Sky Grulke on Gills Nose Direct

On September 8th, 2023, Sky Grulke became the third person to lead Gills Nose Direct 5.11c X. A popular top rope at Devils Lake, you’ll hear many out-of-towners comment, “it would be a 5 star classic if it had some bolts.” Not to be bothered with the naysayers, Sky rehearsed this thing until it was appearing in his dreams. He allegedly told Tommy Caldwell it was, “a little R rated.”

He asked Garrett and I to come up on a Friday morning and support him. Garrett on belay, me with the camera. Even though when we woke up it was raining, we had a message from Sky saying he was already there. Classic. He warmed up, then sat on the boulder below Brintons Buttress by himself for a few minutes. Was he expressing his gratitude to the Lake or was he mentally shitting himself? We’ll never know.

Either way, he calmly came over and put his shoes on, racked up all 3 cams he would need, asked Garrett to pull the rope, and me to pull the anchor back from the edge (in classic old school Devils Lake fashion).

He absolutely hiked it.