Summit Registers

[Wentzl]

In his trip report about climbing Mt. Sneffels, Arett66 mentioned that the summit register consisted of an ammo box stuffed with random scraps of paper covered with inscriptions that were all jumbled together and with no blank space to register. I climb Sneffels often and I can say that the ammo can has been like that for a few years now.

So the purpose of opening this conversation is to get opinions about the proper course of action. Does anyone actually use the summit register information or is it just so much trash waiting to be tossed? My thought is to go up and take all the paper in there and just get rid of it and leave a little notebook and a new pen/pencil.

The basic question; is the information in a summit register trash or treasure? I am sure that some will point out that registers on more obscure and less frequented peaks should be protected while those on the popular 14ers are just a useless ego trip and excuse to litter. But I am genuinely curious to see if anyone objects to trashing out the cluttered registers like that on Sneffels and how to distinguish which registers should be left alone and which should be cleaned out.

Nice work on the Snake, Arett66.

[cottonmountaineering]

14er summit registers i think are pointless due to the amount of people climbing them
13er registers are more fun cause you see the roaches did the climb 10 years ago

[BillMiddlebrook]

14er Summit registers are dead. Some USFS Districts have even removed them from their summits. They may be helpful if there is a lost person but other than that, what’s the point?

Take a picture.

[supranihilest]

14er summit registers i think are pointless due to the amount of people climbing them
13er registers are more fun cause you see the roaches did the climb 10 years ago

12er summit registers are so old God himself has signed them.

14er Summit registers are dead. Some USFS Districts have even removed them from their summits. They may be helpful if there is a lost person but other than that, what’s the point?

Take a picture.

Yeah, but how else will someone know that you climbed Mount Quandary Peak Mountain if you can't sign the register?! You can't possibly expect Instagram and Facebook to fill that gap!

[Jon Frohlich]

12er summit registers are so old God himself has signed them.

Or Gerry and Jennifer Roach. Which is the same thing as God effectively.

68751569_10157513488259099_9175545222371737600_o.jpg (111.38 KiB) Viewed 884 times

[xcrunner365]

14er registers are not worth the time frankly, if they exist at all. On the other hand registers on obscure 9ers, 10ers, 11ers, etc. are definitely worth the trouble. You know you struck gold when you find a Brown Bear Mountaineering Club register!

[seano]

I prefer to leave them all alone. The ones on obscure peaks can be interesting, especially in the Sierra where they seem to last longer. I don't bother signing the boxes of junk on popular peaks, but a bunch of paper in an ammo box doesn't seem like litter, so it's not worth removing. If anything, removing it will just tempt someone to start another register.

[Woodie Hopper]

I think the intent is good. To each his own.

[Wentzl]

Woodie. Thank you for one of the more abstruse postings I have seen.

Seriously. No idea what to make of it.

[Trotter]

14er summit registers i think are pointless due to the amount of people climbing them
13er registers are more fun cause you see the roaches did the climb 10 years ago

+1

[4thPlaceAtFieldDay]

I haven't found a register on a 14er in a while, so I just leave my summit sign so other people know I was there...

As for 13ers (and other obscure peaks), some of those registers are definitely treasures. I've started taking small notepads and pens with me on 13ers in case the register is missing or in bad shape. Here's a cool one from Chiefs Head's summit a while back:

DSCN0117_50.jpg (185.35 KiB) Viewed 593 times

[pvnisher]

Has there been any productive use of a summit register from a popular 14er in recent/memorable history?
If someone if lost I don't see the SAR team saying, "quick! Check the summit register!"

Maybe as emergency TP, which is perhaps the best use of that paper.