Muddeer wrote:MoapaPk wrote:I've known people who bristle at the thought of any tiny sign of humanity on the tops of mountains; but they will happily avail themselves of all the man-made way stations, roads, trails, and mule paths for the summit bid.
Stations, roads, trails, and mule paths have practical uses. If you don't want to use them, you don't have to. And one can always take another route up. Seeing trash on a summit can't be avoided if you want to summit.
I don't think many of us go to summits for "practical" reasons. In the remote areas around here, I read seldom-visited registers with fondness; they are like communications with friends, some too old to travel now, some long dead. Maybe there is some dog-peeing associated with placing registers; but I know the people who placed many, and I'd say they were more interested in saying "hello" and leaving behind time capsules.
For example, what is the practical use of climbing a mountain like Aconcagua, at all? It seems like a huge amount of energy and materials is expended, and CO2 produced, to get to a distant summit... when there is probably something less prestigious, but more impressive, in your backyard. Not that I object to people going to Aconcagua; but I would prefer if people were more consistent about their sentiments. A substantial infrastructure has been built to get people to Aconcagua; the best "practical" use I can see is that the local economy has been greatly helped by tourist dollars. But the benefit of giving climbers joy and a sense of accomplishment, perhaps a life-changing experience, is real, if not "practical".
I find far more real trash on mountains in the form of old survey towers and mylar balloons. I know a guy who practically flies into a rage every time he sees remnants of a survey tower from the 1950s... and every other peak out here has such a tower. I just look on with puzzlement.