Memorial on top of Tahquitz

I noticed a memorial on the top of Tahquitz for a fellow named Oliver. I don't know who Oliver is or the story of what happened to him. The memorial is basically a pile of rocks with a wooden cross sticking up. One of the rocks has Oliver's name and a short quote written on it in sharpie.

Personally, I don't feel it is appropriate to put memorials up there but I left it there out of respect. If every climber who died had a memorial at the rock, it'd be a sad place to go. What do you guys think?

I find it interesting, even foreboding that a memorial is left at the start or top of the route. In 2013 a young dude died on the east butt of El Cap. When we went to climb it, at the top of the scramble and at the first belay, there was a memorial of the guys face and the dates of his birth and death. I found it ominous and had that thought stick with me the whole ascent, making it feel heebyjeeby...

I agree with you. It probably won't last long, though, so not a big deal.

If there were more memorials up there I think the masses would take climbing there more seriously, which would be a good thing.

Not saying I like the "trend" but it may be a cultural thing and will then slowly fade.

Skiing in Zermatt - my first time ever skiing in Europe - I was somewhat surprised by the number of memorial crosses that you constantly encounter.

I once left a stream of prayer flags on the summit my friend had brought me back from Nepal!!
Always a nastalgic feeling for me to see prayer flags in the mountains and was quite surprised to see the next time I was up there some one had stripped them down and written in the summit registrar to leave that shit at the monistary and the mountains are no place to try and force religious beliefs!!!!
Although I do agree with this to a certain extant, the asshole that did this was obviously the least spiritual person there is and was not altruistic enough to realize the mountains do Instill a since of spirituality and altruism and has nothin to do with religion!!!
With this said a memorial for a fallen climber is extremely unfortunate and my thought and positive energy to the universe is with them!!!

Always a hard choice weather to leave something on the summit. Some see it as garbage, others see it as an appropriate way to honor a lost friend. Hard to condemn ether point of view.

When I tried to climb Mt. Robson, at about the 1/3 point, you get to a large rock island sticking up out of the lower glacier. This Island is named "the extinguisher" it is a common bivi spot because one can get off of the ice. There is a pit toilet dug into the stone at the lower end and people camp at the upper end. On the way down to the Loo you pass memorials to people have died on the mountain. These are sturdy steel plates with the names, birth, death dates and sometimes a few words. One afternoon while waiting for the snow to stop I went and counted them... I stopped after 120 with many more to go. One that really hit me hard was a dude who was born on my birthdate, and had died the previous year!!!! That was very sobering and during the rest of the climb I wondered how he and when he meet his end, on that mountain.

Very sobering reminder about the real cost of this game we play.

Joshua Reinig wrote:I once left a stream of prayer flags on the summit my friend had brought me back from Nepal!! Always a nastalgic feeling...

Prayer flags aren't a tradition atop Tahquitz. You left a whole stream of it to suit your own feeling, nostalgia in this case. Others have the right to remove them to suit whatever their feelings, no explanation necessary.

You really can't have a spiritual moment without leaving crap behind?

I guess I am the dissenter here. I don't have a problem with the random memorial, roadside or clifftop.

Here's how I look at it, it's temporary and serves as closure for those that have lost a friend or loved one. It serves as a reminder to watch yourself.

I'm on the fence about metal placards. It's never bothered me before but I suppose if there was a plaque every 2 feet that it might be an issue.

Crackist wrote: You really can't have a spiritual moment without leaving crap behind?

Actually taking a crap always leaves me feeling quite Spiritual and Nostalgic!! ! :)

Do you have a problem with people leaving memorials along the road for those killed in car accidents? I don't see the difference and have never been offended by the ones along the road.

As for the line of prayer flags, I'd be more annoyed by the posted response to them than the flags themselves. If they don't like the flags then sure they can pull them down, but posting any sort of response is basically doing the same thing they were complaining about. So the response is worse because it is blatant hypocrisy.

Joshua Reinig wrote: Actually taking a crap always leaves me feeling quite Spiritual and Nostalgic!! ! :)

And did you leave that on top of Taq too?

Maybe if there were more memorials at the base we'd have correspondingly fewer fatalities and rescues on Lily Rock/Tahquitz? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Be safe now, you hear.

matt c. wrote: And did you leave that on top of Taq too?

C'Mon Braj!!!
Was it a Taq One or Taq #Too??
Why is every one on MP so obsessed W/ other people's Poo?!?!
Or even how when or why you go Dodoo or in this case a Taq-Too!!!
They never taught me at my Gym to Crag transition, the ethics of what people like you would do,
To people like me for not following tradition!
Leavin things behind you sacrilegiously have a predisposition,
Really wanting to know what I ate last night in my Kitchen?!?!?
Eww Gross not Bitchen!!!!
@ this point the Shit Troll is growing tiresome of this thread,
Just one more thing before I go back to bed,
A "Taq-Too" dodoo just for you to lay your head!!!

Locals only Braj!!!! ;)-

I can understand having a memorial for someone that was well known at the crag, developed or established routes, etc...but then again, that opens up another can of worms of why is that person worthy compared to that of another person.

There's a crag I use to frequest quite often in here in NorCal that had a plaque cemented at the top of one of the test piece routes. It was for a guy that did much of the development in the area, everyone in the community seemed to respond to it well and we always said our "thanks" at the top of the route.

I've shit on top of tahquitz. And close to the summit of Jacinto. And on the leaning tower, and Half Dome. I shit all the time. Sometimes it just comes out...

GDavis wrote:I've shit on top of tahquitz. And close to the summit of Jacinto. And on the leaning tower, and Half Dome. I shit all the time. Sometimes it just comes out...

LOL Greg I can't wait till we share another camp fire!

GDavis wrote:I've shit on top of tahquitz. And close to the summit of Jacinto. And on the leaning tower, and Half Dome. I shit all the time. Sometimes it just comes out...

Was that you in the crack on the upper pitches of whodunnnnnit?

Joshua Reinig wrote:I once left a stream of prayer flags on the summit my friend had brought me back from Nepal!! Always a nastalgic feeling for me to see prayer flags in the mountains and was quite surprised to see the next time I was up there some one had stripped them down and written in the summit registrar to leave that shit at the monistary and the mountains are no place to try and force religious beliefs!!!! Although I do agree with this to a certain extant, the asshole that did this was obviously the least spiritual person there is and was not altruistic enough to realize the mountains do Instill a since of spirituality and altruism and has nothin to do with religion!!!

But -- at least according to Wikipedia -- prayer flags are a Buddhist thing and therefore are closely tied to religion.

"Prayer flags are believed to have originated with Bon.[1] In Bon, shamanistic Bonpo used primary-colored plain flags in healing ceremonies in Nepal."

"Bon or Bön[1] (Tibetan: བོན་, Wylie: bon, Lhasa dialect IPA: [pʰø̃̀]) is a Tibetan religious tradition or sect"

You said that you agree to an extent with the words in the register. Are you altruistic enough to empathize with the feelings of the other users of the crag and keep your unnatural religious artifacts out of the shared natural setting?

Perhaps we should begin putting fake memorials everywhere to keep the crowds to a minimum.

I can see it now, "dude, you can't climb that route, it's a headstone and shit, Fred died there last week. Shit dude, let him rest in peace, that's just not cool"

Ten minutes later when they leave you can rope up for the proj in peace ;0