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Direct Southwest

5.11b, Trad, 300 ft (91 m), 3 pitches, Grade II,  Avg: 4 from 48 votes
FA: FFA: H. Barber, A. Greene, '78
Wyoming > Devils Tower > Durrance Approach
Warning Access Issue: June Voluntary Climbing Closure and Seasonal Raptor Closure DetailsDrop down

Description

Approach Via the Durrance approach and head left at the cliff base to reach the SW corner. At the SW corner there are a number of shorter colunms that reach a height of perhaps 100'.

The dihedral at the right hand edge of the right-most of these colums, beginning as a ever-steepening slab is "Rangers Are People Too." The next crack left of this, on the left side of the right-most short column, is the fist pitch of Driect SouthWest.

P1: (5.7, 80')Climb the crack described above for 80' to a ledge with a fixed belay.

P2: (5.11b, 100')This is the route 6 pillars to the right of the dark, left-facing dihedral at the right hand side of the attached photo.Step right on the ledge and get into a left-facing corner with an off-fingers to fingers in the corner, the crux is 25' fromt he top or so- more sustained than it is technically difficult. Belay from the fixed anchors. A single 60M or 70M rope should get you down in 2 raps from here.

P3: (5.9, 150')You need 2 ropes to continue... I have not done the 3rd pitch, but reportedly the climb continues up a crack on the left for a short while before traversing right, to keep the difficulty at 5.9... then continues up for 150' total. From there you can climb one of a few easier systems to reach the top (5.7, 70')

Protection

A good set of nuts and cams, with a few extra cams, particulatly in the .75" to 1.5" range, which is the crux size as well.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

photo by John Lang
[Hide Photo] photo by John Lang
First pitch of Direct Southwest is easy and a lot of fun.  2 rope rappell.
[Hide Photo] First pitch of Direct Southwest is easy and a lot of fun. 2 rope rappell.
Taken June, 2000
[Hide Photo] Taken June, 2000
One of the best.
<br>
Photo by John Lang
[Hide Photo] One of the best. Photo by John Lang
The Stellar "Direct Southwest"...
[Hide Photo] The Stellar "Direct Southwest"...

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Joe Collins
Boulder, CO
[Hide Comment] Regarding the gear beta above for pitch 2, the size range is more .75" to 1". Anything larger than a red alien is pretty much useless. Awesome crack climbing! Sep 8, 2003
[Hide Comment] It is interesting that the first pitch is described in the guidebook as bing 75ft and Rangers..APT right next to it is described as being 120ft. They are both in fact 120 ft and a 60M rope for descent needs a little downclimbing. This climb is nice for a quick, easier one pitch lead with a thin crux move low down that is similar to the first pitch of New Wave. There are not a few loose blocks near the top that warrant caution. Dec 24, 2003
[Hide Comment] possibly the pitch on the tower!
pk Oct 16, 2007
Petsfed 00
Snohomish, WA
[Hide Comment] The first pitch is an all right lead in its own right. Not really great, but certainly not bad either. A 70m will just barely get you all the way down. Be wary of the loose blocks at the top. May 25, 2009
Lucas Barth
Moab, UT
[Hide Comment] Some of the stacked blocks on top of pitch one have fallen down. Be careful as there is still some smaller loose rock debris as of April 2016. It can be climbed around with care. May 10, 2016
John Alcorn
Eldorado Springs
 
[Hide Comment] The third pitch of this route is very dirty and has a large amount of loose rock ranging from small debris to microwave size blocks. Caution is advised. Aug 10, 2021
Backwards Eric
Fargo, ND
 
[Hide Comment] Agree, pitch 3 should be skipped. That being said...I climbed it on Saturday and here's some beta if you decide to not heed that advice. From the top of pitch 2, it is more than 70 meters to the top - so really there are 4 pitches. Additional gear (beyond what you'd use on pitch 1 and 2) would be a #.1 cam (Black Diamond X4 sizing) and a #3 camalot. You go straight up from the pitch 2 anchors for a long ways, to some flakes, pull a mini-roof above those and then do the odd rightward traverse, stepping across a big gap, moving diagonally up and right, going straight up on some vertically stacked loose flakes/blocks (suitable for gentle jamming, but not for cams), then traverse back left (.1 cam goes here at a lieback move once you've gardened the crack a bit) to the original crack and go straight up from there. I ran the whole 70 meters and ended up constructing a hanging belay about 20 feet from the top, and then doing a mini-4th pitch. Jun 27, 2022
Brad Burns
Story, WY
  5.11b
[Hide Comment] youtu.be/u6dVaqhHCg0
My favorite pitch on the tower, right after pitch 2 of El Mat. Sep 28, 2023