Climbing Bear Lodge a.k.a. Devils Tower

On July 12 a reporter and I climbed Devils Tower. We went up for a story about a Gillette man who has climbed the tower for 58 consecutive months. Leigh Lassle started climbing about five years ago after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Ever since he’s been pushing himself as a climber and living life to the fullest. He’s a great teacher and one hell of a nice guy.  He got us to the top with ease. We ran out of water towards the top and the climb took a lot longer than we had planned for but all in all, it was a great experience.  Anybody can climb this thing. If you’re thinking about it, get out there and do it. If I can, you can too. Here’s a few images from the climb in chronological order.

The approach.

The bowling alley.

Pitch one.

Top of pitch one.

The shadow of the tower from the top of pitch one.

A nice guy from Kentucky starting pitch two.

Belaying from top of pitch two.

Third pitch.

Planning the fourth pitch.

Top of pitch four.

Summit

Myself, Leigh, Scott and Shannon.

Rappeling from the top.

The bottom.

© Tim Goessman 2024. All rights reserved.
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