Devils Tower – richos.net

Climbing the Tower, 1971 to 1987

Key to this table: Ascent=Count of climbs going to the top (64 total); Time: Count of climbs doing this Route (e.g. Ascent 64 was 2nd time up Witchie); Led/Notes: Pitch(s) I led, etc.

Ascent	Date	Route	Time	(Led which pitch) Notes	With
1	6/13/1971	Durrance	1st	(1st: Leaning tower pitch) With so many of us, it’s an overly long day of climbing.	Bob Grundy, Dorothy Jonas, Rich Wefald, Mike Loeffler, Tom Noble
2	5/5/1972	Durrance	2nd	(2nd: Durrance Crack) With so many of us, again it’s an overly long day of climbing.	Knut Wefald, Gary Olberding, Paul Roberts, Knut Hamann, Duane Cichy
3	9/29/1972	Durrance	3rd	(2nd: Durrance Crack)	John Schmidt, Gary Brunes
4	9/30/1972	Walt Bailey	1st	(1st) We do the actual crack in two parts using aid climbing technique.	John Schmidt, Gary Brunes
5	5/5/1973	North Face	1st	Route has had only a few ascents, there is mud in cracks, we are slow, and due to darkness are forced to spend the night on top. (Note Ten years later, an afternoon acscent.)	John Schmidt
	5/29/1976	West Face		We’re using aid climbing technique. John Schmidt gets sick on first pitch	John Schmidt
	5/30/1976	Wiessner		We get rained off.	Larry Wydra (?)
	4/29/1977	Patent Pending		We do the initial two and a half pitches, then back off.	Paul Martin
6	9/4/1978	Soler	1st	(2nd, rated F8) My first ascent with Jim.	Jim Slichter, Mark Howe
7	9/5/1978	West Face	1st	(1st, rated F9A, 4th pitch, F7) It is 98 degrees at the Tower, but we climb, and descend, in the shade.	Jim Slichter, Mark Howe
8	5/28/1979	Walt Bailey	2nd	(1st, rated 5.9) We are free climbing (not using aid technique.)	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
9	5/31/1979	Burning Daylight	1st	(1st, rated 5.10, 3rd, 5.0)	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
10	6/1/1979	El Cracko	1st	(1st, rated 5.7)	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
11	8/31/1979	TAD	1st	(2nd, rated 5.7)	Jim Slichter
12	9/1/1979	Hollywood & Vine	1st	(2nd, rated 5.10)	Jim Slichter
13	9/1/1979	Walt Bailey	3rd	(2nd, rated 5.7)	Jim Slichter
14	9/2/1979	Belle Fourche Buttress	1st		Jim Slichter, M Smedley
15	9/3/1979	Delta I	1st	(2nd, 5.7)	Jim Slichter
	9/4/1979	Assembly Line		We do two pitches, then back off.	Jim Slichter
16	9/5/1979	Bon Homme Variation	1st	(2nd, rated 5.5)	Jim Slichter
17	9/6/1979	North Face	2nd	(2nd, rated A1, 4th, 5.6)	Jim Slichter
18	10/18/1979	Walt Bailey	4th	(2nd, rated 5.7)	Tom Anderson, Jan Ebeltoft
19	10/19/1979	Tower Classic	1st	(1st, rated 5.8)	Tom Anderson, Jan Ebeltoft
20	6/27/1980	TAD	2nd		Barb Anderson
21	6/28/1980	Belle Fourche Buttress	2nd		Jim Slichter, Carl Coy
22	6/29/1980	Assembly Line	1st		Jim Slichter
23	6/30/1980	Durrance	4th		Jim Slichter
24	6/30/1980	Soler	2nd		Carl Coy
25	9/11/1980	Belle Fourche Buttress	3rd		Tom Anderson
26	9/13/1980	West Face Variation	1st		Tom Anderson
27	10/10/1980	Burning Daylight	2nd		Jim Slichter
28	10/11/1980	Cave	1st		Jim Slichter
	11/1/1980	Tulgey Wood		(1st pitch, rated 5.10a) My leader fall interrupting 1st pitch, Tom’s fall on the 2nd, difficulty of the third pitch, and an afternoon start in November cause us to back off.	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
29	11/2/1980	Waterfall	1st		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
30	4/11/1981	Burning Daylight	3rd		Tom Anderson
31	4/12/1981	Walt Bailey	5th		Tom Anderson
	4/12/1981	Bittersweet		Attempt
	5/1/1981	Beezalabub		Attempt
32	5/2/1981	Southeast Direct	1st		Jim Slichter
	5/2/1981	Wiessner		Attempt
	5/2/1981	Bon Homme		Attempt
33	5/23/1981	Soler	3rd		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
	5/23/1981	Hollywood&Vine		Attempt
34	5/24/1981	West Face Variation	2nd		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
35	5/25/1981	TAD	3rd		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
36	7/3/1981	Walt Bailey	6th		Jim Slichter
37	7/4/1981	West Face w Grey Roof	2nd		Jim Slichter
38	4/23/1982	Belle Fourche Buttress	4th		Jim Slichter
39	4/23/1982	Soler	4th		Jim Slichter
	4/24/1982	Southwest Direct		Attempt
40	5/29/1982	Burning Daylight	4th		Jim Slichter, Mark Jacobs
	5/29/1982	One Way Sunset		We do this in two pitches, then rappel down.	Dennis Horning, Jim Slichter
41	5/30/1982	Tower Classic	2nd		Jim Slichter, Mark Jacobs
42	7/2/1982	Witchie	1st		Jim Slichter
43	7/3/1982	Southwest Direct	1st		Jim Slichter
44	7/4/1982	West Face Variation w/o Grey Roof	3rd		Jim Slichter
45	7/23/1982	North Face	3rd		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson, Dan Grady
	7/23/1982	Southeast Direct		To the Meadows
46	7/24/1982	West Face w Grey Roofs	3rd		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson, Dan Grady
47	5/28/1983	Belle Fourche Buttress w Peterson Var	5th		Jim Slichter
48	5/28/1983	Walt Bailey	7th		Jim Slichter, Dick Anderson, Dan Grady
49	5/29/1983	West Face w Grey Roof	4th	/6 hours	Jim Slichter
50	5/29/1983	North Face	4th	/5:40 VC to VC	Jim Slichter
	5/30/1983	TAD		To the Meadows
	7/2/1983	Cave		To the Meadows	Tom Anderson
51	7/3/1983	Belle Fourche Buttress	6th		Tom Anderson
52	5/26/1984	New Wave	1st		Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
	5/26/1984	Assembly Line		To the Meadows
53	5/28/1984	Dump Watt	1st	1	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
54	6/30/1984	Hollywood & Vine	2nd	1 (5.10)	Jim Slichter
55	6/30/1984	Phillip’s Retreat	1st		Jim Slichter, Carl Coy
56	7/1/1984	Dump Watt	2nd	(First pitch, 5.10) One of the toughest, “touchiest” leads I do on the Tower.	Jim Slichter
	7/1/1984	Soler		To the Meadows
	10/25/1984	El Matador		1+ pitches
57	10/25/1984	Walt Bailey	8th		Tom Anderson
58	10/26/1984	West Face Variation	4th		Tom Anderson
59	4/19/1985	Walt Bailey	9th	1	Tom Anderson
60	4/19/1985	Hollywood&Vine	3rd		Tom Anderson
61	4/20/1985	Cave	2nd		Tom Anderson
	4/21/1985	Burning Daylight		Pitch 1 (Tom)	Tom Anderson
	5/24/1986	Burning Daylight		Pitch 1	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
	5/24/1986	Casper College		Pitch 1	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
	5/25/1986	Southwest Direct		Pitch 1,2	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
	5/25/1986	Tulgey Wood		Pitch 1,2	Jim Slichter, Tom Anderson
62	6/21/1986	Hollywood&Vine	4th	Pitch 1,2	Jim Slichter
	6/21/1986	Back to Montana		Pitch 1,2	Jim Slichter
	6/21/1986	Klondike		(Jim)	Jim Slichter
63	8/8/1986	One Way Sunset	1st	(24th different route)	Tom Anderson (24)
	8/9/1986	Way-layed		(Roney)	Tom Anderson, Dave Roney
	8/9/1986	Mr Clean		Start
64	5/30/1987	Witchie	2nd		Jim Slichter (44)

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