Devils Tower , the massive laccolith in northeast Wyoming , stands grandiloquent at 867 feet . Roughly 4000thrillseekersdare to ascend the landmark every year , but only one somebody has ever made it to the top without climbing there . Meet George Hopkins , the only man to ever jump onto Devils Tower .
On October 1 , 1941 , Hopkins , a professional parachuter who held various earth records for his daring jumps , floated his direction onto the top of the Tower , which is some the size of a football field of honor . Though he stuck the landing , the daredevil did n’t design very well for the trip down .
Hopkinsclaimed that he had plan to descend using a rope , but the rope became hopelessly tangled in the jump , and later flash-frozen . fit in to ahistorianfor the National Park Service , however , the R-2 bring on the side of the Tower and out of Hopkins ' reach . Whatever happened , the R-2 was clearly not an selection , and officials decide they would have to observe an alternative way to get him down . go to rescue Hopkins with theGoodyear Blimpor an experimentalNavy helicopterrolled in , but officials settle to draft the service of an experient climber instead .
Jack Durrance , a scholar at Dartmouth , had been one of the first people to ever climb the Tower a few years before . ( you may still climb the Durrance Route today , in fact . ) The climber was more than willing to serve , but regrettably he had to take a string across the rural area due tobad weather condition . As a answer , Hopkins terminate up spend nigh to a workweek run aground on top before Durrance could arrive and assist him down . “ I depend I counted the big boulders on that doomed mountain peak a thousand times , and I gave ‘ em all names you could n’t impress if I recite you what they were , ” Hopkinssaid . Once assist arrived , however , the parentage was easy and uneventful .
What possessed Hopkins to try such a stunt in the first place ? In a discussion : John Cash . A acquaintance bet the parachute jumper $ 50 to do it . “ I had my mitt out fishin ’ for the boodle when I reach the land , ” Hopkinssaid . “ Earl pay off . ”
