Climbing the Tower
All climbers must register by name, address, and telephone number with a park ranger before going up.
And you must check out when you return. This is the only safety precaution on climbing required by the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. Depending on your mountain climbing experience here and elsewhere, however, you might want to ask the rangers for safety hints, different climbing routes, and conditions on the face of the Tower at the time of your climb.
More than 80 separate routes to the top have been taken and described in the literature. No one has been killed climbing the Tower, a remarkable record. The most difficult pitches come first while there is still plenty of time to turn back or take an easier route. Also, compared to other mountains, Devils Tower can be conquered in a short time, less than an hour for the most skilled if they use an easy route. This means less chance of exhaustion from exposure. In sudden bad weather, one can easily rappel off in 40 to 60 minutes.
George Willig, in red shirt, and Steve Matous prepare to climb Devils Tower in 1979.
Their climb was witnessed by a national audience on a televised all-day sport show and by a large crowd in the park using telescopes and binoculars.
Records of climbs have been kept at the park since 1937. In 1963 the one thousandth climber checked in and in 1970 the two thousandth. Since 1977 more than 1,000 make the climb every year. The Tower has been climbed with the direct aid of ropes and pitons and with a technique known as “free climbing” without the use of ropes except as backup to catch a fall. It has been climbed from all sides and in all seasons, even on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Day. Some people, of course, prefer to climb the Tower in snow and ice. One might conclude that all the “firsts” have been taken at Devils Tower, but, as long as the personal challenge of the sport continues to attract newcomers, there are certain to be more new records.
From the ground a member of the Willig party looks minute.
Up close, another climber ponders his next move.
August has been the most active climbing month in recent years. The heat on the south-facing side of the Tower presents serious problems though. Climbers usually try to start as early as possible before the sun has a chance to heat the rock blazing hot.
Climbers rightfully take interest in the geology of the Tower. Worming their fingers into cracks and fissures, depending for their lives on the ringing-hard igneous mass that supports them, rock climbers develop a familiarity with various origins and kinds of rock. They, of course, contribute to the ongoing process of erosion which, over eons of time, has left Devils Tower in its present form. The amount of loose rock that breaks off under their feet, however, is far less than the amount lost every season from frost-heave, the effect of water seeping behind the surface rock and expanding into ice. The boulder field at the base of the Tower tells the rest of the erosion story. By studying lichen growing on the last slab to fall off the side, it has been estimated that this event occurred more than 10,000 years ago.