the parking lot on the three plus mile hike to the base of the buttress. Our goal was to climb the Southwest Face.

The hike up there is pretty cool, a lot of climbing is visible on the way.

Always go with friends.

Finally we got to where we could see the Wedge itself. That was when I really started to think about the climb, I had never been to the area before so I didn't really know what it would be like.

 Was it frightening? At times, yes.

Mark, myself, Terra, Luke, and Bailey all hiked out together, Mark and I teamed up to climb the Southwest face and Luke and Bailey climbed the Mutt and Jeff.  The weather was great for the hike out but it got a bit cold and windy while we where on the routes.

Maybe it won't be so bad.

 It lurks in the woods.

 Terra stayed at the bottom and quarterbacked the support team.  She took pictures and kept Manfred company. She displayed fortitude and extreme patience in the field, it took three hours to climb and descend.

Here I am following the first pitch.

Here I am following the second pitch, the third pitch goes up through the black crack which is a bit of a slab and a chimney, it was great. I didn't think that the exposure could possibly be taken away after three pitches but it was once inside the chimney, the end of the climb was the best part!

I'm in the orange helmet, Mark has the blue jacket. Luke and Bailey took the Mutt and Jeff to the left. We planned on meeting up on top and descending together.

     We finally made it to the top! We had agreed to rappel together since Mark and I had the twin seventy meter ropes while Luke and Bailey only had a single sixty meter rope.  After sitting for a long time on top of the dome and getting our chill on we decided to do the first rappel and proceeded to shiver half way up the backside of the Wedge. Eventually we decided that the ground might be the best place for us after all, why not go down there?

     Just as we started to pull the long twins, we heard Luke screaming at us. We where relieved to know they were off the climb and we explained to them that the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. Sorry guys!

We were that high off the ground?! Yikes!  

I was so happy when the climb was over, it felt great.

Then the sun came out again and lit up the stone.

It felt great to finally climb the Wedge, I got way outside my comfort zone and realized that I could climb a bit higher than I thought.

Let it be known that Mark did a 5.4/5.5 free solo to liberate the end of the rope while we where half way up the descent preparing for the second rappel.  When it's time to get down, it's time to get down.

The Southwest Face route goes to the right of the "eye lid" feature in the middle of the Wedge and The Mutt and Jeff goes to the left.

Time to return to camp with the satisfaction of a job well done.  I can't wait to go back and climb more routes in the Hum Bug Spires.