Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Summit observations

Anyone else have trouble with the conditions of the summit register? Last fall, it was clean, the pages were in a book, etc. I was up there yesterday (7/02), and it was a joke - a Barbie doll, grade school pictures, over-filled pages blowing everywhere, no unused pages. What's going on?

I second the complaint: Was there 6/28 and same thing. We had to sign the margin of a sheet, and there was all sorts of junk in the box. No book to speak of either. We saw 4 rangers during our trip--surely one of them was tasked with replenishing the logs.

I ran into that last year. Would it be difficult for the LPRS to give one or two people out of 30 a blank summit register log? I hate writing on the margins.

No shortage of pens, however, almost as messy as the glove box at the base of the cables on Half Dome.

HOYL,

MWRS has nothing to do with the summit register since the summit is in Sequoia NP thus this is a NPS problem.

We encounter the same thing in late August of last year.

Bill

Not sure how this became a Goverment function.
Bring an empty notebook up yourselves!

I know the Sierra Club Peak Climbing section performs this as a public service on many peaks, suspect they don't even try to keep up at the end of the cow trail up Whitney.

Frank

wbtravis5152, while what you are saying is strictly true, is this what we should expect of our public servants? After all, if I see someone in serious trouble at the summit, should I consider that a park service problem? The forest service freely sends thousands of people up that mountain, and what happens to them is no concern of theirs? I don't think that should be correct. Many people are from foreign lands. Is this what we want portrayed to them, that one of the natural wonders of our country is unattended, on federal land, and federal employees can't be bothered to get involved?
Why can't the park people and the forest people discuss this? I thought HOYL had a great idea, handing out book sheets periodically. The people in the park can give the sheets to the forest people, to do that.

I'm with wbtravis on this one even if we don't agree about shoes...
Who are the summit logs for? Certainly not for the USFS or NPS. I think they are "our" collective record of achievement and observation. I'd be glad to take supplies up on my way and certainly don't feel it is a government representative's duty to keep the "can" stocked with paper and pens. Climbing this or any mountain is an enjoyable experience and signing ones name in the register is a fun privilege not a democratic right.

My son and I were just up there July 2 and we were discouraged with the condition of the register. Signing the book is one of the perks of getting there. Last Aug 20 the book was clean neat and all the pages were attached. This year we signed a loose page being held down by a rock. More than a little disappointing. The Ranger was there on the 2nd but left because of an emergency.

Hummm... Can anyone say for sure who "owns" the sheets? I first summited in something like 1991 and the sheets looked the same a month ago. Where do they go? Who takes them? I always thought the Forest Service kept them somewhere just for nostalgia or historical record or something like that. I mean, what if I become President some day?

Of course I haven't made my position on the presidency thing public yet, but if I do I sure hope I can count on your support!

Ken,

This is about turf. The summit belongs to the NPS. In fact it is my understanding the NPS has archieves of the summit registers, at least that is what Richins says in his guidebook.

You'd think the NFS and NPS would work something out but remember they are government entities thus them move at glacial speeds. I other words don't hold your breathe waiting for anything to happen.

Bill

The real summit register is kept 200 feet below the summit on the East Face. That makes it so only the real climbers can sign it. Just kidding. Bring your own book up if its that important to you that you can prove you made it up there.

I summitted Whitney today and the register had fresh clean ledger type sheets for people to sign in......

The rangers who are lucky enough to hand out passes and read this web site each day (and sit in a chair) obviously are paying attention...

Ain't Democracy wonderful? Eh?

The summit register on top of AZ's Humphreys Peak is regularly in a horrendous state of neglect as well. I've even made a habit of carrying my own register sheets to leave in the box in case I can't find a square millimeter of blank paper to write on.

If the rangers at Whitney or Humphreys don't have the resources or time to keep the register neat and stocked and the box cleaned of garbage and barbie dolls, then perhaps the NFS or NPS or whoever the heck has jurisdiction should start an "adopt-a-summit" program similar to that used to help keep our interstate highways clean. For Whitney, designate a few volunteers as caretakers and give them free permits for themselves and a few friends each year to reimburse them for the cost of register sheets and pens.

Regarding above comments re government spending.
We live in a Democracy,that means we are subject to the will of the majority(or the minority in the last election,speaking from a popular vote standpoint).If it were up to me the military budget would be cut 70% and the money diverted to holding undeveloped lands and enhancing preservation with appropiate use.But we don't have a direct democracy we have representatives to vote on behalf of us. As an alternative my entire estate will be givin to the Wilderness Society upon my death. RR

Why is it that people feel the rangers should maintain the summit register on Mt. Whitney, when they don't maintain the registers on other peaks? Granted I am not a peak bagging fanatic, but I have been to the top of several in my life time and have seen everything from spiral notebooks to napkins to toilet paper tubes used as registers. I know more people go to the top of Whitney than most other mountains, but I think that only increases the individual responsibility to maintain the environment and not the ranger's responsibility to take care of us.

Also, if people are offended by Barbie dolls in the register box, I think their focus on the rangers is misplaced. The person who left the doll there in the first place would be the more appropriate target. Does the "leave no trace concept" cease to apply, just because a lot of people go there?

Desperado brings up an interesting point. Climbers are true athletes who do it the hard way. For the rest of us, too afraid of heights, we have to walk up to the top and feel good about that. For us it is a great accomplishment. When I hung out at iceberg lake and watched the climbers climb the East face...I couldn't help but think "that is amazing." How do they do that.

Why is it so doggone important to sign a register?
The first time up Whitney I was too tired to sign, the 2nd time I signed it, the 3rd time it was freezing and my hands were too cold. Is it for other people to see that you climbed it? All I know is I"M the only one who has to know I climbed it.

Lesser climbed peaks have summit registers going back many years. They are more interesting to look back through. Whitney's summit register is so big no one would normally go back more then a day or two. However signing the register seems to be the emotional end to the summit climb. A few years back I saw the name of a friend in the summit register. I took a picture of the register and sent it to him. Another time we gave a woman a ride to the portal who came from Austria with her husband so he could climb Whitney. It was cool to see his name on the top and know he made it...The register may get thrown away but I am still glad it is there.

Up north, some people complain that it is not "wilderness" with a summit register. Maybe some will agree, and direct their anger at the register, ignoring, of course, the hut, trail, signs, and toilets. I've been told that people will physically tear up and destroy the books or pages, and scatter them to the wind (for the rangers to pick up). The USFS here declares it is a litter issue, and they have to deal with those. And it is a disgruntled or prankstering few that leaves their junk in the containers.

I always said, if someone spray paints a building, that it's not the building's fault. The local wilderness management disagrees. Because, by them, one or a few people object to paper and can intrusions into wilderness by, say, writing obscene words or pictures, the rest of us have to be deprived.

Register maintenence is low priority for the NPS and USFS. They have many things to do, including life-and-death situations to deal with. And now budget cuts.

I say, if a person is missing, the register may provide some info if that lost person has signed in. Then they have a small clue as to their whereabouts. Missing souls have been found by registers. However, this is rare.

I use registers to verify claims, as I have to deal with many hikers/climbers that are agitated to make false claims of experience, by some ill-willed people from a major outdoor group. While registers are not foolproof, most people wouldn't go up there and sign in their friends' names, or ask that someone take the book down so they can sign-in. I use my credit card, too, while I'm traveling, because if you wind up missing, they can trace you to your last purchase.

So if I see there's no sign-in from you on the dates that the book covers, I will have some doubt. This has usually been enough to determine/uncover a fraud. Yes, people will engage in complete fabrication when it comes to climbing. It's all taken as honor system by the big climbing groups, here. Some will take advantage. The disturbing point is that having made their claims, some enormous, they are granted standing and authority. Yes, there are groups of "climbers" who have climbed little or nothing, and run the show. The way it works, by the Club!

I'd offer to maintain the registers, as I do in the parts of the Sierra I get to, but once a book is placed, others may target it. Registers disappear, yes, along with their history contained within. I feel it should be made a Federal offense, under the historical and archealogical items clause, but the rangers or desk help laugh. No one really takes any of this as seriously as I do.

Better for most hikers is to snap the summit photo or movies of the group, or of yourself. I save cans and buy books, which does run into money. I get no reimbursement, but I hear the complaints of "nothing to sign in." If all could be trusted to snap non-manipulated photos, we wouldn't need registers. But yes, some don't believe in carrying cameras, or simply do not care. Only to then make claims later, perhaps!