Devil's Tower (Devils Tower) is a columnar rock, reminiscent of a tower, consisting of a bundle of separate stone pillars, located in Wyoming. This mountain of an unusually regular shape, which arose 200 million years ago, for a long time gave the impression of an artificial structure, but not human, but of diabolical origin. It is worth noting that the rock is 2.5 times larger than the Cheops pyramid.
The mountain has long served as an object of reverent worship and a source of fear among the local population, while it was argued that strange mysterious light phenomena were repeatedly observed at the very top.
The Indians say that once seven beautiful girls climbed to the flat top of the mountain, fleeing a huge terrible bear. The beast, desperate to catch the girls, left deep claw marks on the slopes, trying to climb up. When the bear finally managed to reach the top, the girls jumped onto a small rock and escaped the fate of perishing in the claws of the monster, soaring into the sky.
According to another myth, the Devil's Tower got its mystical name from an evil demon beating a drum on top, generating thunder. Be that as it may, the rock really amazes with its size and bizarre shape. This is the highest point at a distance of many kilometers around, on clear days it can be seen over 160 km.
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We have conquered this peak only twice: a local resident in the 19th century and rock climber Jack Durrance in 1938. The plane cannot land on the top, and helicopters are literally blown off a small platform. Experienced skydiver George Hopkins hoped to become the third conqueror of the summit.
The landing was successful, but all the special ropes that were thrown to him from the planes became unusable from hitting the rocks. The parachutist became a prisoner of the rock. The news of this spread throughout America. Soon, dozens of planes were circling in the air, dropping free food and equipment on Hopkins. But most of them didn’t make it.
It turned out that the impregnable smooth granite rock is inhabited by rats, which every night became more insolent. A specially created Hopkins rescue committee called in experienced climber Ernst Field and his partner. But the climbers were forced to return after 3 hours of ascent. Field confessed: “This damn lump is too tough for us! Professionals conquer peaks over 8 km high, but they are powerless in front of 390 meters!"
The committee began to search for D. Durrance through the press. Two days later, he arrived and began preparations for the ascent along a route known to him. Climbers led by Durrance reached the summit and lowered the exhausted parachutist. In total, Hopkins remained a prisoner of the Tower for about a week.
