HOT SPRINGS - On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the local memorial stair-climbing event broke several records, including the most flights up the VA stairs by one individual (170), the most total flights (2,420) and the most money raised for the community ($5,487).
With printed cards detailing each of the 2,977 victims, a special tribute to the unborn children of 11 pregnant victims and the determination of many climbers, the atmosphere at this year’s event was special, according to participants.
A half dozen local residents began the event with their memories from 25 years ago, including emergency responder Mark Cali, who had joined the recovery operations and who honored those still sick and dying from their exposure to toxins at the site.
“I was thrilled with the turnout, but especially with the reverence among the crowd waiting to begin — which continued all day,” said Challenge Dakota’s Dusty Pence, the event organizer.
Local musician Melvin LeRoy said when he started singing his song “Climb Higher” and a flock of birds rose into the sky, circling the stairs as the sun rose, that it was “the best moment in my musical career.”
Sound for this year’s event was greatly improved, thanks to being granted access by the VA to electricity on their stairs which greatly enhanced not only LeRoy’s performance but also Lacey Piaza’s live rendition of “God Bless America,” and DJ Israel Davidson who played music all day for the climbers.
The Grand Stair Challenge started 13 years ago, inspired by then-Hot Springs resident Wade Burns whose September 11 birthday coincided with the national tragedy; it has become a beloved local event both to honor the 9/11 victims and to encourage people to get strong in body, mind and spirit.
This year, that theme was dramatically embodied in Daniel Lalla of Box Elder whose goal was to break the previous record of 162 flights (established two years ago by 15-year-old Adam Dubois). Lalla persevered through shakiness and exhaustion to climb 170 times, with only brief rests, one of the last climbers still on the stairs before the 6:46 PM deadline.
Several octogenarians climbed this year, including Hot Springs residents Bill Baxter, 84, who was the oldest male (with one flight) and Barbara Sharp, 83, the oldest female (with five).
9/11, page A8 The youngest male was Landon Dahly, 3, who climbed three flights and the youngest female was Isabelle Dubois, 9, who climbed 84 — and whose brother Adam held the record until this year. A total of 143 people joined the 13th annual 911 Grand Stair Challenge.
“We’re increasingly getting whole families, with some kids who traversed the stairs as infants on their parents’ backs now old enough to do it themselves,” said Pence. “It’s starting to become part of the fabric of the town,” said her sister, Mary Conover, who comes every year from Sioux Falls to join the two dozen other volunteers from the area.
This year, many more climbers were setting themselves higher goals, as evidenced by the fact that “we ran out of dog tags,” a giveaway limited to those who climb at least 15 times (15 flights up the VA’s 141 stairs equals the number in each World Trade tower). “I was shocked we ran out,” Pence said.
Also incentivizing climbers this year was the donation of 3-D-printed statuettes featuring the towers, designed and produced by Hot Springs’ Brad Appleby, for those who climbed 25 or more flights. So many people met the challenge that the initial print run of 19 had been claimed by midafternoon, with 15 more climbers on a waitlist.
The statuette was reproduced on this year’s t-shirts, given free to those who climbed at least one flight; the one hundred shirts were gone by midday. This year, those who donated $25 by August first could request a t-shirt be saved for them.
Also new this year was an online platform for raising pledges from family and friends for every flight accomplished. Hot Springs resident Lydia McNare was the biggest fundraiser, receiving pledges and donations totaling $375. Local resident Chris Pannil also obtained donations by going in person to businesses and individuals, and also climbed 25 flights.
A total of $5,487 was raised, with $2,420 ($1 for each of the total number of flights) for Challenge Dakota, donated by an anonymous donor who matched the first $2,000, allocated to four local charities. When combined with the new fundraising (which eventually will replace said donor), a total of $3,067 will be shared equally by the Trains, Trails and Pioneers Museum in Edgemont, American Legion Post 71, Camp Halawasa, and Can Man Trade Scholarship Fund.
SponsorsthisyearwereTheMammoth Site, Mosset Construction, Hot Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, Friends of Can Man Trade Scholarship, Nelson’s Oil & Gas, Memory of SGM Lee Largent Lampola and Black Hills Exteriors.