How An Underdog Wyoming Team Was First To Climb Notorious Himalaya Route

It was Sept. 7, 1995, when a group of four rock climbers from Wyoming free-climbed their way to the summit of the Trango Towers in the very southern region of the Himalaya.

Just about anyone who knew of their expedition believed they had no business being there, let alone gave them any chance of success.

To free climb means to complete each rope length of climbing (a pitch) without falling (also known as “to send” the route).

The rope is still there in case of a fall, but the idea is they made it to the summit on their own strength. Sometimes a climber may try a particular pitch dozens of times before sending it.

The underdog group of Todd Skinner, Mike Lilygren, Bobby Model and Jeff Bechtel overcame illness, injury and avalanches as they endured 60 days on the wall and reached the summit.

They named the route “Cowboy Direct,” a grade VII, 5.13a, which is a very challenging rock climb by both the standards of the 1990s and now.

Nearly 30 years would go by without a repeat of the Cowboy Direct.

Lightning Strikes Twice

Last July, a trio of professional climbers — Jesse Huey, Matt Segal and Jordan Cannon — set their sights on repeating the free ascent of Cowboy Direct pioneered by those Wyoming climbers.

Their self-supported six-week expedition allotted them two weeks on the massive granite wall given the logistics of travel and staging gear.

Progress was slow and hard fought.

They completed a pitch here or a pitch there amid miserably cold and windy conditions. All three climbers sent the crux of the route at 5.13a, but they knew they still had a lot of hard climbing above them.

In a nutshell, the higher the grade number, the more difficult the climb, with the decimals detailing the type and conditions of a climb. And anything after 5.10, letters are added for levels of difficulty, meaning a 5.13b would be more difficult than a 5.13a.

Their skin and bodies were taking a beating from the workload and their food reserves were dwindling quickly.

With the expedition time clock ticking, the group found themselves staring up at yet another challenging pitch of rock climbing.

Cannon took one look at his weary climbing partners and said he knew instantly this next pitch was up to him.

He clipped the climbing gear to his harness and tried to summon the mental and physical strength he would need to push his limit one more time that day.

Before pulling onto the wall he turned to his climbing partners with a smile and repeated a line from the hit TV show “Ted Lasso”: “You know, people have underestimated me my entire life.”

In the show, Ted is playing darts with the show’s antagonist in the bar. It looks as though Ted has no chance of winning, but then he switches from playing with his right hand to playing with his left hand and throws a bullseye.

Just as Lasso goes on to claim victory in the game of darts, Jordan floated through the technical and airy climbing moves at 20,000 feet. Within days they would share high fives, hugs,and even a few tears atop the summit.

For Hayden And Michah

Jesse, Matt, and Jordan had selected this objective to test their abilities, but they had also hoped the summit could bring closure on the loss of their friends and climbing partners Hayden Kennedy and Micah Dash years before.

The climbing team spread the final remains of Hayden’s ashes and hammered in a pin from Micah’s climbing rack to give them that chance.

While the second ascent of the Cowboy Direct proved the talent and determination of three talented climbers, it also put an undeniable stamp of toughness on the effort made 28 years earlier by a rookie team from Wyoming.

Cowboy State Pioneers

In the mid-1990s there were fewer than 10 people in the world trying to free climb objectives on par with the Trango Towers.

One of those people was Todd Skinner of Pinedale, Wyoming.

As Todd assembled his expedition team, he looked for mental toughness and grit more than technical prowess or big wall experience. In fact, he was known for saying, “The mountain doesn’t give a damn about your resume.”

Enter Mike Lilygren, Bobby Model, and Steve Bechtel.

Lilygren had never climbed more than a difficulty 5.12a, which meant he would quickly be out of his league on this route.

Model was nothing more than an average dirtbag climber living out of his truck. He had never even touched a big wall.

The fourth member of the climbing team was intended to be Steve Bechtel, who had really been a uniting force and spark of the trip. But an unfortunate twist forced him to retreat from base camp with the symptoms of altitude sickness just as the group was beginning to climb.

His brother Jeff Bechtel was the base camp manager and helped Steve get to a lower elevation to seek medical treatment. Jeff returned to base camp and spent a few days cleaning up from the impacts of an avalanche that had wiped out most of their equipment.

It seemed quite likely the avalanche could have wiped out the team of climbers as well.

‘I’m Coming Up’

Days later, Jeff scrambled over to the radio as he heard Todd’s voice calling through. Jeff let the climbers know Steve was on a plane back to the U.S., and could feel the blow to group morale.

Despite having next to no climbing experience, a few days later Jeff called up to the climbers, “Move over boys, I’m coming up.”

If free climbing Trango Towers was uncommon, inviting a non-climber to help share in the workload was absolutely insane.

But Jeff grew up in Wyoming and knew how to work hard. So, he helped haul gear and belay the others as they slowly worked out the moves pitch by pitch. It didn’t hurt that Jeff also had a constant and cutting sense of humor.

As the days wore on, the local Pakistani liaison for the group had to petition the government three times for an extension to the climbing permit.

As Lilygren recalls, “A second and third request were unprecedented. We had no idea if they would be granted, but we also knew we weren’t coming down.”

More than experience or talent, this group had grit. Written inside their tents was a mantra not so different from Lasso’s comment of being underestimated. It simply said, “Cowboy Up.”

Cowboy Up

And Cowboy Up they did.

Mike pushed his climbing level to 5.12c. Jeff went on to lead several pitches of 5.10. And despite having pneumonia most of the trip, Bobby sent critical pitches of climbing and took over the role of photographer.

The ragtag team reached the Trango Towers summit after nearly two months of living on the side of a wall.

They had each lost 25 pounds from their already lean bodies. Left on the 36 pitches below them was blood, sweat, tears and plenty of skin from their shredded fingers.

But Jeff was still cracking jokes, Mike was still the eternal optimist and Bobby was snapping photos that would launch his career.

It seemed Todd had put together exactly the right team for what was required.

For this team, a deep encounter with grief would come a few years down the road as both Todd Skinner and Bobby Model would died far before their times. All who knew them would reflect back on this adventure as a springboard to the best decade of their lives.

You Can’t Take A Summit With You

Despite the 28-year gap in their experiences, the two successful ascents of the Cowboy Direct share a lot more than a steep granite corridor to the summit of a Himalayan peak. Each team of climbers was underestimated and written off.

And yet, they showed up with commitment and teamwork, humor and humility — and a whole lot of try hard.

Yes, this is a story about two tougher-than-nails climbing groups. But Todd Skinner wouldn’t let you off the hook that easily.

He would be the first to say that it was never about the summit. It was about testing their limits and rising to the challenge. It was about finishing the expedition better friends than they had started.

You can’t take a summit with you when you leave, but you can take everything the mountain teaches you along the way.

Turns out the same is true of relationships, jobs and other significant life experiences. There will be storms, hard chapters and twists along the way. But there can also be laughter, friendship and personal bests despite the odds — and the occassional shredded fingertip.

What that pioneering Wyoming “Cowboy Up” group proved is you don’t have to climb a mountain in the Himalaya to bring out the best in yourself. All you need are a few good partners and a reason to try really, really hard.