Climbing Vedauwoo, Wyoming

By: Kase van Rees

First things first, what an interesting landscape. Usually a climbing trip means driving deep into a mountain range sprinkled with climbing routes on the faces of large walls towering above the trails which cut through them. Vedauwoo is different.

Among the plains of Wyoming are groups of tall boulders laid on top of each other as if on purpose. Nestled between these rocks we found a wide range of routes that were as unique in style as the landscape around them. But before we could set off climbing, we had to tackle the approach.

We reached far above our heads, jamming our hands and feet into spaces between the boulders and scanning the giant rock pile for the best way upwards towards our goal. Some of the group split off to take a path up more suited to their climbing styles, but the scramble to our destination was well worth the scrapes and bruises.

Once we set out our gear on the couple flat spots of rock we could find it was time to scope out the route that we had come for. Two pillars of stone stood adjacent to each other leaning over us like skyscrapers. The style of climb is known as a "chimney," where we would wedge our bodies between the two walls and push ourselves further and further into the air.

The final move, a push from the back wall forwards, with only one small foothold and a seemingly impossible hand to keep you from falling below.

As the sun set we wandered back to the campsite and naturally we partied around the fire. The next day we rose early and made our way to the next spot in a different group of rocks. Each section of our trip had a new feel to it that was uniquely Vedauwoo, but that's a story best told through pictures.