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UER Forum > Journal Index > A brief insight on monkeypoop > The climb (Viewed 1855 times)
The climb
entry by junkyard 
8/28/2005 5:34 PM

We got to Devil's Tower Sat night, the 13th a bit later than expected due to a shitty ignition coil, fuckin Accell. In the end it was fixed with a needle nose.....high fuckin tech. I was hoping that wouldn't be an indication of how the entire trip would go, all things aside, in the end it was alright. We got up at the butt crack of dawn Sunday (about 9:30). Registered for the climb and headed toward the base just after 10:30. I'm sure we didn't even start climbing til after noon. For August it was a cold day, which we all enjoyed. The book said the climb on the Durance route takes 2-4 hours, so I figured 6-8 with us clowns. I just got a bug up my ass around Feb-Mar of this year to finally climb it, started taking classes in Apr. I've wanted to do it since 88 when I first went there. I was like 14 and I liked climbing, didn't see any reason to use any ropes or any of that shit. I said I could do that. Now that I'm like old an stuff, I use the ropes and that shit. I still kinda suck at climbing, but I bought a bunch of gear, that stuff's cheap. I enjoy climbing, but I don't want to ever be that good at it. I saw some people sticking to shear walls like only Spiderman can. Screw that, I need my fingers for work, don't need any injuries like those 5.14 guys are getting. I think they're fuckin crazy and cool as hell, but how many of them can build a motor from hell? Anyway I had this thought in the back of my head that was bugging me for months, what if I shit my pants and don't want to do it? Well it wasn't an option, this was something I had to do and come hell or high water, it was going to get done. Ten years ago would have been a different story, now I have a wife, daughter, and the shop. I've got too many people depending on me and it's sometimes hard to deal with. I feel like a puss when I think about the dangers, I never used to and I get mad at myself for having grown up even just a little. I like my life, don't get me wrong, I just really miss certain parts of my old one, some I don't miss much at all. I guess it's part of getting older, but I don't have to like it. So we're going to do Devil's the easy way. That's so not my style, but I suck at climbing and all I wanted to do was get to the top. I wanted to lead the first pitch, until I got there and we made MacG do it. I don't have enough experience yet and he did. I'm sure I could have, but we didn't have a calendar to time me with. It was a slow pace with 5 people and it was enjoyable. It usually went MacG leading, I'd go next and clean out the pro. (I found Camelbacks to be a pain in the ass, they go in the haul bag.) Then it was up to whoever. When the third person got to the belay station, we'd send MacG up the next pitch so it wouldn't get so crowded and to save time. I never shat myself once like I thought, until I was close to the top. It was all 4th class, which is easy shit, they recommended a rope for this part, which of course we didn't. All was well til about 40 ft from the top and the rope on my back was falling down from getting snagged all the time and between that and a cordelette and a bunch of runners constantly getting hooked around my feet and tripping me up. I had to have MacG send a rope down for me just in case. At least I didn't need it, but it was very exposed and a loooong way to the bottom. At the time I got that stupid feeling again, but later on I didn't feel so bad. I think everyone but MacG got that feeling at one point or another. We reached the top at sunset, smoked part of out stoggies. The SBC signed the log and that now makes us a permanent fixture in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado, at least for this trip. And had a bit of trouble finding the rappel station in the rapidly setting sun. Everyone came together in a pinch and we found the one we wanted. We started the rappel with the last bit of sun, by the time I brought up the rear, the moon had already replaced it. It was almost full and we had a decent view of the tower, and I mean decent in Beer Commando terms. A few people seemed to be a bit on edge on the way down, but Brewmaster and I do this shit for fun back home. I was loving it. Brewmaster had a close call on the second pitch. He just missed one rope through the biner, and that was enough to make everyone pay more attention. It was easy to do in the dim moonlight. The moon was bright, but the tower wasn't. If he went on only one rope he had a 50/50 chance it would be the one opposite the knot and the knot would jam in the anchor and everything would be ok. I'm pretty sure he had that rope, but glad we didn't have to find out. If on the other rope, he would have hauled ass down for just shy of 60m til the stopper knot hit the anchor and then the rope would strech and hopefully not rip the anchor from the wall. Stopper knots also keep you from rappeling off the end of the rope, which I have never had to deal with before since until now, the rope always hit the ground. Well he got that fixed in a hurry. All we had for lights were my mini-sun and his headlamp. It worked out ok too. MacG went first to find the next station and either Brewmaster or I went last to make sure everyone had light to rig and that they were rigged up correctly. Also someone had to make sure the ropes didn't get snagged in a crack on the last rappel or we'd have a hell of a time getting them down. Actually WE wouldn't, MacG would prussik his ass up there, and he was getting tired too, probably cold with only a t-shirt on too. As we neared the bottom Assy and Atomic showed up at the base sometime after midnight. It was a blast rappeling at night off the Tower, four rappels avereging 140 ft each. That's one mission for the Beer Commando files.



[last edit 8/28/2005 5:38 PM by junkyard - edited 2 times]
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UER Forum > Journal Index > A brief insight on monkeypoop > The climb (Viewed 1855 times)


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