Oldest Summit Register

[mennoguy]

On my journeys to obscure peaks I have found a few registers from the 1970's, some from the 1980's and many from the 1990's. I know there is a register on an obscure 13er near Telluride from the 1930's. Does anybody know of a register still on a summit which is older? What is the oldest register you have found?

[Derek]

Off the top of my head, the oldest I recall was mid 70's on an 11er in the Retirement Range.

It seems like there is a certain sweet spot concerning old registers...usually a peak that was popular enough that someone actually went up way back when and left a register, but not popular enough to have more than a couple groups per year max to fill it up.

Thats what it seems like to me at least.

1930's is pretty old! Seems like I remember ScottP mentioning in an old post where hes come across some pretty old ones, not sure if they were in CO or not.

--Derek

[Brian C]

This is by far the oldest register I've seen.

[TravelingMatt]

Not really the same, but I have run into registers that were placed in the last 10-15 years and have no more than five or six names in the them. These were on 13ers!

One in particular was on a Gore Range 13er that can't be more than five miles as the crow flies from I-70 and is clearly visible from many of the more populated areas in Summit County. Solitude is closer than you think.

[mennoguy]

Derek, I would agree with your sentiment about older registers. Most of the registers from the 70s I have come across have been in the Retirement Range.

I remember ScottP saying there were some very old registers in northern Colorado.

Brian, that register is still in pretty good shape, I like the route descriptions on some of the old registers.

Matt, I enjoy coming across any register which suggests I am one of a select few to climb a given peak that year. I like knowing I am the only person to climb a peak in a year. There was one peak I climbed in December where I was the only one to summit in 2010, the last signature was of a Dave L. back in October of 2009.

Part of my fascination with old registers is being able to see most of if not all of the climbing history on a peak.

[Furthermore]

This is the oldest I have found this one on a summit. Rumors of another close to this age in the Gores.

Ive found 60s and 70s on San Juan 13eeners.

[Brian C]

I remember ScottP saying there were some very old registers in northern Colorado.

Brian, that register is still in pretty good shape, I like the route descriptions on some of the old registers.

Matt, I enjoy coming across any register which suggests I am one of a select few to climb a given peak that year. I like knowing I am the only person to climb a peak in a year. There was one peak I climbed in December where I was the only one to summit in 2010, the last signature was of a Dave L. back in October of 2009.

Part of my fascination with old registers is being able to see most of if not all of the climbing history on a peak.

The one I posted was in excellent shape. It also had some pretty cool names in it over the years.

I haven't found a large number of old registers in NE CO but have found several peaks that are rarely climbed. It is cool to be a visitor to a lonely summit and also to find old registers. Although not an old register, on my recent ascent of West Pawnee Butte, we were the first people to set foot up there in 40 years. I hope I keep finding these peaks!

Does that register say "Peak ?"? Cool!

[Oman]

This is by far the oldest register I've seen.

Wow! I wonder if the second signature there is THE David Brower -- first executive director of the Sierra Club, the main enviro leader who killed Echo Park Dam in Dinosaur National Monument, founder of Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters, overall godfather of the national enviro movement, plus the first white guy known to have climbed Shiprock (also in 1939). He would have been 27 years old at the time of summit in your register photo.

If it's really him, a very cool piece of history. Thanks for posting.

[Scott P]

Does anybody know of a register still on a summit which is older? What is the oldest register you have found?

In 1996, I found one in Utah placed in 1910 where the last signature was from 1911 (signed by the same person). I don't usually tell people where it is.

Another pretty old one (in a tabacco can) might be on Baker Peak Nevada when we climbed it in 1987. I was a kid back then, but I have vague memories of it being from the 1930's?

One peak in Arizona has (or had?) the oldest (paper) register I know of. The original register (in a baking soda can) was placed in 1871 by the second Powell expedition down the Colorado River, but the note was taken by the next party in 1911 who also left their record in the baking soda can. Apparently the 1871 baking soda can and the 1911 signatures are still there, though it would be nice if the 1871 Powell signature still was.

I've found many (paper) registers dating from the 1940's and 1950's scattered about. I guess if you count petroglyphs and rock signatures, some "registers" are 1000 years old or older. I have seen many singatures dating back to the 1890's and on. The ones on El Morro in New Mexico date to the early 1600's and on.

[somethingrandom]

Not nearly what you are asking, but I had one a few weeks ago that I was the 16th to sign and it had been there since 2001. That is my best

And I suppose the bright side is no one is reporting someone shitting in a register tube this time

[MtHurd]

I found this on Peak E in the Gores in 2004. I hope it is still there. The less people that climb a particular peak, the less likely the register will go missing.

[TK]

I recall bringing down a register from the early 70's from East Spanish a few years ago and returning it to CMC. I think Scott P probably has found some of the oldest around Colorado. If they do summit registers on the East coast, there might be some older ones lurking about in Apalachia. No idea where to look, though.

There was a coffee can register on Red Mtn. in RMNP that went back decades. Interesting to see various guide book authors had all signed that register over the years, and not so many others.