Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board management of our mountain

continuing the interesting discussion started by the article in the LA Times, I ran across this article in the Journal of the UIAA, about what has evolved in management of another great mountain, with similar problems, Denali:

http://journal.uiaa.ch/art.asp?id=226

Adding to this, National Geographic will air a new Explorer TV show about Denali and keeping people safe there (or something to that end) on Sunday Oct. 26 on MSNBC, I guess it's 8 EST/PST

I read that the forest service had plans to implement several new regulations and changes to the whitney area over the next two years. Hopefully these changes will go a long way in lessening the impact humans have on the area and also promote safety on the mountain. The most significant changes include:

1. Eliminating the cables in the switchback area as they are "non-natural" aids.

2. Banning the use of trekking poles, since the tungsten carbide tips have caused significant damage to rocks and other natural features around the main trail.

3. Requiring all whitney basin campers to haul out their human waste.

4. Requiring all whitney hikers to carry emergency locator beacons.

You can read more about these proposed changes at the following link:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/projects/index.html

Banning trekking poles? Ahem...not.

What a bogus report. Hey let's all ban together and ban humans, everyone knows we're all alien implants.

banning trekking poles is a BAD idea. they are much needed.

The solar toilet situation is not as we thought, (or it is ambiguous). From the INYO NF site:

(click on the heading)
Inyo National Forest Recreation Fee Demonstration Projects

"The INYO NATIONAL FOREST WILDERNESS PERMIT RESERVATION SYSTEM has been in place since March of 2000. The system provides wilderness reservations and wilderness permits and allows the Forest to track and manage wilderness quotas and use data. Reservations can be made by mail, fax or telephone and cost a small fee. Walk-in permits are free and are available at Ranger Stations and Visitor Centers. Wilderness reservation fees are presently being used to provide the planning and design for the replacement of toilet facilities at Outpost and Trail Camps on the Main Mt. Whitney Trail, as well as staff the wilderness permit reservation office, increase ranger presence throughout the Forest, publish specific wilderness information and install bear-proof lockers at wilderness trailheads."

Unless this is deceptively worded, it suggests to me that the toilets will be updated, not removed. Elsewhere on the site there is a note that a message about the toilets will be posted in the near future.

Let me add this as food for thought.

Recently, Huell Howser did a "Road Trip" to Big Bear, where a wildlife refuge is managed. It's more of a zoo for injured animals, but I found one question Huell asked, not so far as the question, but the answer, as intriguing.

Huell asked "Black bears are the only bears in California?" and the keeper of the "zoo" said, "For now, they are."

Well, this was stated in front of the grizzly bear pen...

I just read that letter,and no where did I fine the word banning,or trekking poles in the letter.
A lot of the time I have rubber caps on the end of my poles.

Yeah, it's buried in there pretty deep.

Another proposal by the park service that I came across recently was a proposal to put one of those emergency phones (like the phones with blue lights on college campuses) at trail camp near the solar toliet. That way people can contact the rangers quicker in case of trouble.

Well I'm always late anyway, so someone wants to pull my leg, well its a long leg, and you may have to wait until I get there.

JPR, when you wrote the stuff above, were you joking or did you really find mention of things like hiking poles with carbide tips, locator beacons and emergency phones? The link you posted has no mention of such things...

JPR wrote on October 23, 2003:
<font color = "blue">> Yeah, it's buried in there pretty deep.
>
> Another proposal by the park service that I came
> across recently was a proposal to put one of
> those emergency phones (like the phones with
> blue lights on college campuses) at trail camp
> near the solar toliet. That way people can
> contact the rangers quicker in case of trouble.</font>

JPR wrote on October 21, 2003:
<font color = "blue">> 2. Banning the use of trekking poles, since the
> tungsten carbide tips have caused significant
> damage to rocks and other natural features
> around the main trail.
>
> 3. Requiring all whitney basin campers to haul
> out their human waste.
>
> 4. Requiring all whitney hikers to carry
> emergency locator beacons.
>
> You can read more about these proposed changes
> at the following link:
>
> http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/projects/index.html</font>

people for the
ethical
treatment of
rocks?

Steve, he was joking.

If it was a joke, I didn't get it. Maybe I am too much of a geek, but I see no sense of humor hinted in his posts. And then the 10/23 post about solar-charged phones.... "Yeah, it's buried in there pretty deep" He looks like he is trying to be an authority.

And then when he includes items like #3 -- That is the standard for the MR and for Mt. Shasta, so extending it to the Whitney trail would be something I might expect from the Forest Service.

In this era of people wanting more and more nanny in their government, posts like that worry me.

Steve C,
I must assure you that I am only the messanger, please don't "shoot me".

If you are concerned about any of the proposals you should contact the forest service directly. Rest assured, trekking poles will be banned.

Another interesting plan that I learned of today is the planned drainage of Mono lake. This will be drained into the already present LA DWP system and pumped to LA County to assist in fighting the wild fires.

So many abuses taking place!