SummitPost.org

For the interested:
http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=3697

Is this list with "shoot-to-kill policy" serious? Do people ever attempt to do peaks there without the permission of whoever is in charge? Sounds insane.

Vitaliy M. wrote:Is this list with "shoot-to-kill policy" serious? Do people ever attempt to do peaks there without the permission of whoever is in charge? Sounds insane.

I have a friend who wanted to get to Bald Mountain, and claimed he had figured out a way to climb it at night. Since very sophisticated technology is used to spot intruders, I doubt the lack of daylight would have helped him. In any case, he gave up the plan for medical reasons.

Bald Mountain has a large structure on top, probably a relay for Area 51, the mysterious classified site in Nellis AFB, where the stealth bomber was tested.

MoapaPk wrote:

Vitaliy M. wrote:Is this list with "shoot-to-kill policy" serious? Do people ever attempt to do peaks there without the permission of whoever is in charge? Sounds insane.

I have a friend who wanted to get to Bald Mountain, and claimed he had figured out a way to climb it at night. Since very sophisticated technology is used to spot intruders, I doubt the lack of daylight would have helped him. In any case, he gave up the plan for medical reasons.

Bald Mountain has a large structure on top, probably a relay for Area 51, the mysterious classified site in Nellis AFB, where the stealth bomber was tested.

I am not quite so sure he couldn't have made it. It is a big area, and presumably the technology is not so sophisticated that it is set off by various wild animals. JFK airport has a $100 million security system set up around its entire perimeter and a guy on a jetski broke through it... without even trying to stealth it. Think about that... $100 million is a hell of a lot of money to spend on something like that, and it still failed without him even trying.

http://www.examiner.com/article/jet-ski ... ity-system

Also any 'shoot to kill' is more of a myth/scare tactic than an actual outcome. If they saw some dude out there just walking around, no doubt they would simply capture the guy... it would be an easy enough task. They'd want to know if there was any intelligence to be gathered wrt why he was there, and the media would be all over it if trespassers were simply shot without any threat being presented.

I would guess the security gets concentrated near the huge relay station on the summit, and a night-hiker probably travels more slowly than a jetski. And hey, this is NV! Our police kill people all the time under suspicious conditions.

I used to run on in the desert the outskirts of the 5 parallel razor wire fences around Manzano base in Albuquerque. My path was several hundred feet from the fence at closest. Occasionally patrols would be sent out to intercept and question me (even though I was officially allowed access to the area outside the fences), and I'm sure a gun was trained on me at times. I've watched the machinegunner (on a light armored vehicle) move his gun to keep it aimed at cars traveling on the N-S road by the base, whenever an "exercise" was held to move munitions.

But yes, once some balloonists from Germany landed within the compound by mistake, and they were not shot on sight. They were part of several hundred hot air balloons that used to launch from the southern part of the city. After that incident, the launch site was moved to the N part of the city.

Did you read the article? The guy swam THREE MILES, climbed an 8 foot fence, crossed an active runway, then walked exhausted all the way to gate 10 at terminal 3 and was not caught until he asked for help!

Not suggesting that stealthing all these places are a good idea (though many are fine), just that I would not be too shocked if someone with a desire were able to do it. But not necessarily wise.

Would be trip report of the year. Go get em Burchey!

Guilty as charged, did not read the article 1st, just saw the jetski part. But I think the security is a bit tighter around secret military bases, than around public airports. It's pretty hard to climb multiple fences topped with razor wire.

But we had several drugged-up individuals (coke and meth) climb over the razor wire at Nellis base (well outside Manzano), for the expressed purpose of committing "suicide by cop." They were detected within minutes, and mercifully, detained without being killed, even though they pretended to brandish guns.

Hey, it occurs to me that there are neat mountains inside Manzano base.
Great place for a hike:
http://goo.gl/maps/paSVd

Here is a link to my photo galleries for 2012:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m74p33xnyxmjyuq/fHeM0AA0yw

Lots of dark and gloomy views this year.