We Do Stuff: Devil's Tower and Badlands National Park

August 24 - 26

Devil’s Tower

El Matador 5.10d

Durrance 5.7

Badlands National Park

Dad on Devil's Tower

The annual family climbing trip is on and this year Laura’s father Stan suggested that he thought he could climb Devil’s Tower. It has been a lifelong goal for Stan to stand atop the unique stone in the middle of nowhere, so we figured that at least giving it a shot would be a good plan.

Base of El Matador

Laura and I headed north a day early and arrived at the tower around 4pm. We wanted to attempt the iconic El Matador 5.10d. With dusk approaching faster than we would like, we chose to only climb the first two pitches of the route. I filled out a climbing permit and with only a 15 minute hike from the parking lot, we quickly started climbing. Arriving at the base of “the pitch”, I looked up and prepared myself for the battle. Pitch 2 is 150 feet of super wide climbing but with perfect places for protection the entire way. I set off and quickly learned that there were no hand holds in some places. For 5 or 10 foot sections you could only push against opposing walls. Using your hands and feet, and moving as quickly as possible to beat the inevitable calf pain that would overcome you, I climbed as far as I could without placing gear and then would shove in a piece of protection, clip the rope and take a rest. The climb went smoothly and I eventually stood atop what I think is one of my favorite climbing pitches ever. Laura started off shortly after I topped out and started climbing smoothly. She quickly learned what I meant about the pain as she rested on the rope when the pain grew too much to bear. She climbed to the top of the wide pillar around as the sun began to fade and when she topped out a roar of cheers could be heard from the visitor center parking lot. I guess a few tourists were interested in what we were doing way up there in that spectacular position. We set up a rappel and lowered off the rock reaching our car around 7 pm.

El Matador

Arriving at the hotel, Laura’s brother Brian was just arriving so we grabbed a hotel room and headed for dinner. The next morning would be the climb we all came here for. Early morning arrives and Stan, Laura, Brian and I set out toward the tower.

Base of Durrance route

We walked to the base of the Durrance route and with Brian on board the plan was for me to lead and belay Stan while Laura and Brian would climb together below us. Apparently Stan has problems with shoe soles as while on the approach his climbing shoes fell apart. Not good but some tape would hopefully get him through. I set off on the first pitch of the climb, climbing behind the leaning column and setting a belay at the top of the column.

Dad on the fourth pitch

Brian at a belay

On a belay ledge

Stan would follow and begin to gain confidence. By the top of this pitch, his shoe soles would be completely gone. As I climbed the second pitch, Brian would lend dad his approach shoes for the remainder of the climb.
Pitch by pitch, Stan stayed mentally strong and with the encouragement of his kids below would successfully make it to me at each belay.

Justin cheering us on from the top of a pitch

We knew this would be a challenge for Stan but he did excellent and we topped out on the summit of Devil’s Tower with a huge cheer and high fives all around. Rappelling, we made it back to our packs, loaded up gear and all headed back to town for dinner before settling in for the evening.

Brian topping out on one of the pitches

The next day we all went to Deadwood, South Dakota. We had breakfast and visited the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried. Brian headed home while Laura, Stan and I continued on to Badlands National Park. We spent some time in the visitors center and did several hikes around the unique park. As dusk approached, we once again headed back to the hotel with plans to leave early for the second leg of our week long adventure – The Wind River Range.