The Durrance Route is a climbing route on

Devils Tower Devils Tower (also known as Bear Lodge Butte) is a butte, possibly 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 Belle F ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, United States. First pioneered by

Jack Durrance John Randall Durrance (July 20, 1912 – November 7, 2003) was a pioneering American Rock climbing, rock climber and Mountaineering, mountaineer. He learned to climb while attending high school in Germany, and later founded the Dartmouth Mountain ...

and Harrison Butterworth in September 1938, it was the second

free ascent An emergency ascent is an ascent to the surface by a diver in an emergency. More specifically, it refers to any of several procedures for reaching the surface in the event of an out-of-air emergency, generally while scuba diving. Emergency asc ...

of Devils Tower, following the first ascent led by

Fritz Wiessner Fritz Wiessner (February 26, 1900 – July 3, 1988) was a German American pioneer of free climbing. Born in Dresden, Germany, he immigrated to New York City in 1929 and became a U.S. citizen in 1935. In 1939, he made one of the earliest att ...

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 Belaying is a variety of techniques climbers use to create friction within a climbing system, particularly on a climbing rope, so that a falling climber does not fall very far. A climbing partner typically applies tension at the other end of t ...

stances. The route is recognized in the historic climbing text, ''

Fifty Classic Climbs of North America ''Fifty Classic Climbs of North America'' is a climbing guidebook and history written by Steve Roper and Allen Steck. It is considered a classic piece of climbing literature, known to many climbers as simply "The Book", and has served as an inspi ...

'', 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 typic ...

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 Crack climbing is a type of rock climbing in which the climber follows a crack in the rock and uses specialized climbing techniques. The sizes of cracks vary from those that are just barely wide enough for the fingers to fit inside, to those tha ...

, 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), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

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 Climbing routes Devils Tower National Monument