The Durrance Route is a climbing route on

Devils Tower Devils Tower (also known as Mato Tipila or Bear Lodge) is a butte, laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Bel ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, United States. First pioneered by Jack Durrance and Harrison Butterworth in September 1938, it was the second free ascent of Devils Tower, following the first ascent led by Fritz Wiessner in 1937. The Wiessner Route lies a few hundred feet to the right of the Durrance Route and has a comparable difficulty. Today the Durrance Route is the most popular route on Devils Tower. It is considered a more interesting and enjoyable route than the Wiessner Route, due to more variable terrain and better belay stances. The route is recognized in the historic 1979 climbing text, '' Fifty Classic Climbs of North America'', and other guide books.

Route description

The route begins below and to the right of the two trees in the reference image. It then ascends the left side of the leaning pillar and continues up the most inset dihedral. The second pitch involves jamming and stemming up the Durance Crack, followed by another pitch along the Cussing Crack. It then ascends a flake, followed by a

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

to a chockstone. The final pitch has two variations: Bailey's Direct, a direct vertical finish; and the Jump Traverse, which involves leaping an exposed gap to the right, then following the easy Meadows Trail to the summit. It involves some difficult techniques, including off-width, and despite its easy grade is not well-suited for beginners.

Significant features

Leaning column

An volcanic column has been slightly tipped from vertical. Reports that it was too unstable prompted a

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

inspection in 2006. The inspection found that although the pillar did move under a climber's weight, it was unlikely that it would dislodge the pillar. It recommended further monitoring of the situation.

Notable ascents

In 2017, Robert Kelman became the oldest person to climb Devils Tower, aged 86. He ascended through the Durrance Route, (direct finish).

References

{{Reflist Traditional climbing routes Devils Tower National Monument