This board is just over a year old!

I don't know the exact date, but SteveC has been a member since 9/22 last year.

In the year, we have approached the 400 member mark, we've put up the Whitney and Williamson webcams, we've had some threads last more than a year, with 10s of thousands of views. And we've built a community of interesting and accomplished folks. Done some group hikes, celebrated some member's victory over adversity, told some really bad jokes.

Because this site was originally framed to preserve the Versatile Fred series of articles on the subject of "How Not To Die On Whitney", it would be of great interest to hear from members (and lurkers) who have had their Whitney summit attempt affected by this forum.

Post away!

Happy Birthday WZ! I can't believe it's been a year already - seems like just a few weeks ago we were watching the membership count creep ever-so-slowly to the milestone of 50, and then eventually that triple digit mark. From an acorn a mighty tree will grow!

Steve, Fred, Bee, CaT, wagga, Gary - you all deserve huge kudos in creating and nurturing a site that not only accomplished the original objective, but developed a strong sense of community. Congratulations!

It seems to me it has been more then a year! I'm glad I joined when Steve invited me. After voluntarily leaving the Whitney Portal Store's website after learning that most people hated me and never had the common courtesy to tell me so I reluctantly joined here and who knows I am probably public enemy #1 around here also but at least I have something constructive to say once in awhile. =P

interesting.....

I've found your writings to be very refreshing....

Dude! You have no enemies here!

...AND we appreciate your contributions, trip reports, board comments, and trail maintenance work too.

Well that's good to know =P

Rogue, that's a pretty broad statement about yourself that I don't think is accurate, especially as there are a lot of dual-users between the two boards. As I recall, most of the fallout you - and others - experienced was the result of the bruhaha around the "Guns in National Parks" thread late last year that (predictably) regressed into a first grade food fight. Between that thread and the one on the subject of Wade Brunette's SAR and death, a lot of mud got slung around. Really intense rhetoric flying before Doug finally shut 'em both down.

If you felt alienated, you were in good company - as I recall Richard P was persona non grata on WPS for a while after posting a pretty innocuous, though ill-advised, photo. I had my head handed to me a couple of times as well in those threads. Having the Whitney Zone appear at the same time, providing a more civil environment for discussion, was really a blessing for a lot of us. I probably would have lost interest in WPSMB due to those conflagrations if there had not been the outlet of WZ at the perfect time. I think a number of the first few dozen members here felt similarly.

Of course, both subjects were in high-volume threads here as well (the most I've ever seen Bee post in one thread, as a matter of fact!), but the tones were more of debate rather than argument and anger. Again, kudos to the moderators for how well they were handled. I truly believe that the existence of this board has helped the WPS membership calm down a bit, and that's good for everyone.

Well I agree that the only issues I have had on this forum was in the gun debate thread but that was on this forum. I am not sure I even posted in the Wade thread as I don't remember.

I honestly do not know what went on with the WPS forum as I thought everything was fine and the people were nice but then I was informed that Doug was planning to ban a bunch of members and I was one of them which threw me off guard for sure.

I was mostly joking about me possibly being hated here.

But I will be hated if I throw this thread any further off topic. =P

That made me laugh out loud, 'cause another friend of mine commented:

"Sooooo, like the only threads you ever post on have to do with death or guns - what's up with that???"

Probably the only two things that I can comment on with experience.

(no, I have not died yet, but I do work in a mortuary)

So not true!

You and your comments and vast experience and trip reports/pics are always welcome here.
I have always enjoyed reading your posts, even though I usually do more monitoring than posting.

You are among friends, and I know we endeavor at keeping this MB a welcoming place without all the "drama".


In this case, competition has proved to be a good thing.

CaT

Ahem . . . I believe you can now comment with more confidence than most on what it's like to spend a night at 14,508 feet . . .

I am going to combine those two thoughts ( mortuary and summit)and serve up some suitable quotes from my Words From On High Collection. Harvey

On a mountain-top a man feels himself no mere interloper on life's stage...but an entity whose span is timeless, whose scope is magnificent beyond conception, whose birth, whose death, are incidental milestones on a splendid road without beginning and without end.
Frank Smythe, The Mountain Vision, page 12

To climb a mountain is to tread not only the heights of Earth, it is to adventure to the very boundary of Heaven.
Frank Smythe, The Mountain Vision, page viii

To spend your life killing time has only one certainty; that is that time will eventually kill you.
Gary Hall quoted in
Colin Monteath, Hall & Ball. Kiwi Mountaineers, page 118