SummitPost.org

I signed the register of the Illinois highpoint Charles Mound (Elev. 1235'). Gerry Roach had signed it the day before. I got a kick out of that.

In another register I read, "I bared my breasts on ______Peak...Let them babies breathe!!" Sorry I wasn't there earlier.

I agree that it is no big deal to sign a register on a popular peak, but think it would be fun to sign and read one on a peak that hadn't been climbed for several years.

I'm innocent, I didn't do it! I was somewhere else, on the other side of the planet!

Err ... can anybody tell me when exactly these summit registers were supposed to be removed? Just in case someone asks me for details of my alibi. But really, I didn't do it, honestly!

Anyway, kidding aside, I find summit registers quite useful. Especially if I'm alone and there are not many people in the area, I do sign the register. While I hope it will never be necessary, if I would get in trouble, those that might go searching for me can see where I've been. Of course, I'm careful, so I'll always get down safely, right? Then again, I don't suppose those that end up needing rescue thought they would either.

I enjoy signing and reading registers because it gives me an idea of when and how often peaks are climbed, especially the obscure ones. Finding really old entries is fascinating to me, and sometimes you can find useful information left by other people.

They definitely shouldnt be considered litter or be removed by someone who takes it upon themselves to nitpick about LNT rules. I get that some really popular peaks' registers become trashed over time and filled in a day, but registers are a long standing and acceptable tradition that deserves exclusion from LNT. Sorry, if you don't like man made things in the wilderness, you should probably leave your clothes and pack at the TH.

As far as how they disappear, wind is a usual culprit when placed on a peak above treeline. Weigh your registers down, as I've learned. I think most people who aren't interested in a register will still respect them and leave them alone. I doubt people are removing them outside of isolated incidents.

CSUMarmot wrote:I enjoy signing and reading registers because it gives me an idea of when and how often peaks are climbed, especially the obscure ones. Finding really old entries is fascinating to me, and sometimes you can find useful information left by other people.

I agree ^^^^^

My first alpine summit was Goat Mtn when I was 19 y.o. I didn't really know what a summit register was, until my climbing partner, Dave, reached into a pile of rocks and pulled out a metal box that had a book and some pencils in it. After we signed it, he flipped back several pages and found his father's entry from several years earlier. He was quite thrilled and I was fascinated. It seemed almost like a form of immortality. The book was still there the following year, but it was gone during my third ascent in 1981. So much for immortality...

I made it to the summit of Mt. Russell in the late seventies and found that the register went back to 1932. It was in excellent condition and was only about 3/4 full. I have to confess that out of the hour or more that I spent on the summit, only about 15 or 20 minutes were devoted to enjoying the view- the rest of the time was spent reading and skimming this amazing book. There was the usual collection of well known names, but also some sobering drama in those pages. For instance, I saw several entries by the same backcountry ranger within a short period of time as he searched for a missing climber. Sadly, the last entry by the ranger was an announcement that the missing climber's body had been found on the south face. Apparently, he'd taken a fall during his descent. I flipped back a few pages and there was the doomed climber's entry. It chilled me to read it knowing what was about to happen to him and it made me very aware that I was all alone on a somewhat spicy 14000 foot summit.

Many Sierra Nevada registers (including the Mt. Russell book mentioned above) end up in Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf738nb2br/

As I said above, I don't generally sign registers now, but I did on my first summit of Long's Peak back in 2006. And a good thing I did or I wouldn't have met Nick (again).

I was signing the summit register when this young kid sitting by the summit rock enquired about the register. He proceeded to sign it and the conversation went something like this, with Nick stating:
"I have an uncle that lives in Fort Wayne."
"What's his name?"
"You wouldn't know him."
"Try me."
"John Van Vleet"
I chuckled and then replied "Olivia's my Goddaughter." (my friend John's daughter)

I didn't remember it then but he and his parents had been to my house on New Year's Eve many many years earlier.

Nick was a student at CSU and made a day trip to Longs. Our timing couldn't have been better.

It's a small world!

Here is one good reason for leaving the summit registers where they are. SAR uses them. Remember this?


http://images.summitpost.org/original/431434.jpg

Interesting. I wonder if the folk/s who are taking them are embarrassed to admit it, or if they're so few of them that there actually aren't any on SP. I was thinking there'd be at least one "yeah, I take them, and I break them into a million pieces in my yard, because they're not natural!" post.

Andinistaloco wrote:Interesting. I wonder if the folk/s who are taking them are embarrassed to admit it, or if they're so few of them that there actually aren't any on SP. I was thinking there'd be at least one "yeah, I take them, and I break them into a million pieces in my yard, because they're not natural!" post.

Yeah ... heard they make good composting ... lending to larger and juicier tomatoes come Spring ... must have been a SC/MLC member that Pete knows ..!

Personally, I don't think I have ever signed one. For me , its probably that a summit is anti-climatic. For myself, I love the act of climbing, and the summit means that part is now over, so they sort of leaving me feel empty. Now don't get me wrong, I love the views, but I know that its almost time to start my way home.

I like Greg Child's saying, "between the base and the summit is the reason we climb. For me its 99% of the reason and the summit 1%. Its a very personal thing, and because it is personal, I really have no need to experience it with anyone outside of my climbing partners.

As for the registars themselves. I figure to each their own. If you feel compelled to leave a registar, fine. If you need to sign on, fine. But once they are they are, I figure its stupid to then take them to destroy them. I figure at some point they become part of the history of the mountain.

About the people who remove summit registers because they are "not natural":

Puritanism: The sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun.

Summit registers are like porn - if you don't like it, don't sign it / watch it.

This person seems to have a strong opinion about summit markers...

http://www.summitpost.org/users/blockway/108565

Deltaoperator17 wrote:We are having the same issue's in Idaho.

Heck Steve, on Mt Borah someone chiseled out the benchmark a few years ago but left the green army box with the register along with 2 golf clubs, 3 flags and some other miscellaneous crap. The summit looks like a garbage pile to me. If I would of brought a bigger pack this week I would have wiped the summit clean of everything but the register box. I don't sign them anymore but I sure wouldn't take one. I've taken maybe 50 people or more up that mountain and almost everyone who made it for the first time wanted to proudly sign the register. If it was important to them then it's okay with me. I don't push my values on anyone except my own family and friends. There are too many of us on this planet for me to think that my opinion means crap to anyone else. A register is fine with me but finding golf balls at the bottom of the seldom visited East Face just pissed me off. I pick up every piece of trash I find where ever I go (even cigarette butts) and make sure that others see me do it hoping they would do the same.

Bob

Kings Peak used to have a register and a plaque dedicated to the early surveyor but the wilderness ethics of some rangers felt that this mountain shouldn't be so burdened and removed them to keep the wilderness pristine. Of course, they do nothing about the sheep and the cattle that are allowed in the wilderness. Sure feels like wilderness when you listen to cattle bawl all night or run into a herd of sheep on the trail

Count me as a register oriented person. I love registers and feel they should be left alone. I've signed a few in Nevada where I was the first person to sign it in 8 or 9 years. To those who advocate no registers, go live your life but don't tread on me. Blockway (new member who obviously joined SP only to vent on cairns), I love cairns too if they are useful and not overdone.