A summit book or summit register is a record of visitors to the summit of a mountain. It is usually enclosed in a weatherproof, animalproof metal canister. Some books are maintained in an informal manner by an individual or small group, while others are maintained by a club. Well known and often climbed peaks, such as those on

peak bagging Peak bagging or hill bagging is an activity in which hikers, climbers, and mountaineers attempt to reach a collection of summits, published in the form of a list. This activity has been popularized around the world, with lists such as 100 Peaks ...

lists, are more likely to have summit books. On the other hand, mountains which are very heavily climbed or have popular trails up, such as

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...

Ben Nevis Ben Nevis ( ; gd, Beinn Nibheis ) is the highest mountain in Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland ...

, may not have registers, or may have a daily log book that is changed out often. The Sierra Club places official registers on many mountains throughout California and the United States. These are typically small notebooks kept inside large metal boxes. When registers are filled up, they are collected and stored in the Bancroft Library in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

where they are available to view. Entries in a summit book vary, from a simple note of a person's name and date of the climb, to notes about the scenery or long essays about the events of the climb. Some summit books contain a record of climbs going back for many years. On an infrequently climbed peak, this record may exist in one volume on the peak itself, while on frequently climbed peaks with a well maintained register, this record may be spread over many volumes, all but the current one in the possession of the maintaining person or club.

Bibliography

* Òscar Masó García: ''Libros de cima. A History of Passion and Conquest.'' Madrid 2018, Desnivel Editions,

References

External links

Gallery of historical summit registers of the Association of Palatine Climbers
Mountaineering Records management {{Climbing-stub