The renowned climbers Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell completed the climb of Devil’s Thumb in late August. However, they weren’t able to do it without the help of an experienced local climber who has had a for decades a fascination with Devil’s Thumb.
In his small cabin at the edge of the forest, Dieter Klose gazes out at the ocean. The place he built was within the shadow of this massive rock. In this particular day the fog wall hinders his view. However, Klose is able to pinpoint exactly what’s happening in the clouds.
“It appears like the shape of a German beer stein, but it’s slightly larger in the bottom, which means it doesn’t tip when you’re drunk.” Klose said. Klose. “There’s only enough space for one person on the top and you’re able to barely stand up — if you are brave enough.”
Klose stood on the spot himself for a couple of times. He’s not even able to count the number of unsuccessful climbs he had to endure but his best guess is that it was a dozen. He’s the only one who has made it to the top of that unclimbed Northwest face, and then make it to the top alive. Klose began climbing when he was still a young child. He relocated into Petersburg around 1982. He initially lived behind a graveyard in the tent he borrowed.
“It was ripped up by an animal,” said Klose. “A one of my friends said to me that there was a boat available for sale at 200 dollars. Then I thought, ‘That’s great! And then I could examine Devil’s thumb.'”
Klose claimed that love isn’t at first sight or the first summit. The mountain’s fascination was a constant throughout his life.
“It was everything I had hoped for and everything I was satisfied through ascending,” said Klose. “It’s extremely difficult from any angle but it’s not at a very high which is great. We’re completely alone. It’s also a wild-looking thing.”
Klose is a builder by profession. He suffered a back injury during work a few years back. The injury nearly put an end to his climbing careerhowever, he’s still a legend to climbers from Stikine as being father for the Stikine Ice Caps.
“I refer to it as Dieter is essential to anyone who is here for climbing,” said world-class climber Tommy Caldwell.
Caldwell visited North Carolina recently for a climb of Devil’s Thumb and shoot a documentary on the climb. Dieter gave him advice along with his climbing teammate, Alex Honnold.
“There’s no one else who is as knowledgeable about Devil’s Thumb.” Honnold said. Honnold. “He’s just like the custodian of the local area and, just like controlling the mountains.”
Klose was also a part of the team that drafted the route. The route is tagged with every peak on and off the entire massif, over the twin summits of Witch’s Towers, the slender Cat’s Ears Spires — and finally, the towering temple that is Devil’s Thumb itself. Caldwell declared that the characteristics were as savage as the sounds of their names.
“All on the summits seem pointed,” said Caldwell. “You ascend it, and then you’re at the top and you’ll see hundreds of thousands or thousands of feet fall on either side of your. It’s among the most accessible summits I’ve ever walked across in my lifetime.”
Before leaving Alaska two climbers stopped to record their thoughts in the book Dieter Klose keeps of the mountain. It includes names of everyone who has ever climb it in the history of living. Alex and Tommy made a sketch of their trek that occupied two pages.
In front of his home, Klose gazed across the sound. He claimed that the view is more beautiful from this point.
“You’re not always having fun on the difficult climbs as you’re exhausted and hungry, thirsty and all that,” said Klose. “It’s only when you climb back to the valley and gaze up at the mountain, that you really get a sense of satisfaction from it.”
Climbing the Devil’s Thumb today could be a difficult task for him. However, Dieter Klose has dreams of one final climb.
