Devils Tower was one of our first stops. We marched up to the start of the Durrance Route, under some threat of rain, and I started up the first pitch. It was way harder than I expected, for something graded 5.5. Ann had some trouble also, and did some improbable stemming to avoid the grunt moves in the chimney. At the first belay, I looked up at the crux pitch, the Durrance crack (5.6+). It was really intimidating, and I had that strong feeling which says "get off this mountain, now !!". With the continued threat of rain as an excuse, we bailed off, and did some climbing at the base of the SW Shoulder.

Even on the Durrance route, which is the easiest way to reach the summit, the climbing is sustained, and strenuous. Seemed like we both needed a bit more practice climbing cracks before tackling the route. With many regrets, we went on the rest of our trip.

On the way back, however, near Lander, WY, we had a decision to make. We needed to go back, so did not have time to go through Colorado. With one day of climbing left, we made a run for the Tower. We changed the strategy, and took the lower start, two 5.5 pitches on the SW face, the second one links with the first pitch of the regular start. The Durrance crack looked just as intimidating as before, steep, steep, steep, but now I was committed. The holds are pretty slick, and the pro is not always staring you in the face (crack flares in places). This goes on for a while, and at the end, there is an offwidth to boot. Very tough pitch for the grade.

The rest of the climb is not as memorable. More slick holds and some loose rock in places kept my attention. We skipped the Jump traverse in favor of the Walt Baliey finish, which is a long pitch with a number of good moves and some good rests. Kind of what I expect 5.6 to be like. It was very hot, and we got quite dehydrated, but completed the route in style -- the first of the 50 Classics for me :)

Later that day, we realized the Sturgis motorcycle rally was going on. The roads were full of bikers, and we had to drive 300 miles accross SD to finally get a hotel room. Two days later we were back in New York.

List of Climbs

• Durrance Route (5.6 *** 7p)
• South Shoulder Route (5.6 1p)