Shiprock is a rock located in the northwest of New Mexico. The Navajo tribes have always considered this place sacred.
The Indians say that once a peaceful tribe living here was constantly raided by enemies. Shamans every day prayed to the spirits to give them salvation, and one day the earth next to them rushed to the sky, like a bird, allowing them to climb over themselves and live in safety. This is how "Tse bitai" appeared, which means "Winged Stone".
The rescued Navajo lived right on the rock and only occasionally did the men go down to replenish food and water supplies. One day, when all the miners left the "winged stone", the earth trembled and lightning struck the rock, making it impregnable. Men could not go upstairs, and women and children died of hunger, as they could not go down the steep cliffs.
At first glance, Native American beliefs seem like a common fairy tale, but there is some truth in them. Shiprok is the result of a volcanic eruption that happened about 30-40 million years ago. In other words, once the earth really soared up, and then froze, forming a lonely rock. It is difficult to say what the initial dimensions of the extinct volcano were, but at the moment the height of Shiprok is 600m.
For the first time this height was conquered in 1939 by members of the Californian "Sierra Club". The ascent was extremely negatively received by the Navajo people, and climbing is currently prohibited here.
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But not everyone takes into account the feelings of the Indians and sometimes extreme people come to Shiprok, obsessed with the desire to visit the sacred peak. Someone succeeds in climbing, but most of them give up their lives. On the main path to Shiprok, you can even find a small memorial plate warning climbers of the danger. They say that the “winged stone” decides for himself who is honored to climb it and who is destined to die.
By the way, the rock was once the main landmark on the way for American settlers to the Wild West and subsequently played many roles in a variety of Western films. It is also interesting that the notorious highway No. 666 passes by Shiprok, which is also associated with many terrible stories, which is why the highway was renamed to route 491.