Crazy Horse incomplete Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota, near the town of Berne. Like the nearby Mount Rushmore National Memorial, it is a monument carved out of a mountainside. The sculpture was begun by Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski, who had worked under Gutzon Borglum on Mount Rushmore, in 1948. Plans call for the completed monument to be wide and high. Ziółkowski was inspired to create the Crazy Horse Memorial after receiving a letter from native Lakota chief Henry Standing Bear, who asked if Ziółkowski would be interested in creating a monument for the native North Americans to
Needles (Black Hills) location was rejected by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum owing to the poor quality of the granite and the fact that they were too thin to support the sculptures. The Needles attract approximately 300,000 people annually. The area has a rich history of bold climbing by greatest climbers of their era, and has long been known for its purist ethics. In 1936 Fritz Wiessner climbed the "Totem Pole" and in 1937 "Khayyam Spire" with Bill House and Lawrence Coveney. In 1947 Jan and Herb Conn moved to the area and over the next couple decades put up over 220 first ascents.