High Sierra Topix

I enjoyed reading the entries in the log book on the top of Maxson Dome at Courtright. Anybody know what other peaks have log books?

Most major peaks have summit registers. Over recent years there has been this distressing tedency for registers to vanish from peak tops, for whatever reason. I haven't climbed much in recent years, but my last SPS peak, Pickett Guard Peak, was one I was hoping to find one of those registers that went back a long way (because it's in the middle of nowhere and seldom climbed). Unfortunately it had no register, and this experience mirrors that of some of my peak bagging friends and a number of peaks and also a number of reports posted on summitpost and climber.org in recent years. In any case, a summit register is still the norm rather than an exception, so if you climb a prominent summit, you can expect a register. There may even be "original" registers (first one placed on peak) left (I believe, at minimum, Black Kaweah still has the original but I'm too chicknsh-- to climb it and find out; Mt Barnard still had the original as of 1996 (placed 1936) when I climbed it, and Mt. Williamson had the original in 1978 (placed 1919) when I visited but it was subsequently filled and replaced). Those old ones are really amazing because they include signatures by famous old time Sierran mountaineers/explorers (the likes of Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn, Francis Farquhar, etc).

It breaks my heart to see them disappear, I have seen a few locations (won't name them here) where a new register is left and lifted within a few months time.

Last year we climbed 5 peaks along the SHR, and only 1 peak had a register with a few pages that were fairly new entries. The others were either empty, or the whole canister was missing. A few months before people I know signed those registers

A list of missing registers/containers in the Sierras is maintained by the SPS and is faithfully duplicated by Steve Eckert at http://www.climber.org/scripts/SierraPeaks.cgi?BOX .
Registers on some popular summits (Dana?, etc.) are so short lived that they may not be kept track of on this list.

You might want to check out the list before you climb, and take a spare register/pencil/container if it's needed.