FortMental wrote:Few indigenous populations, aside from assorted "Holy elites" have a culture of actually going into mountains for a spiritual experience. As for the US, I'll bet that for every peak peppered with some native religious artifact, there are thousands.... thousands that are not. (Read early accounts of surveys and explorations). While we're at it, let's ask SP members how many native Americans they've encountered on their hikes/climbs.... Then ask how many religiously inclined (no pun intended) indigenous peoples were encountered on other climbs of mountains around the world.
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This is one example. Simply being on the site is to experience- summiting is not necessary, I'd say (when I was there years ago, the atmosphere there was holy, for me anyway). I'd say that the reason that one doesn't see many native Americans in the mountains is that, percentage-wise, there aren't a lot of them out there compared to pretty much most other ethnicities I can think of. They are around, though. Also, many are still on reservations, most of which are far away from many of the major population centres that many of those reading this habitate. Some of the holy sites are on/near reservations, places that most of us won't visit any time soon. Shiprock is a good example of a holy mountain in the US that the "locals" frown upon people going to strictly to climb. In fact, I think that the mountains I can think of native Americans holding as holy are frequently too 'holy' to climb. Another example is Cave Rock on the shores of Lake Tahoe- after a lengthy battle, climbing was banned from the formation (it was, however, a sport climbing area- filled with bolts).