This was in last weekends Inyo Register: http://www.inyoregister.com/node/1655

An archived register is a useless register. Take one and you should be executed.

+1, Chad! (Wait, we agree on something???)

Yeah, I just couldn't believe they took the metal box, though. WTF???

There was a post a few years back about NPS or USFS employees taking a register from Matterhorn in the Sierra; they felt it was not consonant with Wilderness.

I guess it depends on one's interpretation of phrases like "untrammelled by man." Some folks are quite extreme interpreters. I think that the person who goes up to do register removal, as some sort of purification, has done trammelling in the process of getting there and probably needs to look up the definitions of "untrammelled" and "hypocrisy."

Could be worse. You might be married to someone who thinks that way.

I agree with Harlan ..

They HAD to get up there. Did they use a F-250 pickup truck getting only 8 m.p.g. in the process, leaving a Carbon Footprint the size of China ???

Do they have their own Leer jet parked at home ???

Kind of makes an old fart wonder what's goin' on out there in them thar woods ...

MoapaPk wrote:There was a post a few years back about NPS or USFS employees taking a register from Matterhorn in the Sierra; they felt it was not consonant with Wilderness.

I guess it depends on one's interpretation of phrases like "untrammelled by man." Some folks are quite extreme interpreters. I think that the person who goes up to do register removal, as some sort of purification, has done trammelling in the process of getting there and probably needs to look up the definitions of "untrammelled" and "hypocrisy."

The register I saw on Mount Young (near Whitney) on Saturday was place by a SEKI ranger; so some are taking them and some are placing them. The register can on Mount Young was a nice solid container and the register was in good shape. The register on Mount Hale was in one of those plastic pencil boxes and was damp and will end up looking like trash eventually if it keeps getting wet. It looks like replacing registers also means making sure the container is a nice solid watertight container. There's a fine line between trash and treasure.

the better part of me says, if it's not part of the mountains, it's trash and shouldn't be there. but on the other hand, the older ones are great fun to read through if you have time on top (especially if your heros have signed them, or your friends) and it can provide a sense of 'closure of accomplishment' on reaching a particularly good summit, so i really think the majority of them should stay. stealing them just secures one's place as a complete tool, but sending them off to the Bancroft or elsewhere is also mostly useless, but at least provides a single source of research for academics or writers (who DO use them for these purposes).

Hello? Why don't they photo the register pages and archive them digitally, if they must, and leave the registers where they belong; on the mountain?

Alpinist wrote:Hello? Why don't they photo the register pages and archive them digitally, if they must, and leave the registers where they belong; on the mountain?

Well, I think they do - or at least that is beginning to occur (BBurd has been doing a great job of that, as I'm sure you know - thanks, Bob!) but as you know, the popular registers fill up amazingly quickly - we'd have to install a dumpster or recycling bin on top for many summits to handle the load.. - so the older ones really do need to go somewhere. It's the obscure Prince Albert can with a note, three signatures and a cartoon from Andy Smatko and the like that should always stay

I've seen many a register from the 60s and 70s with entries lamenting the disappearance of the older registers, which suggests this isn't a new issue. I used to get worked up over their disappearance but have come to accept they are as ephemeral as our own time spent on this planet. Those that remove them as travesties of Wilderness ethics are fighting a losing battle because they are replaced as quickly as they are removed, and more so as new ones appear on obscure points. But it probably gives them a moment of satisfaction in "doing their part to preserve our Wilderness areas". I confess that I really dislike business cards dropped in the register and freely admit removing those whenever I find them - so I'm hardly innocent of imposing my own standard of ethics.

btw, I've been both thanked and unthanked for photographing register entries and making them available on the Internet. Robert Ingraham (of the SRC from the article) contacted me with his concerns that this will only help thieves located their next targets. I didn't agree and told him so in reply. And it's been debated continuously for years now. And so it goes...

I'll never stop enjoying the moments I discover yet another register left by Gordon and Barbara.

Point to consider:

For search scenarios, checking the register to see if the individual signed in (assuming that was his/her destination) can reveal a lot, whether the person got lost going up or down. This information can be useful in planning the method of search.

I support the idea of photographing them. The little cameras these days do a very good job. The only issue is when the register becomes completely filled, tattered or water-damaged. What's the protocol then? Can someone plant a new one and take down the old one, and find someplace to archive it?

Geocaches, on the other hand, with their loads of trinkets, need to be hauled down.

I can't believe someone actually took Black Kaweah's register. I would have loved to see that in person one day. Dammit.

SpazzyMcgee wrote:I can't believe someone actually took Black Kaweah's register. I would have loved to see that in person one day. Dammit.

Exactly my thoughts. I heard a lot about that register and IT was a HUGE reason for me to get out to Black Kaweah and spent 30 minutes or so going through it in peace. I will not be going up there this year any more...I think some registers are very special, and could serve as a reason for some visitors to visit the mountain. I do not see why anyone should take it from where it belongs, no matter if it is to preserve a signature at a museum or to have it around home. As long as there is one authentic signature from your Clydes, Eichorns, Dawsons, Jensens, etc why take dozens of them?

If person who took the register (from Black Kaweah) is reading, please do your best to return it to where it belongs. It is a long ways in there, and if you do not want to hike all that way you can PM me and I can return it for you. 100% confidential, would not judge you in any way, and would actually respect you a lot for admitting your fault and doing the right thing. And to all others who have any historic registers in possession, please return them, or PM me, and I might return them if I am interested in the peak.

Actually, I want to make an effort to have some of the historic registers be returned to where they belong. Not sure if it will work but I think it is the right thing to do.

hvydrt wrote:This was in last weekends Inyo Register: http://www.inyoregister.com/node/1655

Heh, the photo "courtesy of SPS" looks kinda familiar... (I'm pretty sure the apple sticker was already there when I arrived.