In the Poorperson's guide, this climb is given the coveted 'E' rating for the highest quality climbs on the Tower. In other words, 5 stars on a 5 star scale. I only climbed the first pitch, but that was all I needed to see.
Begin on the NE face around to the left from the staging area for New Wave and Broken Tree. Look for a line of modern bolts just left of a mossy trough. The 1st pitch follows the bolts to a belay stance below a small roof. Though rated 5.9, it climbs much harder since nearly all of the holds on this pitch seem on the verge of breaking. Without a doubt the worst pitch I've yet to climb at the Tower. Even my second took a pass on this one. A good exercise in climbing lightly on loose stuff, I guess.
From the belay, the 2nd pitch looks like a short dihedral affair to the top of a pillar. Rock quality looks sub-par to say the least. The 2nd pitch can be easily linked with the first if you are so inclined to proceed.
What attracted me to this climb was the 3rd pitch. "A must for aspiring Tower stemmers," the guide says. Well, if that involves stemming through bushes, then no thanks. Lots of vegetation from top to bottom, with a particularly menacing looking bush at two-thirds height. If you go up there, definitely look out for that one.
I post the route here only to warn others about the quality discrepancy. I don't think anyone has been up there for many, many years. I don't know, maybe with regular traffic this would be the classic that the guide claims it to be.
Which brings me to the question, are there any climbs worth doing on this section of the Tower? Everything in this area looked like it had been reclaimed by crack flora.
Protection
QDs for the first pitch. A garden trowel and machette for the third pitch.
I climbed this route in 1991.It was great. A must do. One of the best stemming routes of its grade on the Tower. The problem with routes on Devils Tower is if they don't see a lot of traffic then they get dirty again as many routes were major scrubfests for the first ascent party. Your comments are quite condeming considering you did not climb the whole route. Please consider doing your part and cleaning up these climbs as you encounter them. We are all stewards of the crags we climb on. Maybe consider renewing your climbing gym membership if you wish to climb in a clean environment.
I stand by my comments, Coward. The route as it currently stands is a pile, and for you to give it 3 stars based on a 1991 ascent soon after the FA (which I've since learned was in 1990), shows you to have no credibility whatsoever. As of this past weekend, the stemming pitch is in a condition that can only be described, in an understated fashion, as munge.
Whether it is my job, or not, as a visiting climber to clean obscure routes is beside the point. IMHO, the route is not worth the effort in its current state, and giving it anything but a bomb rating is a disservice to people who use this database.
Nice jab with the "gym membership" thing, BTW. Very clever... did it take you long to think that one up?
Lets see, good crack routes on the Tower?? There are many, if you want harder cracks you can drive to Veedawoo. It seems like the classic routes are the ones that dont need cleaning, nor do they have bushes growing from them. If you want a nice bush route you can send the 3rd ascent of toddomoss. It's important for all climbers to know and follow the rules while in the parks. There are rules governing accepted legal behavior and what is not accepted or illegal.Mexico is the only place I know of where you can ignore the rules, or make your own. But if you piss someone off you may have frontier justice to deal with.
Good cracks at the tower? Keep trying, after soaring they can only get better. I hadn't heard of soaring until it was posted here. Try McCarthys North Face, Carols Crack, Mr. Clean for quality 11a.Pax, j
East and Northeast Buttress Approach
RSS Feed
