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Summit Registers Being Stolen from US Peaks

By Stewart Green on About.com

Summit registers–weathered scrolls of paper stuffed inside a waterproof tube–are disappearing from the tops of many American summits from Maine to New Mexico.

Just this past weekend some friends climbed Ice Mountain and North Apostle, a couple of the 100 highest peaks in Colorado, and neither had a summit register. The plastic canister was still fastened with cable to a rock on Ice Mountain but the screw-cap had been mangled by repeated hits from a rock and the register was gone.

A small group of elitists, who fancy themselves radical environmentalists, call summit registers trash, garbage, and an indication of our society’s predilection for collecting; in this case, collecting summits like notches on a bedpost or rifle stock. They say that the only reason a lot of folks climb a Fourteener or all 54 Fourteeners in Colorado is just so they can brag about how many peaks they’ve bagged and how fast they did them. That they’re climbing for conquest and ego, not for spiritual renewal and being out in nature.

It seems though that the register stealers are just posers. They think that by removing a few pieces of paper from a mountaintop that they are somehow preserving the great American wilderness, whereas if they were really serious about preservation and protection they would be chaining themselves in front of bulldozers, fighting new dams with letter-writing campaigns, and creating sustainable trails for all those peak-baggers to follow across fragile landscapes.

Okay, there are a lot of peak-baggers out there who have suspect motivations, but is that a reason to steal and destroy summit registers?

There are lots of reasons to have registers on summits. First and foremost, climbing registers are or can become historical records. Management agencies like the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service use data from summit registers to help track human usage in wilderness areas, on trails, and how heavily specific areas are used and abused.

Another reason is simply that people like to scrawl their name somewhere, to record that “I was here” on top of this mountain. Next time you’re hiking up a peak, take note of the canvases that some dimwits used to record their names–”Bill ♥ Jenny” carved into a white aspen trunk; the incised wall of an historic cabin; or the feeble scratching of a handheld rock against a rock wall. The logical extension of this is the young man who carried a Sharpie pen to the summit of Mount Elbert, Colorado’s highest mountain, and wrote his name, phone number, and email address in indelible ink a couple years ago. What was he doing? Looking for a date?

I don’t sign every summit register when I climb a Colorado peak. Last year I climbed Mount Elbert and didn’t sign in on that August day along with the other hundred or so folks that stood on the summit. I was satisfied with a photograph of myself sitting on a summit rock. Anyway, a photo is more definitive proof that I was there. Ask Oh Eun-Sun about that…

I occasionally leave a register, a duct-taped peanut butter jar stuffed with a few index cards, stubby pencil, and a Summit Stone from D, atop some obscure unnamed summit in Colorado’s Fremont County or out in the western Arizona desert. I do it because I like to find those register scraps out in the middle of nowhere. Wow, I think, Gerry Roach climbed this peak 32 years ago and no one’s been up here since!

Those old registers tell stories. When Jimmie Dunn and I made the sixth ascent of Castleton Tower in the canyon country east of Moab, Utah on Labor Day in 1971, we felt humbled to read the register left ten years prior by Layton Kor and Huntley Ingalls after their first ascent. The other names written on the pages were icons of American climbing history–Kor, Ingalls, Chuck Pratt, Steve Roper, Royal and Liz Robbins, and Pat Ament. We were nobodies, just a couple kids from Colorado, but signing our names on Castleton’s dotted line made us feel like somebodys.

It wasn’t about collecting that airy desert summit. It was about becoming part of history, of seeing living history on those dry bits of paper. Castleton’s been climbed a lot since our ascent, and every time I’ve climbed it since I’ve never signed in. That first time was special. The 50,541st ascent is not.

Still, I’m not so arrogant to want to steal a summit register so someone else, despite their motivations, can’t sign it. After all, signing a register is preferable to scribbling a name on a summit stone with a Sharpie.

For more blogs from Stewart Green see: http://climbing.about.com/

Hiker provokes bear attack

Taken from Huffpost Green

WEST GLACIER, Mont. August 6, 2011

 – Glacier National Park says a grizzly bear mauled a 50-year-old hiker but the man was able to walk for help.

Spokeswoman Denise Germann says the St. Paul, Minn., man was hiking alone from Many Glacier to Piegan Pass around noon Friday when he encountered a mother grizzly with an older cub.

She says in a release that the animal attacked and bit the hiker on an arm, leg and foot and then shook him before leaving. The man had bear spray but couldn’t use it in time.

Despite the wounds, the man walked until he met up with a ranger who called for help. The hiker was hospitalized in Browning, but his condition was not immediately available. His name was not released.

Germann says the trail from Piegan Pass to Feather Plum Falls has been closed as rangers investigate.

Park officials say cases of grizzly or black bears injuring people at Glacier occur less than once a year.

2011 Hard Rock Finalists –

Taken from the official race website: hardrock100.com–

“Mother Nature made sure that the finishers of this year�s Hardrock were truly “wild and tough”. Rain storms high river crossings, lightening and rain as well as higher than average snow amounts all combined to make this year’s Hardrock one of the most challenging in history. First time Hardrocker Julien Chorier won the 2011 Hardrock in the 3rd fastest time recorded at Hardrock in 25 hours and 17 minutes. This feat is all the more impressive because a course change made the course approximately 2 miles longer than in years past. Following Julien’s excellent run was Dakota Jones who completed his first Hardrock in 27 hours and 10 minutes. Dakota first became familiar with Hardrock as an aid station volunteers so his finishing has special meaning to the Hardrock family. The next 5 male finishers were all first time Hardrockers.

Diana Finkel (29 hours, 27 minutes – 5th overall), returned to Hardrock and became Hardrock’s first 4 time female top finisher. Finishing behind Diana was last year’s runner up Darcy Africa (29 hours 46 minutes – 7th overall) and Betsy Nye (39 hours, 17 minutes).

In 2012 the course the course will be run in the clockwise direction – a big loop through the San Juan Mountains of beautiful southwest Colorado: 100-miles which includes 33,992 feet of climb and 33,992 feet of descent for a total elevation change of 67,984 feet with an average elevation of 11,186 feet – low point 7,680 feet (Ouray) and high point 14,048 feet (Handies Peak).

The 19th running of the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run will be on July 13-15 in Silverton Colorado.”

Climbing Incidents in Chicago Basin

July 3, 2011

A boy who fell 100 feet while hiking in the Chicago Basin was flown out of the mountains by helicopter to a hospital Sunday night.

Butch Knowlton, director of the La Plata County Office of Emergency Management, said he didn’t know the boy’s age or the severity of his injuries, but he said the boy was transferred from one helicopter to another at Rockwood for a flight to a regional hospital.

Knowlton said the crew of the second helicopter would determine which hospital to take the boy to after they determined the severity of his injuries.

The initial emergency call came in around 1 p.m., and the first helicopter was sent to pick the boy up about 5 p.m., with the initial pickup expected to be near the base of Mount Eolus. That helicopter then flew to Rockwood, where the boy was transferred to a second helicopter for a flight to a hospital about 9:15 p.m.

The Fourth of July holiday weekend has brought a large number of backpackers into the San Juan Mountains backcountry.

“It’s amazing how many people are here,” Knowlton said Friday after the rescue of three people who became stranded in the frigid waters of Cascade Creek in San Juan County.

patrick@durangoherald.com

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Another Accident occurred on  July 9,2011

The climber rescued Saturday after falling 30 to 50 feet after summiting Mount Eolus was identified Sunday as Jim Neville of northern Colorado.

Neville sustained serious injuries to his lower leg after emergency responders conducted a daring rescue to retrieve him from a 13,800-foot ledge on Mount Eolus.

Neville was one of three climbers in his party attempting the Class 3 climb.

The party had summated 14,083-foot Mount Eolus by 9:15 a.m., county officials said.  An hour into the group’s descent to the Chicago Basin, two of the three climbers lost their footing in a steep snowfield and slid 30 to 50 feet into a rock field, Butch Knowlton, director of the La Plata County Office of Emergency Management said.

Around 11 a.m. a dispatch center in Houston relayed information they received from an emergency beacon signal to Durango 911.  A little more than three hours later, rescuers were dropped onto a ledge more than 500 feet below Neville, who they were able to reach after nearly 45 minutes of climbing. Rescuers then traversed across the east face of the mountain to a saddle between Mount Eolus and North Eolus.

At 5:10 p.m., crews used a hovering helicopter to lift the man from the 13,800-foot ledge and move him to an ambulance at Rockwood for transport to Mercy Regional Medical Center.

Had the helicopter been unable to complete the mission, Knowlton said responders would have been forced to lower the man about 1,200 feet down a “near vertical slope…The pilot did an incredible job. If it weren’t for him, we might still be out there lowering that man off the peak,” Knowlton said.  The rescue effort concluded just as heavy storms moved in from the south and forced rescuers to retreat from the area.  The other two climbers were able to make it to their camp at Chicago Basin, Knowlton said.

Climbing sources often warn enthusiasts about the region’s afternoon summer storms and the danger they add to a climber’s descent because the most popular route on these peaks involves cutting across a catwalk with considerable exposure.

Knowlton called the rescue and others like it “extremely expensive,” and he encouraged outdoor enthusiasts who use backcountry lands and trails in Colorado to purchase a Colorado Search and Rescue Fund Card or other outdoor license such as a hunting, fishing, snowmobile or off-highway vehicle permit that pays into the state fund that reimburses local public safety agencies for expenses incurred during rescue efforts.

hscofield@durango herald.com

Rescue timeline

Here is a timeline of Saturday’s rescue on Mount Eolus provided by the La Plata County Search and Rescue:
9:15 a.m. The party summits 14,083-foot Mount Eolus.
9:43 a.m. The party begins its descent to the Chicago Basin.
10:16 a.m. Two hikers slide 30-50 feet to a rock field. Neville injures his lower leg.
11 a.m. Durango 911 receives information from the beacon signal sent to a dispatch in Houston.
2:16 p.m. Rescuers are dropped between 500 and 600 feet below the area where they can climb toward Neville.
2:58 p.m. Rescuers reach Neville.
5:10 p.m. A helicopter air lifts Neville off of the 13,800 foot ledge.
5:21 p.m. The helicopter lands at Rockwood and transfers Neville to a DFRA ambulance. Neville is taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center.

Michael Von Gortler And Daughter Makana, Hikers Who Went Missing: Bodies Found In San Isabel National Forest

DENVER (Reuters) – Rescue crews recovered two bodies from a mountainside in the San Isabel National Forest on Saturday believed to be of a missing Colorado physician and his 20-year-old daughter.

The Denver Post reports that authorities confirmed that the two bodies found were that of the missing father and daughter hikers. The Chafee County coroner said Monday that the pair both died of blunt trauma to their heads and necks and ruled their deaths accidental.

EARLIER:

The bodies were located in steep terrain at an elevation of 12,000 feet on the northeast side of Missouri Mountain within the forest, Chaffee County Sheriff W. Pete Palmer told Reuters.

Michael Von Gortler, 53, an emergency room physician from Boulder, Colorado, and his daughter Makana, a student at the University of Colorado, went missing after departing for a hike on June 21.

The pair hadn’t been heard from since late last week when Makana sent a text message to a friend. Rescuers launched a massive, five-day air and ground search in the area after locating Von Gortler’s vehicle parked at the mountain’s trailhead.

“There’s a great probability that they (the bodies) are the doctor and his daughter,” Palmer said, adding that a Colorado Air National Guard helicopter crew was dispatched to retrieve the bodies.

Palmer said a helicopter pilot noticed the bodies on Saturday while dropping off a ground search and rescue team. Autopsy results were pending.

Saturday’s discoveries mark the third deaths this week in the Sawatch Range of west-central Colorado, which contains a third of the state’s highest peaks.

A 30-year-old woman fell to her death off Mt. Princeton on Thursday, and her body was retrieved on Saturday after recovery crews packed her out on horseback, Palmer said.

The sheriff cautioned people traveling into Colorado’s back country, especially over the long holiday weekend, to be prepared for rapidly changing weather conditions at high elevations.

“Lightning storms roll in quickly and rain can loosen boulders and cause rockslides,” he said. “It’s not an easy stroll.”

Female climber dies on Mount Princeton

Salida, CO- A Denver woman died in an incident on Mount Princeton June 29, 2011.  Deanna Miller’s body was recovered from the peak on Friday.

Sheriff Pete Palmer says rescuers were called to the Mount Princeton TH after the woman’s hiking partner called to say she fell and suffered severe head injuries.  By the time rescuers arrived Ms. Miller was dead.

The climbers had encountered strong winds, rain and lightning and were found down a steep rocky chute off the main trail.

The man was not hurt and was able to walk off the mountain.

The rescuers responding to this incident were diverted from another search on Missouri Mountain where a father and daughter have been missing for several days.

Search given up for lost hiker

Excerpted from Vail Daily newspaper.  From 10/13/10

VAIL, Colorado — James Nelson is the second hiker in six years to vanish into the Holy Cross Wilderness.

His disappearance and that of Michelle Vanek in 2005 are chilling reminders of what can go wrong in this vast, rugged wilderness.

“We could have a Bermuda Triangle up there, almost,” Bag and Pack employee Michael Hand said “The Holy Cross triangle.”

Rescue workers called off the search for Nelson, 31, of Chicago, on Tuesday after a four-day search failed to turn up a single clue. Nelson set out on a five day, 25-mile hike Oct. 3. His fiancee reported him missing Friday evening.

Eagle County Sheriff Joe Hoy has said he suspended the search because no clues emerged and resources were dwindling.

“We spent four days with many man hours and a lot of people in the field searching everywhere in that huge, huge area,” he said. “He hasn’t been seen in over a week. We have no clues. There’s nothing on the ground.”

Workers with the Vail Mountain Rescue Group will keep looking for clues when they visit the wilderness for training, Hoy said. However, the rescue effort is on pause until any new information turns up.

“If we got some new information that we felt could be credible then we would have it checked out,” Hoy said.

In a somber quest for closure, Hoy took Nelson’s family, friends and fiancé to the deck at Vail’s Adventure Ridge Tuesday, where they looked out over the Holy Cross Wilderness where Nelson disappeared.

“It’s rough for them, as it would be for anyone,” Hoy said. “They’re strong but obviously this has affected them.”

When it comes to what might have happened to Nelson, authorities are at a loss. Two hikers spotted Nelson on Oct. 3 but no one has seen him since.

“Did he get disoriented? Did he have an accident? Did he get lost up in the boulder fields?” Hoy said. “I guess you could say there’s plenty of theories on what might have happened but we don’t have anything to pin on one solid theory.”

Eerie foreshadowing

A fellow hiker apparently suggested Nelson bring a beacon on his trip in case he got into trouble.

The suggestion happened at a Chicago Backpackers Meetup Group event in a Chicago bar, group member Jeff Wegerson said. Wegerson met Nelson briefly during the event, and remembers Nelson using a handheld device to show a fellow hiker his proposed route for the Holy Cross hike.

Twice, the fellow hiker suggested Nelson bring a beacon on the trip, since Nelson had been planning to do the hike alone, Wegerson recalled.

Nelson said nothing in response.

“My take on his vibe was that he appreciated the sentiment and understood what he was dealing with and consciously chose not to take it [a beacon],” Wegerson said.

What went wrong?

The route Nelson had planned for himself in the Holy Cross Wilderness should not have been too difficult for an experience hiker like himself.

He mapped out a loop around Mount of the Holy Cross, following well-worn trails such as Fall Creek and Half Moon Pass.

“That’s actually a really easy to moderate hike,” Hand from Bag&Pack said.

However, Nelson had been considering climbing the 14,005-foot Mount of the Holy Cross. That’s one of the more difficult 14ers, Hand said. In fact, one notorious fork on Holy Cross Ridge has led many hikers astray, he said.

“A lot of people get really confused right there, especially first timers who have never really hiked the trail or are not familiar with the terrain,” he said.

Another theory claims Nelson’s interest in relics might have led him into Holy Cross City, a ghost town. Rescue workers scoured the town and some of the mines in the area but found nothing, Hoy said.

Other factors may have been working against Nelson as well. Although the weather hovered in the mid-70s throughout the first few days of his trip, it took a bad turn over the weekend, Hand said. He heard up to a foot of snow fell in some places.

“If that’s the case, if he were to somehow become unconscious high up, he could have been covered and that could be another factor,” he said.

Nelson appears to have experience with difficult hikes. On a Web site for the Chicago Backpackers Meetup Group, Nelson wrote “I organize trips that tend to be strenuous and involve hiking for an entire day at a steady pace; often over difficult terrain or in challenging weather. Trips often require hiking 10+ miles.”

Still, Nelson had never hiked in Eagle County before.

Hand said hiking alone in Holy Cross is not a good idea, especially for people who are unfamiliar with the terrain.

“Definitely, when you go backpacking , especially for that long, the buddy system is the only system I use,” he said. “It’s a safer system. Even if you don’t get lost, if you roll an ankle, break a bone, get sick, some random incident, you always want to have somebody with you to go find help.”

Staff Writer Sarah Mausolf can be reached at 970-748-2928 or smausolf@vaildaily.com.

Rock Climber Craig Luebben

Last published at August 10, 2009 at 3:04 PM

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company

Site Administrator:

I had the pleasure of taking a climbing class taught by Craig for the Colorado Mountain Club.  He was a good instructor, a great climber, and an asset to the Colorado climbing community.  His death is so very unfortunate.

Climber goes missing in Holy Cross Wilderness

Monday, October 11, 2010

Hiker still missing in Holy Cross area

Nearly 50 rescuers scour wilderness in search of Chicago man who set out for a five-day solo backpacking trip Oct. 3

Sarah Mausolf
smausolf@vaildaily.com
Vail, CO Colorado

VAIL, Colorado — Rescue teams were still looking for missing hiker James Nelson as of Monday evening.

“We didn’t find anybody today,” Vail Mountain Rescue Group mission coordinator Dan Smith said. “We’ll be searching tomorrow.”

No one has heard from Nelson, 31, from Chicago, since he set out on Oct. 3 for a five-day, 25-mile hike in the Holy Cross Wilderness.

His fiancé reported him missing Friday evening.

On Monday, 48 volunteers from the Vail Mountain Rescue Group and mountain rescue teams from neighboring counties searched in and around Nelson’s proposed hiking route, Smith said.

Nelson had planned to start at Half Moon campground, follow Fall Creek Trail past Lake Constantine, over Fall Creek Pass and past Holy Cross City, Smith said. Nelson then planned to hike Fancy Pass Trail over Fancy Pass and continue downstream along Cross Creek Trail. Nelson had intended to hike up East Cross Creek, then follow Half Moon Pass trail back to the parking lot.

Smith said rescue workers don’t know if Nelson attempted to climb Mount of the Holy Cross. He had been considering it, Smith said.

“Holy Cross is right in the center of that route,” he said. “If he decided to summit Holy Cross, there are several places where he could do it. It’s a search option we’re looking at.”

Nelson may have encountered snow over the weekend. Smith said anywhere from a trace of snow to 6 inches fell in the Holy Cross Wilderness Saturday and Sunday, depending on the location.

Those conditions can make hiking more challenging.

“It makes it more difficult to say warm, to stay hydrated and easier to hurt yourself,” Smith said.

Nelson set out on the hike alone. A fellow hiker spotted him a few miles from the trailhead on Oct. 3 but no one has seen him since, Smith said. Nelson is equipped with proper gear and supplies but does not have a cell phone.

While Nelson is an experienced hiker, this is his first hike in Eagle County. He has been involved in the Chicago Backpackers Meetup Group since 2006. The group’s Web site says the club’s primary focusing in backpacking. The club also “helps introduce people who are new to backpacking to the sport, organize trips for members, and encourage networking amongst backpackers” the site says.

Rescue workers searched for Nelson from 6:30 a.m. to about 6 p.m. Monday. Two helicopters from the Colorado National Guard High Altitude Aviation Training Center dropped off rescue teams in the wilderness and searched for Nelson. The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office also led the effort.

Rescue workers on Monday searched the cliff bands above Cross Creek, scoured the Holy Cross City area extensively and searched the Halo route to Holy Cross, among other areas, Smith said.

“The area bounded by his route is where we’re looking,” Smith said. “There are a number of natural barriers that drive him inside that route — ridges, ravines, creeks.”

When a search by 28 volunteers from Vail Mountain Rescue failed to turn up Nelson over the weekend, rescue workers submitted a request through the Colorado Search and Rescue Board for additional assistance.

Nelson is lost in the same wilderness area in which Front Range resident Michelle Vanek disappeared in 2005. She was not found, despite a massive search that last several days.

Staff Writer Sarah Mausolf can be reached at 970-748-2928 or smausolf@vaildaily.com.