Climbing Devil's Tower - Wyoming

This was another assignment where I have to shake my head and admit out loud that I have an incredible job. This last weekend I left for the west side of South Dakota for a few days to climb Harney Peak and then to head into Wyoming to tackle Devil's Tower. I'll post about Harney another time, because Devil's Tower was my favorite. A lot of people think it is an old volcano or something. Not quite, though it was formed by magma and then the river washed away the soil to reveal the tower we see. It is a huge structure - over 900' tall.
We climbed a route called "El Cracko Diablo" - The Devil Crack. It was not that terrifying. In fact it was one of the greatest crack climbs I've ever done. Having gotten a late start, we made the summit around dark and had to spend few hours rapelling in the dark - which is also not as terrifying as it might sound. When all you can see is what your headlamp reveals, it is not that scary. You cannot see that you are 600' from the ground.
Climbing Devil's Tower this week was a realization of a dream. A smaller dream, but a dream all the same. I am already planning a return trip to the tower to spend two days there and add a few more routes to my list.
The guy in the orange helmet is my adventure journalism partner, Stephen Regenold (visit: www.thegearjunkie.com). He is interviewing our guide at about 500' off the deck. The older gentleman is Tower guide, Frank Sanders who is well on his way to climbing the tower every day for one year! At 56 he is the real deal, a true hardman. He's touched foot to Devil's Tower summit over 2000 times! I'm not sure I've summited that much in my 11 years of climbing! (Check here for more info on Frank's vision: www.devilstower-sacredtomanypeople.org - site should be up soon) also see: http://www.devilstowerclimbing.com/

As Frank said, "Blessed are those who live out their dreams". Preach it!