The Totem Pole is a pillar or

rock spire A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. Examples are ...

found in

Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona s ...

. It is a highly eroded remnant of a

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...

. Deserts at the end of the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

period, 260 million years ago, formed the De Chelly and

Wingate Sandstone The Wingate Sandstone is a geologic formation in the Glen Canyon Group of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States which crops out in northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Geology Wingate Sandstone is particularly pro ...

s that make up the buttes, totems, and mesas in

. The Totem Pole rises next to a gathering of thicker spires the

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

called Yei Bi Chei and can be seen via a self-guided Valley Drive.

Rock climbing

The Totem Pole was first climbed June 11–13, 1957 by Bill Feuerer,

Jerry Gallwas Jerry Gallwas (born 1936) is an American rock climber active in the 1950s during the dawn of the Golden Age of Yosemite Rock Climbing. He achieved a number of pioneering first ascents including sandstone spires in the American Southwest, and the ...

, Mark Powell and Don Wilson. The first ascent route is rated 5.10 YDS A2 in the

Yosemite Decimal System The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) is a three-part system used for rating the difficulty of walks, hikes, and climbs, primarily used by mountaineers in the United States and Canada. It was first devised by members of the Sierra Club in Southern Cal ...

. A second route called "Never Never Land" was climbed in 1979. Parts of the 1975 thriller film ''The Eiger Sanction'' (U.S. director

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

) were filmed at Totem Pole. According to author Ron Hogan, " addition to directing and starring in The Eiger Sanction, Clint Eastwood did all his own stunts during the mountain-climbing sequences." Hogan further adds that, Eastwood and his film crew "were the last people to climb Monument Valley's Totem Pole; in order to gain permission for the shoot, they had to agree to clear the mountainside of all the

piton A piton (; also called ''pin'' or ''peg'') in climbing is a metal spike (usually steel) that is driven into a crack or seam in the climbing surface using a climbing hammer, and which acts as an anchor for protecting the climber against the ...

s from previous climbing expeditions".

References

{{Authority control Buttes of Arizona Landforms of Navajo County, Arizona