Sanders questions the nature of American Indians’ historical connection to the tower. “I do really appreciate that he is helping the Porcupine Clinic, and that is a critical issue for Pine Ridge, but I think he could use a different approach to raise money,” Brennan says. “Devils Tower has been sacred since the dawn of time, and to climb on it with complete disregard for the climbing ban request is disrespectful,” says Tamra Brennan, an Eastern Cherokee who founded the grassroots group Protect Sacred Sites as Indigenous People, One Nation. Since 1995, American Indians have requested that climbers not scale Devils Tower in June, as a form of respect for their ancestral connection to the tower. Many Indians consider climbing on the tower to be a violation of their religious and ceremonial icon. He shares that reverence with more than 20 American Indian tribes who consider Devils Tower a sacred place.īut there is little love in that mutual appreciation. “There are Third World conditions two hours away.”ĭevils Tower is his holy place. “You don’t have to go around the world to find people who desperately need help,” he says. His year-long push - the culmination of 36 years of climbing and guiding thousands up the cracks lining Devils Tower - raised about $10,000 in medical supplies for the struggling Porcupine Clinic on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. Since July 3, when the 56-year-old Sanders finished his record-setting charitable quest to scale the 867-foot monolithic monument 365 times in 365 days, the lithe and charismatic climber has missed only one day of climbing on Devils Tower. He’s had more of those moments than anyone else.

“Every single moment on this rock is so special.” “I love this,” he says, his blue eyes shining in the shaky glow of headlamps, his hands flitting between gear and ropes. There is at least an hour of rappelling before his team’s feet are on the ground. His day began 18 hours earlier, and he has already danced up enough routes to have summited the iconic tower in northeastern Wyoming three times. With a yellow-toothed grin framed by his snow-white handlebar ‘stache, he is chuckling despite the fear in his fellow climbers’ eyes. It’s almost midnight on a moonless night and Frank Sanders has leashed three first-time Devils Tower climbers to a pair of bolts 600 feet off the ground. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuĭEVILS TOWER, Wyo.

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