As thousands climb to the peak of Crazy Horse for the first Volksmarch of 2025, changes are looming at the world’s largest mountain carving.
Something new looms near the peak of the Crazy Horse memorial — an unmissable tower crane, spanning an additional 270 feet close to the summit.
Caleb Ziolkowski is the chief mountain officer at the memorial.
“One of the major dictators of how you carve a mountain is where you can get equipment to, where you can get rock from, how easy it is to move that rock, and where you can get people," Ziolkowski said.
He said one load from this crane can carry the equivalent of the entire first year of digging in the 1940s in stone weight.
“Every single square foot we’re carving has to be a little different from the square foot next to it — or maybe even a lot different," Ziolkowski said. "We’re busy trying to find ways to approach that task of making every piece unique, making it look artistic, making it look beautiful, and at the same time, finding ways to do it at a massive scale.”
That’s not the only new development though. A new robotic arm may seem straight out of science fiction but is making waves at the memorial.
Joey Meboe is an automation engineer at the memorial, operating that arm.
“It will be using a 32-inch circular saw with a diamond-tip blade, and it will be making horizontal passes across the rock," Meboe said. "I see it as, the statue is in there, we’re just trying to uncover it. Each piece of machinery we get helps us speed up that process a little bit faster.”
Thousands hiked up the statue at this years’ summer Volksmarch, and the next Volksmarch is scheduled for Sept. 28.