It’s not the first time the three have climbed together, though it’s been three decades since their last expedition in the Grand Tetons in 1988.

“The boys were both young men when we went to climbing school. The older son worked out there for three different summers and he climbed all of the Tetons except Moran – I told him he’s got to go back and get Moran,” Weber says.

Weber’s two sons followed in his footsteps, both becoming veterinarians. Weber himself practiced in Leesburg for 30 years, he says, before his hobby of wildlife photography turned into an obsession and a new career that included 100 magazine covers.

It was through this hobby that the family got to know Devils Tower.

“We camped out west every summer when the boys were little and growing up,” he says.

“I liked Devils Tower because I could take pictures of prairie dogs, so we always went by and we always said we ought to climb that one day.”

When it came to it, getting to the top of the Tower was a little tougher than Weber expected.