After you climb a Sierra Peak, please
click here to
Send a Report
to me on the condition of the summit
register. I will keep track of them. I need "all OK" reports,
too!
My main focus is on the
247 peak SPS LIST.
SPS Peaks needing registers as of 2/25/2023
SPS Peaks not listed here are not currently reported to have any Needs.
Agassiz Mt -- Needs 30 caliber ammo box lid, or new container. July 2016.
Alta Peak -- Needs Book up to 10"x6.5", July 6th 2018
Black Hawk Mtn -- Needs book and container, replace plastic container
Black Mtn -- Needs book
Black Hawk Mtn -- Needs all 6-13-2020
Clyde Minaret -- Needs small book 8-27-21
Dana Mt -- Needs book
Disaster -- Needs All 7-7-19
Eagle Scout Peak -- Needs a Book as of September 2016
Elwell Mt -- Book is full - August 2018 (climbed very often)
Emerson Mt -- Needs Permanent Container (has book in plastic box)
Excelsior Mtn -- Needs Permanent Container (has book in plastic box)
Four Gables -- Needs Ammo box on named summit to replace one on peak 12,801
Haeckel Mt -- Needs container and book, retrieve damaged register and cylinder w/o lid? 8-23-2021
Kaweah Mt -- Needs container
Langley Mt -- Needs book for Ammo Box 7-25-19
Leavitt Peak -- Needs container 2019
Lone Pine Peak -- Needs book 5-9-21
Lyell -- Needs book 8-25-20
Merriam Peak -- Needs book. September 2018
Morrison Mt -- Needs all. June 2019
Muah Mtn -- Needs container - has jar/small note pad 6/2018.
Mokelumne -- Needs All 7-7-19
Morrison -- Needs All
Muir Mt -- Needs Book 8-10-20
Needham Mtn -- Needs all
Perkins Mt -- Needs container
Pyramid Peak S -- Needs Container 7-31-16. has book in baggie
Recess Peak -- Needs Container and Book
Red And White Mtn -- Needs container and maybe book (new book in bottle, 2015)
Rose Mt -- Needs book and container
Round Top -- Needs book, getting pretty full
Royce Peak -- Needs all. Has small pill box. Sept. 2018
Sawtooth Peak N -- Needs All 7/28/18
Sirretta Peak -- Needs Container - April 14, 2018
Stanford S Mt -- Needs book and container
Stanislaus Peak -- Needs all
Starr King Mt -- Needs better container or plastic bags to stop damage
Thor Peak -- Needs book for ammo box, up to 10" x 6.5", As of 3/24/22
Three Sisters -- Needs book sized for ammo box, up to 10" x 6.5"
Tower Peak -- Needs book 8"x5" max
Twin Peaks N -- Needs book and container
Tyndal Mt -- Needs small book and pencil 5/30/21
Vandever Mtn -- Needs all
Virginia Peak -- Needs book and container
Vogelsang Peak -- Needs Book up to 10"x6.5" in Ammo Box.
Whorl Mtn -- Needs all (everything in wet ziplock Sept. 2015)
Williamson Mt -- Needs Book, old one is full 8-14-22
Please assume all peaks will need PENCILS (not pens) to leave with the registers. Ink washes out when wet! Pencils weigh almost nothing, so take two!
Pilot
Knob N could use a new lid for the old container, but I would need accurate
measurements of the box and thread size for new wing nuts. See this picture of
the old container and lid
Desolation Wilderness managers
don’t seem to want registers on
their SPS peaks (Pyramid, Dicks, Tallac), but I get reports about them anyhow.
SPS Mountain Records
The Sierra Club and the
Sierra
Peaks Section have long been helping to maintain registers on Sierra Peaks.
I am currently the appointed "Mountain
Records Chair". The SPS
Policies and Procedures state: "The SPS Mountain Records Chair maintains ...
a record of the condition of summit registers and register containers on
qualifying peaks ... maintains and preserves, as required, registers and
register containers on summits of qualifying peaks. He should provide new
register books and cylinders to climbers to replace old and missing ones on SPS
peaks and other qualifying peaks." Unfortunately we have no Cylinders any more.
I have metal and plastic ammo boxes, and a lot of note books that I can send to
you if you give me plenty of advance notice. I help publish only peaks on the
SPS LIST, but I archive reports for all the peaks on the
344 Sierra Peaks
list on Climber.org.
YOU CAN HELP
Please help me gather information to assist in Summit Register documentation and
maintenance.
I would like to get reports on the condition of summit registers and overfilled
or missing summit registers/containers/pencils for any SPS (Sierra Peaks
Section) listed summit, or other major summits in the Sierras.
Plastic Register containers are NOT acceptable as permanent containers (Gatorade
bottle, water bottle, plastic box, etc.) Please let me know when you find one.
I also want any history on any summit registers, including the disposition of
registers removed from their summits.
Reports of registers in good condition are important, too, so I
can remove a peak from my list if it no longer has Needs, and I can track their
condition and the type of container!
Please send me pictures or links to pictures of summit
registers/containers on any of
these peaks .
The registers may be harmed by publicity, so I will not publish
pictures or reports on this web site. I will keep them forever,
as a valuable reference for maintenance and history.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me pictures and detailed
reports!
If you find any damaged or unaceptable register containers, please help
me determine what it would take to repair or replace it, so someone can
go up there with the proper equipment and fix it.
For example:
- Agassiz (had) an ammo box with missing lid, so it was useful
to determine that they need only a 30 Cal. box lid for repair.
- The register box on Mt. Kaweah (the emblem peak) was barely
hanging on to the rock, and needed repair/replacement of the
screws and anchors (but it went missing before it was repaired).
- The register box on Pilot Knob Needs a new lid, but I need
accurate measurements for it.
If you find a container that Needs a book, please let me know what kind
of container it is, so we will know what size book it Needs.
Photographs are greatly appreciated!
And the most important way you can help is to volunteer
to carry a register to a summit on my list! Ask me. well in advance, and I will
tell you precisely what the reported Needs are, and I can send you materials or
advice.
REGISTER RETURN
I will accept any returns of misplaced registers or
information regarding Sierra Nevada summit registers, and try to
restore the register to its proper place.
If you want to be anonymous, I
don’t ask, I don’t tell!
No one has taken me up on anonymous communication in 15 years,
so If you want to do it, you can send me an anonymous email
here. Then I will make arrangements according to your
request and post the address to use here, on this page.
SAR
Summit registers play an important part in Search
And Rescue).
When a climber disappears (as at Mt. Goode 2008, Palisades 2007, Brewer 2006
...) SAR even goes so far as to retrieve the registers by helicopter (North
Guard/Milestone 2006). They use the registers to trace the path of the missing
climber or to find people who may have seen the climber. The most famous use of
registers in a search in the Sierra Nevadas was the search for Walter (Peter)
Starr Jr. in the Minarets, 1933 (1
2).
REGISTER BOOKS
|
I have a few new SPS register books in
stock!
3.75"x6", 144 page, soft cover,
with a sturdy sewn/taped binding,
so the pages won’t fall out.
I have many other notebooks of various sizes
suitable for use as summit registers |
|
I have purchased a good supply of
various sized register books. Please let me know
if you want a tiny but sturdy notebook to carry
with you always, just in case you find one
missing, or maybe a nice hard cover book to put
in an ammo box.
Notebooks with sewn
bindings will last much longer
than spiral bound notebooks. |
REGISTER CONTAINERS
Please help me find
sources for replacement
containers !
These aluminum cylinders, machined by the late
great Charles Gerkins, were perfect, but they
are no longer available. If you know who cast
the raw canisters or who else helped design
them, Please let me know! Give me some ideas
from some idiot-resistant, water-shedding,
bomb-proof, light-weight containers.
I would welcome a source of properly sized new
Tin Cans, for the classic "nested
cans" type of container, or a source of
black 4" PVC pipe and caps. |
If you can build containers like this
"Sierra Register
Committee" box, please let me know! |
I have a bunch
ammo boxes
. I prefer 30 cal. boxes. They will hold books
up to 10" x 6.5" max. Ammo boxes are pretty
good, but even they get damaged or lose their
lids, and they are fairly heavy (3.7 pounds)-
any suggestions for improved, large, DURABLE
containers are welcomed! Unfortunately, new
metal ammo boxes are no longer used by the
military, so they are more expensive now. |
The classic Sierra Club aluminum boxes were designed by
Kasper Casperson around 1924, later adopted by the national
club.
The last one made that I know of was on Olancha Peak in 1959 - now missing.
PROTECTION
Summit registers are an endangered tradition in California. The earliest Sierra
register was placed on Mt. Dana in 1863, and another on Mt. Brewer in 1864. Some
registers (used too) survive on their summit for 100 years, dating back to the
19th century. Registers have great historical and cultural significance,
especially to peak baggers. But the registers and containers are disappearing at
an alarming rate.
Please do not publish your "discovery" of old registers, giving away
their specific location. This serves only the braggart, the thieves, the
vandals, and armchair climbers. The number of surviving old registers is
diminishing, though some have been doing fine for many years on isolated peaks
without any interference from you. The older registers are the more valuable
targets for those who collect them, as well as for those who would vandalize
them, they need NO advertising !
Please help by keeping the location of these valuable objects a secret, until
they are no longer with us. Tell your family and friends, but
not the whole world. Registers, containers, and even
multiple benchmarks have been stripped from many peaks.
ARCHIVAL
I think that taking pictures, instead of
taking away registers, is a great way to preserve the history
they bear. Send the pictures to me and/or to the library, and
keep the registers on the summit. It seems that putting a summit
register away in a vault is like taking Bighorn Sheep out of the
mountain wilderness and putting them in a cage - they will never
be the same. This is my personal opinion.
The
Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley has a list
of the summit registers in their collection
here . The UCLA library has a
collection of registers and other historical SPS artifacts. The
East California Museum in Independence has the old Mt. Langley
Sierra Club aluminum box on display, given to them, oddly
enough, by RJ Secor. Do any other libraries/museums in
California collect old summit registers, too? Bancroft lists
"mountain registers mainly from California summits of the Sierra
Nevada", stored in 27 cartons, with 738 registers listed.