Crazy Horse Memorial

Carving monuments out of South Dakota's mountains isn't just the preserve of Mount Rushmore. 17 miles down the road from the four immortalised presidents lies Crazy Horse Memorial. This sculpture of an American Indian Chief on horseback dwarfs Mount Rushmore. When complete it will be five times larger, carved completely in three dimensions.

The sculpture was commissioned by Lakota Indian Chief, Henry Standing Bear, to remind white men that the native American also have great heroes. Sculptor Korezak Ziolkowski accepted the Indian's invitation to carve their mountain in 1947. Work on the sculpture began two years in 1949. Incredibly, the entire endeavour is being funded by private enterprise.


To date the 26.5 metre face of Crazy Horse is the only recognisable feature on the mountain. Large painted lines further down the hillside create a rough impression of the sculpture's final dimensions. Currently, work is focused on blocking out the giant horse's head. This feature will take up an astonishing 66 metres of granite. A white plaster model at the nearby visitor's centre gives you a sense of the finished sculpture.


I rode an open-air truck out to the mountain's base where the sculpture's scale is far more apparent. From our vantage point we could see a film crew from NBC's Today Show at work in front of the granite face. Their presence underneath Crazy Horse's nose gave us the best possible sense of the sculpture's overwhelming size.


Later that afternoon as I drove past a helicopter tour centre I decided to throw caution to the wind and book myself a flight. As I was the only passenger I was given a cockpit seat along side the pilot. For the next thirty minutes we hovered around the Crazy Horse work site, past Mount Rushmore and over the most incredible series of granite pinnacles populating the Black Hills of South Dakota.


At one point the pilot pointed out the winding Needles Highway. This narrow road makes its way through the more dramatic pinnacles, passing through single lane tunnels and along precarious rock shelves. He drew my attention to several highway landmarks including the stunning blue waters of Sylvan Lake and a tiny lookout called the Eye of the Needle. This last sight is created by the highway narrowing to little more than a carpark surrounded by a dramatic rock amphitheatre.


Despite the aerial tour, nothing could have prepared me for the astonishing beauty of the Needles Highway at ground level. Sylvan Lake was breath-taking. It was so majestic and so perfect, I thought I'd wandered on to a Hollywood sound stage. Sadly, the photos I took barely do the scene justice. The Eye of the Needle was equally breath-taking. Once again my photos fail to capture the awe-inspiring scene I encountered.


In fact, along the entire length of the highway, I found myself constantly stopping to admire the view and soak up the sunshine. At one lookout a group of friendly Chipmunks came right up to my outstretched hands. I really was a world away from the noise and bustle of cold, wet London.