|
mauta
Feb 25, 2003, 1:49 PM
Post #1 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Dec 11, 2001
Posts: 177
|
I watched yesterday a TV documentary that ranked the 10 wonders made by men along history. For instance, first place has gone to the "Big Chinese wall" (i do not know how to translate "muralla china"), second place to the Egypt Pyramids, and so on....
On seventh place, they ranked the USA presidents heads sculpted in a mountain in dakota (is Mt Rushmore?).
While i was watching the program, i wondered if anybody has ever tried to climb those ex-presidents sculptures. I can imagine it is completely forbidden, but....
It is funny, because you can claim to have climbed THE NOSE in some minutes !!! Lincoln`s nose, of course :D
JUAN
|
|
|
|
|
daisuke
Feb 25, 2003, 1:55 PM
Post #2 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Aug 28, 2001
Posts: 904
|
the name for "muralla china" is "the great wall of china"
having seen those faces up close on TV I donīt think they would be climbable on anything other than toprope and by the time you got that set up you would probable be in jail
D
|
|
|
|
|
crack_head
Feb 25, 2003, 2:20 PM
Post #3 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Dec 23, 2002
Posts: 210
|
i forget where it was but i remember seeing a topo of mt. rushmore. i think it was in an outside magezine. i remember that all the lines were crazy like 5.16a (hahaha) i think that that was the hardest one i remember, but there were also a bunch of 5.12 - 5.14's on it. i think there were like 3-4 routes up the mountain. anybody else see this or am i dreaming?
|
|
|
|
|
camhead
Feb 25, 2003, 2:23 PM
Post #4 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 10, 2001
Posts: 20939
|
although usually my ethics run the other direction, I hate to say that I would proudly support a bolt ladder going up one of the presidents, preferably Roosevelt.
those carvings are ultra ugly, and they mar the beauty of the surrounding Black Hills area. even worse, a statue of the Indian leader Crazy Horse is also currently under construction nearby. Lame. He refused to have any photos taken of him throughout his life, and now they decide to make a big old statue of him. Ultra lame.
so yeah, let's put a bolt ladder up them. It would be no different than littering in a landfill.
|
|
|
|
|
duskerhu
Feb 25, 2003, 2:26 PM
Post #5 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Apr 13, 2002
Posts: 1023
|
Yes, there have been a few attempts by "stunt artists" who tried to climb the presidents faces on Mt. Rushmore over the years. None of which were successful as far as I know.
The National Park Service actually keeps a pretty tight rane on things in the "Monument" now-a-days. They do not allow even "off trail/paved path" hiking inside the "Monument" grounds.
I was there last fall and we parked on the side of the road about a mile or so before you get to the monument entrance and went for a quick little scramble up a hill into the woods and around some rocks. As we were coming back out about 15 minutes later, a ranger was just on his way up to look for us. He said he'd give us a break this time 'cus we were on our way out before he got up there to give us a ticket.
duskerhu
|
|
|
|
|
atg200
Feb 25, 2003, 2:38 PM
Post #6 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jul 27, 2001
Posts: 4317
|
no you cannot climb the faces, and these days you are fairly likely to be shot on site if you tried. even stepping past the clearly marked off limits line will get you 6 months in jail and a huge fine. on top of this, the climbing community in south dakota would kill you for getting one of the finest climbing areas in the black hills closed - rushmore has wonderful climbing on the spires and fins behind the monument, and a stunt like that would undoubtedly sour the good relationship between the park and climbers now.
there are no routes on mt rushmore itself, but the area behind it has great sport and some trad in the 5.5 to 5.14a range.
and this just in from climbingblackhills.com:
I just talked with Todd VanAlstien, our climbing liason at Rushmore, and he informed me that the park just went to Code Orange. This will have two impacts on climbers.
1. We can no longer park on the road in the park. He suggested that we park at Wrinkled Rock or if you have a big group use the next pull out just past Wrinkled Rock. We can park at the Chopping Block area but not the South Seas area. There is an electric road sign parked there, so please don't interfere with the view of the sign. To promote continued good relations I strongly suggest following Todd's lead and park at Wrinkled Rock.
2. The main mass of Rushmore is off limits. It is my undersanding that this includes the Emancipation RockPhormation. We can climb the Marker area and west. Routes that will be off limits include -- Garfield Goes to Washington, Read My Clips, PB&J, The Engagement, Five Card Draw, and many more.
If you are in doubt on whether you can park or climb in a certain area GO TO A DIFFERENT AREA where you are sure. We want to make the Park Service's job of security as easy as possible!
We can only speculate how long this will last. It will all depend on how things progress with national security.
|
|
|
|
|
dsafanda
Feb 25, 2003, 3:40 PM
Post #7 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 6, 2002
Posts: 1025
|
crack_head,
You're not dreaming. There was a spoofed topo produced for Mt. Rushmore that was in Outside Magazine. Outside asked Supertopo to come up with the idea. Actually, I was the one who developed the orginal mockup...
http://www.safanda.com/supertopo/mtrushmore_mock1.jpg
We passed it on to Outside and they had one of their illustrators tweak the idea a bit further. The final result didn't use a photo and was more cartoon like in appearance.
|
|
|
|
|
cracklover
Feb 25, 2003, 5:00 PM
Post #8 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 14, 2002
Posts: 10162
|
Due to the movie magic of Hollywood - it has happened (sort of). The Alfred Hitchcock movie is called "North by Northwest". It features Cary Grant, James Mason, Martin Landau, among others. The final chase scene is over the faces - I believe Cary Grant winds up hanging from Lincon's eyebrow.
Caused quite a controversy, I guess (no I'm not _that_ old) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/filmmore/ps_nnw.html
GO
|
|
|
|
|
salathiel
Feb 25, 2003, 7:37 PM
Post #9 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 132
|
I know that the park service occasionally cleans the faces of the old presidents and that several aid lines exist for this purpose. I'm sure that if you told them you were with an Argentinian magazine and if you are a good enough bullshitter you might be able to swing a ride with the cleaner guy.
Buena Suerte,
Blur
|
|
|
|
|
climbjs
Feb 25, 2003, 7:50 PM
Post #10 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 1, 2002
Posts: 379
|
ATG's right on the money.
|
|
|
|
|
reborne
Feb 25, 2003, 7:59 PM
Post #11 of 12
(2219 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jan 24, 2003
Posts: 190
|
yeh i wouldnt recomend that you could end up in a bit of trouble
|
|
|
|
|
|
