Oldest summit register

[Alpine_Tom]

quote:

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Originally posted by Alex:

(The register on Red is indeed gone.)

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The register in Chair Peak is gone as well, as of last September. It was a bit surprising to me, because Bryant Peak, the little nub just south of Chair, has one, or at least it did a few years ago. The mighty summit of Tinkham peak still has a register, however.

[Picketeer]

I checked out the summit register on Mt Thielsen on Sunday (4" diameter metal pipe with screw lid) and read a couple entries from the 70s. No smokables inside but plenty of smoke rolling in from the Biscuit fire. On the way up, could see Diamond Peak clearly. I could barely make out Diamond Peak (35 miles north) from the top (around 1:00 pm). By the time I made it back to the Thielsen trailhead parking lot (4 pm), the visibility on the Diamond Lake Highway was less than one mile!

 

[ 08-20-2002, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: Picketeer ]

[SEF]

Summit registers have been discussed in a number of threads, and I just reviewed the older "Destruction of Summit Registers" thread from about a year ago. At the risk of a spray fest, I'd like to weigh in as the Seattle Climbing Committee Chair of The Mountaineers.

 

The Mountaineers have placed, by far, the most registers in the state, in quite a wide variety of jurisdictions. The Mazamas, BoeAlps, and other clubs have also placed registers in some locations. Differing land managers have different attitudes about registers, which have also varied over time. We are finding more tolerance as of late. We are also finding that within the last decade or so, some summits have become very difficult to maintain with registers, and we have given up trying on those. Generally, the difficulty in keeping a register on a peak varies almost proportionately with the numbers that climb it. Out of the Liberty Bell group, I found last Saturday that Liberty Bell, Concord and SEWS did not have registers, while Lexington and NEWS did. The brass canisters are way too costly to keep replacing. To consider replacing those we know are missing at this time would mean more canisters need to be manufactured, and would expect inflation to have driven up costs, perhaps prohibitively so. Maybe we can try to replace selected missing registers, perhaps with less costly PVC versions to see if they will be respected.

 

We track registers through our trip reports that Mountaineer climb leaders fill out on a web site, where they find a form for register condition. Those reports allow us to track which are missing or are full.

 

Regarding the paper logbooks, those we try to retrieve and replace when full. The full ones are given to the UW Library and stored in the Suzallo Library archives. As many have noted when they have thumbed through registers on summits, these documents contain a historical record that has value. Regardless of your personal views on summit registers, destruction of them is the destruction of a small part of the history of the state.

 

If any of you on this board want to help us in maintaining the registers, by carrying in a new blank logbook, or offer to replace a missing canister, please get in touch with me. If any of you have access to resources to manufacture these canisters at affordable prices, also get in touch. If you want to report a full logbook, let me know.

 

Thanks for your interest.

[nolanr]

I was on Thielsen a couple weeks ago, saw a huge metal tube, but no register inside. Maybe I'm blind. Smoke was pretty bad when I was there too. I could swear I heard an elk bugling from somewhere below on the west side of the peak, don't know what he was doing starting the rut already in August (just too horny to wait? or maybe 'cuz it was so freakin' unseasonably cold--40's-50's--he thought it was autumn already).

 

Oldest register I've seen was on the 1st Castle next to Gothic Peak, started by the Mazama's in '68 or so and only half full of entries. There is a register on Stuart as of Sat.

[layton]

Best one I ever saw was on Mt.Gimley in the Valhallas.

 

Starts out, "Came here to die...life sucks..."

 

Next entry, "looking for bob, hope he's okay, we love you"

 

Next entry: Sherrif's Office, "haven't seen bob"

 

Anyway, my party never found "bob" or his wallet anywhere the base. Guess he didn't need it or his gear. Damn.

[Cpt.Caveman]

That's Gimli Layton!

 

BTW send me a message. Got plans for next summer? Looking for good partners for heli rides and good climbs up north.

[jhamaker]

Oldest summit register I've found this yr was on N Sheep Gap Mtn - from 1950! Great reading the names of people no longer w/ us. I felt connected, through the mountains, to those who preceeded me.

[Guest]

Summit registers are cool on a worthy peak that requires some effort and doesn't see too much traffic. It's cool to look and see when your friends did routes in the past, especially during a forced summit bivy.

They are lame in other places though and I would be agreeable to having some removed. The Early Winters Spires come to mind. You can see the fuckin' highway from there and the routes are not that long. Daniels also comes to mind. At least the Snow Creek Wall and the Tooth don't have'em.

[MATT_B]

About 5 years ago I found a register on top of Steins Pillar in an old coffee can. The earliest ones dated back to the 60's and had the names of a couple of valley players from the golden era.

[Dale]

The summit registers on both Tupshin and Devore (near Stehekin) are originals. I don't remember the dates of the first ascents (hopefully, Beckey lists the dates), but they are rarely climbed and it is a quick read. It is awe-inspiring to hold the entire recorded (human) history of a summit in your fingers on a few scraps of paper. And to see so many familiar names!

 

Some of the 'land management agencies' are hostile to the idea of summit registers, and some of them do not seem to realize that many climbers are very strongly attached to their registers, and that removing registers is very controversial. I maintain that the environmental impact of leaving an inert register on a summit for 100 years is 100 times less than the impact of a single person climbing up there to take it down.

[Dru]

 

Here is a little tip for register builders

 

1) Put any paper in a ZIP LOCK BAG

 

2) Make a drain hole for water.

 

The register above was put on the summit of Isolillock by a Hope Outddor Club group. They took a PVC tube, caulk sealed one end and put register and pencil inside, screwed other end down tight and put it in the cairn. Only problem was, no waterproof bag. During spring, highwater pressure in the snowpack penetrated the PVC tube through the screw seal, and turned the register to papier-mache. Got up there in June and the tube was FULL OF WATER cause there was no drain hole, it got forced into the tube at high pressure but not sucked back out at low prssure.

[Don_Gonthier]

Wayne. That wouldn't have been a pinnacle in the Columbia Gorge would it? If it was, a trip report would be real cool. I climbed the little pinnicale in the notch last year. It looks crazy.

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by michael_layton:

Best one I ever saw was on Mt.Gimley in the Valhallas.

 

Starts out, "Came here to die...life sucks..."

 

Next entry, "looking for bob, hope he's okay, we love you"

 

Next entry: Sherrif's Office, "haven't seen bob"

 

Anyway, my party never found "bob" or his wallet anywhere the base. Guess he didn't need it or his gear. Damn.

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Not exactly summit register but in the Mountain Lake hut logbook below Sky Pilot, some guy had hiked up and written

quote:

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This hut is like a tiger running through a dark jungle.... Did you know a blue whale's veins are so big a trout could swim through them?

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Nope, didnt know that before

[Attitude]

quote:

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Originally posted by SEF:

At the risk of a spray fest, I'd like to weigh in as the Seattle Climbing Committee Chair of The Mountaineers.

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Geez, Steve. I though this line alone would initiate a spray fest.

[Picketeer]

NolanR:

 

You're not blind. No logbook inside, just entries on pieces of paper, folded, and stuffed inside the tube.

[tread_tramp]

There was a register on the summit of the Towers of the Throat Gripper put there in an old amo box by the Mazamas in '68. Somebody got the name of the peak officially changed to Hinkhouse Peak and sent the old summit register back to the Mazamas.

[SEF]

I know nothing of the Hinkhouse Peak register, but the peak was named after Jimmy Hinkhouse, who perished in a climbing accident on Denali several years ago. He founded the OSAT climbing club, One Step At a Time.

 

The logbooks The Mountaineers now make for registers are done with waterproof paper. I recall finding a register several years ago (I don't remember the peak) in which the register cap was completely missing. Logbook was still inside and appeared no worse for the wear. I put it in a ziplock although I'm not sure that was really necesary.

 

We have spare logbooks in the event anyone is interested. It certainly works better than scraps of paper.

 

I share the sentiment that registers from remote or hard to climb peaks make much more interesting reading than peaks that are visited regularly by masses. I recall reading the summit register of the Middle Peak of Index back in the 70's as part of the Index Traverse. (Now I'm dating myself). It was a film canister with a scrap of paper with 3 entries. The first entry was Fred Beckey and Pete Schoening. We bivied nearby and felt like we were with legends.

[lizard_brain]

Oldest summit register? I think it's Trask!

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by SEF:

(Now I'm dating myself).

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At least when you date yourself you can assume youre gonna get lucky at the end of the date!

[ScottP]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dru:

quote:

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Originally posted by SEF:

(Now I'm dating myself).

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At least when you date yourself you can assume youre gonna get lucky at the end of the date!

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Speaking of dates:

 

The next time you're having a bad day, imagine this:

You're a Siamese twin.

Your brother, is gay.

You're not.

He has a date coming over today.

But you only have one ass.

Feel better?

[Stefan]

Oldest register known in this state is North Star as Mike Collins wrote earlier. Second oldest but in great shape is Agnes--or the peak right next to Agnes. It was placed in 1906 by Austin Post?? and is still there.

 

Stefan

 

[ 08-22-2002, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

[mattp]

quote:

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Originally posted by Stefan:

It was placed in 1906 by Austin Post?? and is still there.

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Cool!

[fleblebleb]

Everybody descend on it (ascend to it?) and fill it up! Promptly!

[mattp]

I don't believe there is an easy way to climb Agnes. Though it may not be the most difficult technical climb in the state, it is a rock climb and it is not right next to the road. Also, I believe there is no way to avoid the need to crawl through the jungle for at least a couple thousand feet. Viewed from the air when I flew over to Stehikan one time, it was the most impressive thing around, appearing much more massive than any of the peaks along the Ptarmigan Traverse or in the Cascade Pass area.

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by mattp:

I don't believe there is an easy way to climb Agnes. Though it may not be the most difficult technical climb in the state, it is a rock climb and it is not right next to the road. Also, I believe there is no way to avoid the need to crawl through the jungle for at least a couple thousand feet. Viewed from the air when I flew over to Stehikan one time, it was the most impressive thing around, appearing much more massive than any of the peaks along the Ptarmigan Traverse or in the Cascade Pass area.

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But would you say it is a "hazardous enigma"???