TR: Olancha Peak - May 16-18 - Register missing!

[redbear]

I'm posting this a bit late, as I just now realized and feel obligated to report - the Olancha Peak register might have been stolen, and not just the register itself, but the classic Sierra Club aluminum box is missing too.
I took a friend who is a beginner backpacker for a short trip up to the South Sierra Wilderness. We've entered from the Sage Flat trailhead over Olancha Pass and spent 2 nights near Summit Meadow. I've never been in this area myself and couldn't believe how dry it is in comparison to the High Sierra further north. Every creek bed we came across in the vicinity of Summit Meadow was bone dry. We've almost had to cut our trip short before we’ve found several snow patches near the northern end of meadow. We were also lucky to find a big metal bucket at the packer site that we’ve camped near of and used it to melt snow in a big fire pit with a convenient metal grill/pot holder.

Blooming cactus.jpg

Olancha pass.jpg

Bone dry Summit Meadow.jpg

Bone dry Summit Meadow 2.jpg

On day 2 of the trip we wanted to climb Olancha. Because of the water situation we’ve spent a lot of time melting the snow so we have enough to last all day and be able to cook dinner in the evening, as we were not sure if we would want to mess with it when we get back from the climb.

Our water factory.jpg

We left camp around 10:30 am and it took us about 3 hours to reach the small saddle south west of the peak where you leave PCT and start ascending the western slope of Olancha.

View of Olancha from South near PCT.jpg

Looking towards the peak.jpg

We ate lunch, took a 30 min break and started the ascent shortly before 3 pm. I’ve made it to the peak in about an hour, but my friend fell behind and decided not to push anymore and wait for me. When I reached the summit, realizing my friend is not coming; I briefly looked around for the register, couldn’t find it, took a few pictures, shot a video and began my descent. I’ve caught up with my friend about half way down the slope and we’ve got back to camp by 7 pm.

Olancha benchmark.jpg

View South West from summit -Monache Meadows.jpg

View North.jpg

Now that I’ve come across an earlier trip report (2009) of the Olancha climb where the register is shown as a classic Sierra Club aluminum box with the Sierra Club logo on it – I’ve realized there’s no way I would miss it. I looked under all the big summit blocks near the USGS benchmark and did not see it. Now I see other posters reporting registers missing from other summits – I assume the Olancha register box was taken as well.
Sad…

[kd6swa]

How are the registers and boxes placed to protect against high winds, hard winters and snowmelt in the spring? Just curious as some peaks don't look like there is much in the way of options for protection.

73
KD6SWA

[redbear]

Peak registers are usually placed inside of an ammo box or a special container, like the ones shown on
http://summitregister.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. These are pretty robust containers. Then, a container with the register will normally be placed in a spot that's somewhat sheltered - under a boulder or in a crack between rocks.

[Rockchucker]

Did you see the bighorn? They transplanted 13 and seems all are doing well, they should be lambing out now.

[redbear]

Have not seen the sheep - just learned the fact of reintroduction.
Apparently, there was a native Olancha herd in the early 1900s that died out.
It will be interesting to see if they re-establish there.