21-year-old rock climber falls to death at iconic ‘Close Encounters’ filming location: National Park Service

A 21-year-old rock climber from Wisconsin died after falling from Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming last weekend.

According to a National Park Service release, Stewart Philip Porter of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was “rappelling down the second pitch of El Cracko Diablo” before his fatal fall.

Shortly before 8 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22, Devils Tower park rangers were notified of a rock climber’s fall. First responders found Porter, 21, and his climbing partner about 45 minutes later, according to the release.

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Porter “suffered significant injuries” in the fall and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. The distance the 21-year-old fell “is still under investigation,” according to an email to Fox News Digital from Devils Tower National Monument.

Devils Tower is almost 900 feet from base to peak and takes its name from a poor translation of “Bear Lodge” from the early 1900s by the Lakota people into English. It is located in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming.

“Hundreds of parallel cracks in the rock formation make it one of the best climbing areas in North America,” says the National Parks Service. More recognizable, Devils Tower was featured prominently in the 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by Steven Spielberg.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind depicts the Devil’s Tower as a “contact point” between the humans and the aliens in the film, as well as a motif in the main character’s recurring visions.

Porter’s partner became stranded after the fall and was later rescued by climbing guides from Devils Tower Lodge and Buck Wild. According to the National Parks Service, most falls and deaths while climbing occur during the rappel.

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The National Parks Service says there have been seven climbing deaths since the formation became a park in 1906. Climbing Devils Tower is off limits during parts of the spring and summer because of the falcons that nest there and because of “Native American cultural and ceremonial values.”

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Source of original article: 21-year-old rock climber falls to death at iconic ‘Close Encounters’ filming location: National Park Service