BROOKINGS – The Brookings Wildlife Federation will host Terry Wieczorek, Brookings, who will talk about climbing Devil’s Tower and his visits to other hiking and climbing sites in the national parks of the west. Wieczorek, a Brookings attorney, federation board member, and mountain climbing enthusiast, will speak on Feb. 1 at the federation’s monthly Infolunch held in the First Lutheran Church Coffee House at noon.
Wieczorek will show photos of his recent climbing adventure at Devils Tower and then briefly talk about trips to the Sierra Nevadas, hiking to the top of Mount Whitney, and a back country trip into Yosemite, including getting to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite.
Devils Tower juts 867 feet from the Wyoming prairie in the northern Black Hills. The circumference at its base is 1 mile. Geologists say that the tower is an “intrusive body of rock formed by magma which cooled underground and was later exposed by erosion.”
Northern Plains Tribes have lived and held ceremonies near the Tower for thousands of years. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Devils Tower as the nation’s first national monument.
Hundreds of parallel cracks down the sides of the tower make it one of the most unique climbs in North America. The first records of climbing the tower date to 1893, when two local ranchers used a wooden ladder to assist climbing.
Today, climbers from all over the world consider Devils Tower to be a premier climbing area, and about 5,000 make the climb each year.
Time of ascent depends on skill, route difficulty, and the number of climbers in the group. The average time for two climbers to climb is between four to six hours. It takes about one to two hours to rappel down.
Some climbing routes are closed between March and July to protect nesting peregrine falcons. To be respectful of Native American values, visitors during June are asked to voluntarily refrain from climbing on the tower, and hikers to voluntarily refrain from hiking the inside of the Tower Trail Loop.
The top of the tower is about the size of a football field.
The Infolunch is free and open to the public. Lunch is available at the Coffee House café. The federation is an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation and the South Dakota Wildlife Federation. The Brookings group is celebrating its 40th anniversary of providing information, events and services concerning out-of-doors activities and wildlife conservation to the Brookings community. Contact BWF President Spencer Vaa, 695-6867.
