The "Easiest" Way to Climb Devils Tower

I don't consider myself much of a climber, more like a guy who climbs, sometimes. However, when we bailed on this climb last year, I knew I'd be back. I had the vision in my head that I'd be much more experienced, with extensive offwidth and crack techniques dialed in. My lead-head would be strong, placements bomber, and climbing efficient. Unfortunately, that was not the reality for this second attempt. I felt equally inexperienced and terrified. Maybe due to the overall lack of training? I may never know for sure. So, after a quick crash course to refresh Christian on how to tie a figure eight, we just went at it... scared. Scared of his lack of recent experience, scared of my amateur climbing abilities, and most importantly, scared of the Durrance Crack. I knew there was a very real chance of falling on this pitch, but decided that the plentiful bomber placements would compensate for my lack of ability. After all, you either push your grade on good gear, or push bad gear on easy grades, right? With that bulletproof logic bouncing around in my empty head, I figured there was a good chance of sending, even if it meant pulling on gear or taking. So thats what i did. I took on P2, pulled on P3, and aided on the Jump Traverse. I certainly didn't let my pride take away from the incredible adventure that the day became. Free or not, I had more fun simply doing this climb than I ever would have training for it. Maybe there's something to be said about committment in the face of fear. Maybe that's where growth happens. Or maybe I just heavy-breathed and grunted my way up this rock and there's no lesson at all. 0:00 Intro 1:20 Pitch 0 2:33 P1 - Leaning Column 6:44 P2 - Durrance Crack (crux) 11:49 P3 - Cussin' Crack 14:08 P4 - Flake Crack 15:47 P5 - Chockstone Crack 17:51 Getting Scared on the Jump Traverse 22:28 Bugs