While everyone is biting their fingernails, not just about Covid-19 but also about the difficulty of accessing the foothills and mountains, which in our opinion are the safest places to hang out in and great stress relievers besides, here is something to chew on from Vern.
“Speaking of weird. I’m noticing a trend in the Rockies and I’m not sure what I think about it. In what I can only assume is an effort to pad personal summit stats, people have been naming summits all over the place no matter how close to officially named summits they are! When looking at the Gaia map for the Fording River Pass/Carnarvon Lake area I noticed two new “summits” have been added along the ridge from Carnarvon Lake to Mount Armstrong. The only official peaks along here are Mount Maclaren and Armstrong. Now there’s a “Carnarvon Peak” (the false summit of Maclaren) and an “ArmLaren” — a rather striking high point along the ridge from Maclaren to Armstrong. REALLY?! Hmmm. I guess I’ve done about 2000 peaks if we’re now going to name every damm highpoint along every ridge in the Rockies.”
“On a slightly more serious note, I think it makes sense to name some high points after local features (i.e. Deadman Pass Peak or Healy Pass Peak) because they’re obviously unofficial and they give reference to where they’re located. I feel quite strongly however, that we should NOT be naming mountains after living family members or friends. I think this practice borders on disrespecting the many men and women that do have mountains legally and officially named after them. Correct me if I’m wrong but usually this honor is bestowed after the person has passed away and not on living persons? In the day of the Internet these names very quickly get put onto maps which get downloaded onto thousands of devices. In effect they become “official” much quicker than any legally official name ever has.”
“Who really cares what I think but I needed to get that off my chest because it’s been slowly creeping up my “hot‘n bothered list” over the past year or so.”
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On the plus side Squaws Tit above Canmore is now officially Anû Kathâ Îpa, meaning Bald Eagle Peak.
I see McConnell Point above Quaite Creek has the name Engagement Mountain on Street Maps used by Parks and Alltrails. Some people even call it Biffy Mountain. In my opinion you can call it by whatever name you like as long as the name doesn’t appear on maps in general use. McConnell Point is the north end point of McConnell Ridge which defines the famed McConnell Fault.
Just noting that back in time when the first surveyors went through the area they often named mountains and foothills after their esteemed colleagues who often had no connection to the area. Surnames were always used i..e Barwell, Dyson, Hoffmann.. If you’re going to name features after people then they should at least have some deep connection to the area i.e Sibbald, Burns, Patterson, Pocaterra.
“Isn’t it a little hypocritical of Vern to write that, while at the same time his last few trip reports have stories of hiking up Wigwam Ridge, Dawson Hill, Cutline Ridge, Stimson Creek Hills, Taipiti Ridge, Helena Ridge East, Packers Pass Peak…”
Why yes it sort of is and sort of isn’t IMHO. 🙂 Sonny hit the nail on the head when he explains my rant (thanks man) and focuses more on the “serious” side of the issue with naming peaks after friends and family. I also have those peaks on my summit list BTW and there’s a very simple reason as you point out – everyone else knows them by those names now that their not only on the Internet but in some cases published guidebooks!
I should also point out that I go on rants more often, but I don’t ever mean them personally. I know most people are good people and are only doing what they think is good and proper. I’m simply of an age and temperament that likes to grumble and rumble about things once in a while. Don’t take me too seriously. Cheers!
I would tend to agree with Vern that the naming of every bump along a continuous ridge is a bit excessive, but I’m more amused at the practice than offended by it. I believe Vern is of a similar mind about this, but I don’t think Vern is necessarily being hypocritical or against such unofficial naming as he explains in the second “more serious” paragraph. He acknowledges that it makes sense to attribute the names of local topographic features to unnamed summits (eg. Healy Pass Peak), and he has no problem with this if his plethora of trip reports of unofficially-named summits is any indication. However, I think what he truly objects to is the practice of naming summits after personal family members or friends. If you’re an avid scrambler, you may even realize that he is specifically calling out a particular RMB author.
Still no comment on the end of grooming at PLPP, Ribbon Creek, and Mount Shark, and the removal of almost all the small recreation areas in K Country, including all the Highwood trailheads and campgrounds (and many others)?
Strange. This is not a time for silence.