Canister pictures

[pete_hickey]

Someone named after an old TV show asked me about pictures of canisters. I have a bunch of them. So, for those too impatient to wait for the canister poster, here is a bit of a web page with pictures of some of the canisters. Before clicking, note that I am NOT a web guy. I use vi and html, so it isn't really much of a web page.

http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/canisters/index.html

Some of them have the older metal canisters, and some the newer plastic ones.

[Mavs00]

Pete,

Those are awesome, Thanks for sharing.

[1ADAM12]

Thanks Pete!!!! The only two peaks I climbed were Grey and Redfield. I hiked Redfield one week to the day that the cannisters were coming down.

[pete_hickey]

By the way... The little guy in those pictures (JR) is the guy who now moves 800 pound rocks.

[Everest NBD]

800 POUND ROCKS! Thats impressive. :cool:
Those pictures are really cool.

[pete_hickey]

800 POUND ROCKS! Thats impressive. :cool:

A few things.

1) He's older than the little kid in the pictures.

2) Moves does not mean lifts them up.

You can see some of his work (along with a few others) on the Indian Pass tail, most of it is down in the Catskills. If you climb Ampersand, you can see the work his friends did a few years ago. He also worked on the two staircases not too far past Round Pond, on the Dix-RP trail. Those rocks didn't get there by themselves.

[Dick]

800 POUND ROCKS! Thats impressive. :cool:

You can see some of his work (along with a few others) on the Indian Pass tail, most of it is down in the Catskills. If you climb Ampersand, you can see the work his friends did a few years ago. He also worked on the two staircases not too far past Round Pond, on the Dix-RP trail. Those rocks didn't get there by themselves.

We have seen obvious work in these places, and we were particularly impressed with Ampersand's "golden staircase" (as we call it). We've often thought about the crew who built it. What a feat!

Dick

[Hikerdad]

Great pictures....I'm sorry I only got to see/sign in on one cannister (Gray Peak) before they removed them....

[lumberzac]

Great pictures....I'm sorry I only got to see/sign in on one cannister (Gray Peak) before they removed them....

Ditto, although I'm glad I got the chance to sign the register on East Dix.

[Sparky]

Pete

Great pics!!
Around what year were these taken?

[pete_hickey]

Around what year were these taken? Between 1990 and 1993.

[masshysteria]

I had the pleasure of signing 10 canisters. I ended up writing the names and addresses of the 3 previous hikers (as required) in the margins of my USGS quad maps. About 3 years ago, a friend of mine wanted to visit Wallface. He didn't have any maps or guide books of tha area , so I let him borrow my books and maps. When he returned, and I saw him at work, he looked like he was going to be ill. When I asked him how the trip was, he said, "great, but I left your books and maps in the Wallface leanto...". He thought I was going to be furious, because he knew I had the names and addresses on the maps.
I had to finally chuckle when I told him that the names were copied over, not to mention that the canister system was no longer in use. He breathed quite a sigh of relief, then produced 2 new guide books and 3 new USGS maps he bought for me. He then uttered, "oh, if you don't need these, I could use them." My reply was short and terse; "give me those! Those maps had sentimental value!!"

[Dick]

We signed quite a few of the "trailless" registers before the demise of the system. So what happened to all of those "registers" (notebooks) anyway?

[masshysteria]

Dick, I'm going to defer to people who are more knowledgeable on the subject, like Bruce and Pete, but I was under the impression that some(or all) of them are in the State Museum in Albany. Right in your back yard.

Tom

[pete_hickey]

Dick, I'm going to defer to people who are more knowledgeable on the subject, like Bruce and Pete, but I was under the impression that some(or all) of them are in the State Museum in Albany. Right in your back yard.

Yep, I'm fairly certain that is where they are. Along with letters sent to Grace. You can go down there and look through them. I think it's by apponitment only, and you have to be a bit specific about what you want to look at.

[masshysteria]

I remember spending at least an hour reading the log books, that's not even counting the time to enjoy the view. I would allow a couple of hours on the top to make sure I had time to read the logs. Great stuff!

[mike1889]

Yep, I'm fairly certain that is where they are. Along with letters sent to Grace. You can go down there and look through them. I think it's by apponitment only, and you have to be a bit specific about what you want to look at.

I have been to the library at the State Museum a couple times to look at my 46er file. I wanted to make copies of my letters that I sent to Grace as I didn't make copies before I sent them. The log books from the summits are also there. They are interesting reading. They used to be at Grace's home and I had the pleasure of reading through many of them one day. Here is a link (http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc19467.htm) to the archives at the NYS Museum. Obviously it's not up to date, listing stuff only through 1997. More recent files are there.

[pete_hickey]

And does anyone remember finding little green army men in any of the cannisters? I remember several had a little bag of green plastic army men with some strange note about leaving them on each summit? :

I vaguely remember finding one. One thing I remember, was when someone war funning for some office, somewhere, he left pencils in every canister.. "Vote for.... whoever that guy was"

And one more thing. The canister poster is just about done. This has been several years in the making, delayed while Ed did not have acces to the equipment he needed. It is a poster which is a collection of photos of the canisters. The idea was originally concieved when the canisters were taken down.

[ADKatie]

And one more thing. The canister poster is just about done.

Totally cool! I never made it to a canister peak before they were taken down, but I do wish I had. I'd love to get one of these posters! Can you tell us where to find them when they become available?

[pete_hickey]

And one more thing. The canister poster is just about done.

Can you tell us where to find them when they become available?

i SUSPECT that there will be something sent out with the notice for the Fall meeting, and they may very well be sold there.

[Antlerpeak]

That is where they were supposed to have gone. They use to be at Grace's and were fun to read. Whatever happened to the cans themselves? Grace actually gave me one she had in her celler at the boulders. It was an old Donaldson can with the letter D missing. It sits in my living room where I stash 46R stuff. No you don't have to register upon entering but it is a thought.

[pete_hickey]

.... Whatever happened to the cans themselves?

They were auctioned off at a spring meeting a number of years ago. At least the ones that weren't stolen.

I saw a proof of the canister poster, and it's GREAT. I can't wait for the ral thing to be ready. It even has a photo of the canister from Iroquois!

[Antlerpeak]

Speaking of the cannister photo of Iroquois. I have a photo of Iroquois with Two cannisters. I didn't know what the deal was when we got up there. One was mounted on a post another was laying on the rock cairn beneath the post. so I took a picture of it. A week or two later when I was at the boulders talking to Grace I asked her about it. She said someone was sent up there to replace the can and he forgot to bring down the old. He said he set it down and forgot it. Grace said if you want it go get it you can keep it. My first thought was sure its still there. It was then Grace told me they only wind up in her basement. That's when she rummaged around and found two, one of Esther and the other Donaldson. She gave me the Donaldson and said she would not part with the Esther, her 46th! I thought I was just given the holy grail. That has to have been twenty five years ago and it still holds a high place in my trophy room. Well actually it is the only trophy in my trophy room.

[ADK Rick]

Nice thread...here are some older pictures from the late 70s. I have a few more that I havent scanned yet, hope to get to them soon.

http://community.webshots.com/album/413714613aHxmBe

ADK Rick

[pete_hickey]

Just bringing this thread back to life to give an update.

At the meeting last week, we saw the canister poster, and talked about printing them and selling them. I hope they will be ready by the Spring meeting. Not TOO many will be printed. Not because we want to have a 'limited edition', but because most felt that it is only the 'old timers' that would be interested in it. Newer climbers, who never saw a canister, would not.

[lumberzac]

How do I go about getting one?

[pete_hickey]

How do I go about getting one?

I imagine that there will be a blurb in the mailing for the spring meeting. I also suspect that they will be sold there.

Also, I don'T want to leave the impression that there will only be a few. There will be many hundreds.

[timmus]

Newer climbers, who never saw a canister, would not.

I never saw a canister. But still I would love to have the poster, if the design is good of course. I guess I just like things that 95% of the population would not understand why it is great to own it.

[TFR]

I never saw a canister. But still I would love to have the poster

I'll take one too, even if the design isn't great! :D

[mbresle]

Jeez I need to pay my dues to Phil and start getting these mailings/peaks. And I did my 46 at poko so i have no excuse.

Anyone remember "sharpe is a point runner"?

[Skyclimber]

Here are a few other of the canisters:

[Skyclimber]

Sometime I will dig out the others.

[Skyclimber]

Here's more:

[Antlerpeak]

Ok I might as well join in on the fun. Here is a pic of the Iroquios can. Note there is a second can on the ground. The story goes someone went up there to replace the old can and forgot to bring it down. Grace told me I could go get it if I wanted and keep it. I passed saying I was just up there. She had an old Donaldson can which she gave me instead.

[Skyclimber]

Grace wrote the story to me, about the Iroquois canister.
She said it really was never needed, even when she climbed it, in 1934. That she was a neophyte then, but easily found her way. She said the 46ers had the can there, but the log got filled up so often, they couldn't keep it maintained. The logs were taken down by climbers but never returned. So they took it down. She didn't tell me when though.

[Antlerpeak]

I am not sure when they removed it but at the time there were twenty one. My guess was by 1980 leaving twenty active cannister mountains.

[yvon]

Thank you guys to show us those canister that i heard about. I start to hike only in september 2002, so i never saw those cans.

[pete_hickey]

... the Iroquois canister......
She said it really was never needed, even when she climbed it, in 1934. There are(were) at least two reasons for canisters. ONE: to prove that one had actually reached the summit. This was more of an issue in the past, when there weren't many climbers. Toward the end of the canister era, there were so many climbers, that it was really impossible to verify...

The other reason, is to mark the summit. When we removed the canisters, and put up the signs, there were several peaks for which the DEC said that signs were not needed: It was obvious when one was on the summit. IIRC, East Dix, and Panther were two peaks.

In the case of iroquois, with its canister, neither reason really tequires a canister.

[Skyclimber]

There are(were) at least two reasons for canisters. ONE: to prove that one had actually reached the summit. This was more of an issue in the past, when there weren't many climbers. Toward the end of the canister era, there were so many climbers, that it was really impossible to verify....

Exactly but they hadn't even referred to the log books in years before they took the canisters down, to verify climbers ascents. That Grace told me herself. It was all on the honor system, just like it is today.

The canister on Iroquois wasn't needed, because of the fact that it is too obvious of a summit, to miss the exact top.