Witchie is a seldom-led climb on the east side. It has excellent moves, but contains some bushes and loose rock. However, it is definitely worth doing if you are looking for something a litte less conventional than the more classic lines to the right.

Follow a left-leaning corner to a roof. Climb around the roof and into a finger and hand crack that leads to another corner and an anchor. This pitch has a little vegetation, but is otherwise clean with solid rock. 5.9

Keep following the long corner using mostly stems and finger jams until an anchor is reached in a chimney. This pitch is very sustained 5.10b. Some loose flakes can be found on the upper section, but they can mostly be avoided. 160 ft.

Witchie

Buckspeck

The Hourglass

Adrenaline Surfer

Pinball Wizard

Team Ropin

Soaring

Back to Montana

Stepping Out of Flatland

Broken Tree

Everlasting

New Wave

Missed Opportunity

Assembly Line

Belle Fourche Buttress

Gooseberry Jam

Maid in the Shaid

Path Through Enlightenment

Patent Pending

Casper College

Dump Watt

Surfer Girl

Burning Daylight

NORTH FACE RAPPEL ROUTE

Contrived sport route with fun movement on good edges. Climb the 1st pitch of Witchie then exit left, half-way up the 2nd pitch, to belay anchor under roof. Climb left around the roof into shallow corner. Continue stemming and face climbing while reaching out right for the bolts on the arête. Wander out on to the arête occasionally. Place a .4 camalot after the 8th bolt. All the hardware is in excellent condition.

A pretty good pitch, but given the abundance of truly classic lines nearby and some suspect rock, I'll call it merely good.

The pitch follows about 15 bolts up an off-vertical face and an arete.  The crux is midway, after the only bolt on the right side of the arete; this section is a little spicey -- the bolt is at your feet after you pull the crux but there is still a body length of insecure moves to get to the next bolt.  If you are under about 5'10", you might find the bolt after this one placed just out of reach from the obvious clipping stance.  After the crux, the climbing eases off somewhat until you reach a ledge where you might expect to find anchors, only to find four more bolts (happily, more closely spaced) on an imposingly blank slab; fear not, this secondary crux is not as featureless as it first appears.

Descent: 50+ meter rap from two bolts.

An excellent anomaly that Pat aptly characterized as, "the average man's Animal Cracker Land". Unlike the typical Tower corner, this one follows an elegant wavy fracture crack up a vague prow. It's easily identified by the large lower pod, reminiscent of a Yosemite feature. The crack opens and closes throughout, providing big moves between sinker locks. Start on the lower crack of Dump Watt, cut right into the big pod, exit this and stem a bit up the corner to the right (Marriage Was my Worst Mistake), before being forced to commit to the fracture crack entirely for some cruxy pulls, and exit left on faceholds into the final 20' of Dump Watt to beefy, brand-new anchors. Thought-provoking, sustained, and surprisingly steep--this is a very unique pitch for the Tower with a distinct character!

This is essentially the direct finish to the second pitch of the free route Dump Watt.

Pitch 1--Climb either the first pitch of Dump Watt (5.9+) or the recommended new route Hourglass (5.11a) to the beefy, brand new belay bolts at a shelf stance.

Pitch 2--Free climb (5.10-) or clean aid (C1) up the fracture crack on the left face of the corner above to a horizontal at about 50', this is where Dump Watt exits left into the next crack over and where Unnamed truly begins. The horizontal accepts bomber cams up to #1 camalot, which will be the last good gear for quite a ways. Immediately after the horizontal, and for almost the entire length of the upper corner, you will be stringing together very marginal placements since the corner is pretty much closed. Lots of marginal beaks, tipped out small blades and baby angles make this a heady pitch! The crack opens back up at the roof, where you can place some bomber cams and pendulum left to finish up the last 30' of Dump Watt (C1 #.75-#3 cams) to its standard 2nd pitch anchors.

Can't remember much except that it was desperate.  Dennis Horning had bolted this line but failed to climb it and offered me the FA.  7/4/99 I did it after Dean Brault had fallen off.

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.

A pretty fun stemming pitch with a slightly spicey crux.  It is a bit licheny, so my guess is that it doesn't get climbed that much, though it is an excellent pitch.

Approach by climbing the first pitch of Everlasting (5.8+).  From the Everlasting belay, traverse right past the first bolt of Everlasting's 2nd pitch and climb slighlty loose and vegetated cracks and flakes up into the dihedral formed by the right side of the Everlasting column.  This is where the fun begins.

Stem up the corner that starts fairly moderately but becomes increasingly difficult as you ascend.  The crack in the dihedral eventually peters out, but good RPs can be placed in the crack on the right.  The section at the stemming crux does not eat gear and the final moves out of the crux are a bit above your last nut.  Continue more easily to a final tricky move left onto the Everlasting column.

Double rope rap to the Everlasting belay and then a double rope rap to the ground

Climb Buckspeck, belay at bolts on a nice sloping ledge. The bolt line to the left is Team Ropin', the bolt line to right is Stepping. Description only for the first pitch, second pitch looks like stemming with bolts.

This climb is unique for the Tower and is many crimping on positive edges and side-pullng around aretes. It wanders across two columns on the face and utilizes the crack only occasionally for couple tasty locks and supplemental gear.

Climb up and right to the crack off the belay. Follow the bolt line on the face edge, crimp, and side-pull around the arete. Move back onto the face and left towards the crack. Place gear and embrace some locks. Keep moving up and left towards the bolted belay, same as for Team Ropin'.

This pitch along Buckspeck and Team Ropin' makes a nice Euro ending in the shade, when your cuticles and head want a break.

This route is a good way to access Assembly Line.  It starts to its right.  Scramble up to a ledge and start your typical low-angled easy DT crack (starts as left-facing dihedral) for P1.  When I did it, there was a "broken tree" near its base.  This pitch is probably a 5.6 or so.  To the left are 2 eye bolts for an anchor.  Continue from the anchors as P2 becomes a set of dual cracks with some increased difficulty and trickiness towards the end.  This pitch ends on a nice ledge, where you can move left about 20 ft or so to access Assembly Line.  If you are feeling comfortable at the good stances, the second can do a bit of modified simul-climbing (clipping to the leader's pieces occasionally) to do this as a pseudo single pitch climb.

Like many DT climbs, there is no move as difficult as the route's rating.  I didn't even think that Broken Tree was too sustained as there were several good rest stances.  That being said, the climbing was enjoyable.

P1:  A very nice 5.8+ pitch that offers some nice variety.  Begin in a low angle crack just to the right of Broken Tree.  When the crack thins, step left to the first of several bolts.  Belay at the anchors.

P2:  This is the business!  Eleven quickdraws and a clear head is all you need.  The exposure is incredible... and when you rappel from the anchors... WOW!!!

What a fantastic climb!  We climbed this as an approach to Assembly Line - it starts at the Broken Tree area and finishes on top of the pillar where Assembly Line begins.  Just to the right of this line is "Broken Tree" - another 10a that follows an obvious steep dihedral formed by, I believe, the Everlasting column.

I led this whole thing in one pitch using a 70m rope - this is definitely the way to do the climb:  even with a 60, have your partner tied in and ready to move up the pillar after you as you reach near the top - you will use all the rope.  The climb starts off on a ramp and crack and gradually gets steeper and steeper, culminating in a very off-balance step-right move at the bolt.  This move is very reminiscent of the crux of p1 of C'est La Vie in Eldorado Canyon in Boulder.  Fantastic!

The climbing after this move is still quite difficult (but there are stances), easing after 15'.  The climb culminates in 20' of perfect hand crack.

This route is the crack right between New Wave and Broken Tree. Climbs to the same anchor as the first pitch of New Wave. It has some thin hands and feet and is very hard to protect.

An amazingly continuous hand crack that begins from the platform reached after the steep steps on the Northeast approach, directly left of Teacher's Lounge. The route starts after the two pitches moving up and left through ledges and bushes and back right to Teacher's Lounge ledge as described in Patent Pending and the Northeast Buttress approach. The route is easily located from the Teachers Lounge above and to the left (around the corner) of the rap anchors for New Wave and Broken Tree. The line starts out a hand crack and continues that way for about 110' where it reaches a little hollow offwidth section and is 5.9 all the way.  The offwidth section is much easier climbing and a good place to rest.  It continues on for about 20-30' to a bulge.  If you look left from there you will realize the rap anchors are hidden around the corner on the column on your left (look for a bolted hanger facing you that tells you where the anchors are around the corner and protects the move to the anchors, you can not see the anchors unless you lean way back so thank goodness someone put the bolt there because I was getting ready to try to pull the bulge above me). The line is, as a friend of mine put it, sicko good and was the best line we found on the tower at that grade by far!!!

This route takes on the right side of the obvious yellow columns known collectively as the Belle Fourche Buttress.  The first pitch is short and goes up the left side of a small block to a nice ledge with bolted anchors.  Pitch 2 is around the corner off the right side of the ledge, and it is Spectacular!  Down climb a few feet off the ledge and traverse right a foot or two until you are staring up the beautiful finger crack splitting the wall.  The next 20 feet is the business!  Crank the perfect finger locks until you can get a thin hand jam as the crack widens.  The upper part of the pitch is steep hands at an easier grade -ENJOY.  The climb ends on a nice ledge.  Go to the far side of the ledge to find a bolted anchor atop "Burning Daylight".

If big crack are your style, then enjoy this beauty.  The crux is not technically difficult... just awkward... and comes mid pitch one.

P1:  Begin with the initial moves of Belle Fourche Buttress.  Continue up the wide crack to the top of the buttress.  This is a 150 ft. pitch... SAVE THE GAS!  Most parties rappel from the anchors here.

P2:  Continue straight up to the large roofs.  Traverse left a couple cracks and climb through the roof about 50 ft. to a large belay ledge.

P3 & 4:  Same as Casper College.

Starting at Teacher's Lounge, climb the corner directly above where New Wave and Broken Tree end. This route features thin, continuous stemming with a finger-tip crack for protection and no real rests until near the anchor. The crack widens a bit as it gets higher. Endurance climbing with hard moves thrown into the mix. This corner is a full-body workout and a phenomenal route that really lets you know you're at Devils Tower.

Start on Skinny Puppy, at the first bolt, climb left and up through discontinuous fractures that lead into the tight corner that becomes P2 of Calculus Affair higher up. Belay at the anchors for P1 of Calculus Affair. 160+ft

A fun pitch with some tricky aiding.

An offwidth climb that begins from the platform reached after the steep steps on the Northeast approach, directly below Teacher's Lounge.  The first two pitches move up and left through ledges and bushes and back right to Teacher's Lounge ledge.  A much more attractive start for the 5.10 climber is to climb either New Wave or Broken Tree, both of which take more direct and pleasing lines to the Lounge.  Pitch three moves straight left to the crack that splits the first two overhangs.  Move up and over the overhangs (crux) and continue on sustained off-feet for another 100', belay at bolts (160').  Continue for another pitch and scramble to the summit, or rappel back to Teacher's Lounge.  One can also toprope Patent Pending from the bolts on top of pitch 3, but it is a good lead.

About 10 feet to the left of Burning Daylight is this great pitch.  There are numerous fixed pins on this pitch of questionable quality.  There aren't other pro options in some of these sections, so this climb may warrant an 'S' rating.

Climb the crack through an awkward start to a good rest.  Though the difficulty of the climb is mainly in keeping it together for a long pitch with many hard sections, the next 30 feet are probably the crux... a mix of laybacking and stemming past lots of fixed pins.  When the crack peters out near the top, moderate but runout face climbing leads up and right to the exit moves on Burning Daylight.

Double rope rappel from the anchors of Burning Daylight.  This pitch could also be toproped by first climbing Belle Fourche Buttress or Burning Daylight.

Pitch 1- 5.9  Climb 30 feet of broken rock into a beautiful finger crack.  Follow the varied finger crack up until it is possible to work right on crack and face holds to a stance and a 2 bolt anchor. 150ft

Pitch 2- 5.10b  Stem your way up the corner using the leaning crack on your left for protection.  Traverse left at a horizontal crack (good pro) into the next crack.  Follow this corner of beautiful finger and hand jams to a 2 bolt anchor. 160ft

Pitch 3- 5.9 Appears to be another typical Devils Tower wide summit chimney.

Rap the route with 2 ropes

This is a great route with amazing climbing.  The first pitch can be a little mossy but it only pads your fingers in the amazing jams. This route was cleaned July 2015

Surfer Girl is a very open dihedral with a finger crack that you will milk for every bit of purchase it can give, even as the flaring tip jams and smearing feet push you towards air time. Good locks at intervals and excellent protection for most of the route make this demanding line actually seem doable. Work through several difficult sections to catch a rest on a ledge about halfway up. Continue up a short section of difficult wide fingers until the crack opens to hands before a traverse right to the Maid in the Shade anchors.

One of three must-do routes in the Belle Fourche Buttress area... an excellent hang-out on hot afternoons.  This climb follows the left facing dihedral of the buttress.  I can't tell the difference between a 5.9 or 5.11a crux a lot of times at the Tower, but this one felt kind of burly.

More varied than your typical Tower pitch, this pitch covers a lot of different techniques in pulling a series of bulges.  The climb really gets going at about the 40' foot mark, with tips around a slight leftward jog in the dihedral followed by thin fingers over a bulge.  A similar section immediately follows on thin hands over another bulge.  The crack then turns to lower angled wide hands leading up to an easier-than-it-looks exit.

Double rope rap from the anchors at the top of the pitch.

This is a description for the recently updated North Face Rappel Route.  This is the ideal way to rappel after summiting routes like Assembly Line or Patent Pending, or for rappeling in the afternoon shade on a hot day.  Rappels can be completed with a single 80m rope or two 60m.

1. Find a cairn roughly 20-30 feet skier's right (climber's left) of the topout for Assembly Line.  Down scramble on easy but exposed terrain to an alcove with a green-camouflaged rebolted rap station.  The first rappel is approximately 15m to a large ledge with the next rebolted rap station near the lip.

2. Rappel 40m down and slightly right, heading to a rebolted rap station in a dihedral under a large roof.

3. Rappel <40m down to a rebolted rap station on a pedistal.

4. Here you have two options: rappel ~20m to an older (but decent condition) rap station on the climber's left side of the column you are on, followed by another ~40m rap to the ground, or rappel directly ~60m to the ground from your current location.

These four rap stations are camouflaged green and were replaced in July and August 2021 (except for the optional 5th station, circa 1991).

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in East and Northeast Buttress Approach