Which Mountain to die on (was: Just curious)

[DougPaul]

Who knows, maybe in a few 1,000 years my bones might become as valuable as some of the logging relics.

It only takes 50 yrs to become a federally protected antiquity if you leave your bones on federal property (eg, the WMNF).

Doug

 

[Sheomet]

I would pick Katahdin.

 

[king tut]

If i had to die on a mountain, i would pick Katahdin.

But, I would rather not die on a mountain. I would rather die in a hot tub with a beer. Then my next of kin could always take my body and bring me up the tram at Jay Peak and hang out at the summit with me for a while. Kind of like Weekend at Bernie's. That would be great!

 

[SteveHiker]

I'd be happy to die on any mountain as long as I don't end up as the subject of a 15-page thread on VFTT that the moderators have to lock because too many people are swearing at each other over the proper definition of "hard-core."

I'd rather die than survive in that case, then I wouldn't have to read it.

 

[David Metsky]

I'd be happy to die on any mountain as long as I don't end up as the subject of a 15-page thread on VFTT that the moderators have to lock because too many people are swearing at each other over the proper definition of "hard-core."

You're nothing if not considerate blacknblue.

-dave-

 

[MadRiver]

Some have suggested that they want to live to be 100. You do realize that the last 10 or 15 years of that 100 you would be sucking tapioca through a straw in a nursing home while having your diapers changed. I will take a mountain any day.

 

[Rivet]

How about Ausable #2 (aka Death mountain)...

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=44.32111&lon=-73.64667

 

[prino]

If i had to die on a mountain, i would pick Katahdin.

But, I would rather not die on a mountain. I would rather die in a hot tub with a beer. Then my next of kin could always take my body and bring me up the tram at Jay Peak and hang out at the summit with me for a while. Kind of like Weekend at Bernie's. That would be great!

Or even better.... On top of Katahdin in a hot tub with 24 beers

 

[una_dogger]

It only takes 50 yrs to become a federally protected antiquity if you leave your bones on federal property (eg, the WMNF).

Doug

Doh! Informative, as always!

 

[king tut]

Or even better.... On top of Katahdin in a hot tub with 24 beers

I like the idea Phil, but I see a few problems...
1. The environmentalists get in a huff about cell phones being on a mountain top, a whole hot tub, that would probably be too much. I suggest hauling up a plastic kiddie pool, let the sun heat up some water in it, and bring a plastic straw to blow some bubbles in it.
2. 24 beers weigh too much in a back pack. I would suggest maybe some hard alcohol, Leaving Las Vegas kinda style ala Nicholas Cage.
3. Why not throw in a beautiful girl as well?

Ehh, scrub the idea. Too much work. I will wait for old age to set in.

 

[Lawn Sale]

I would pick Katahdin.

Actually, I think I did die on Katahdin once...at least that's what it felt like to me.

 

[funkyfreddy]

It only takes 50 yrs to become a federally protected antiquity if you leave your bones on federal property (eg, the WMNF).

Doug

Does that mean hikers over 50 who backpack in the Pemi are also federally protected antiquities?

 

[sleeping bear]

It's cold on top of mountains. I don't want to be cold when I die.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

24 beers weigh too much in a back pack.

It's not that bad. It just makes you walk a bit slower.

http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/petepack1.jpg

It definitely is a way to make friends.

 

[alpinista]

Some have suggested that they want to live to be 100. You do realize that the last 10 or 15 years of that 100 you would be sucking tapioca through a straw in a nursing home while having your diapers changed. I will take a mountain any day.

Speak for yourself! Thankfully, I come from very strong stock who live well into their 90s, with all their faculties, and end up dying peacefully in their own beds at home. No drool in my gene pool!

 

[dms]

Does that mean hikers over 50 who backpack in the Pemi are also federally protected antiquities?

OMG, I am over 60, so I guess I qualify! I don't know about dying on a mountain, I think Nelson Rockefeller had the right idea!!

 

[pedxing]

Some have suggested that they want to live to be 100. You do realize that the last 10 or 15 years of that 100 you would be sucking tapioca through a straw in a nursing home while having your diapers changed. I will take a mountain any day.

Interesting thread. By coincidence, I changed my signature early today to include the last words of a man who died two weeks ago who I think faced death with an amazing attitude.

Anyhow, I know a few people who were living active enjoyable lives into their 90s. Any mountain would be a fine place to go, especially if I could catch a beautiful sunrise (or sunset) before I went.

 

[kmac]

Personally, I’d rather die on a Mountain of Pillows in my own warm bed, surrounded by my loved ones and holding hands with them. I want to have one last sip of fine wine and a smile on my face as my loved ones comfort me and share my last minutes when I make my transition. I don’t want to die from a dead branch falling on my head or lie broken and suffering at the bottom of a cliff or grow delirious as I freeze to death or suffocate beneath the solidifying snows of an avalanche or gasp in horror and stumble to the ground as my heart gives out on me. I’m not sure where people get this belief that dying in the mountains is a romantic death. If I die while hiking solo, then I cannot think of a lonelier death. If I die while hiking with my friends, then I have become the ultimate inconvenience to them. No, give me love and compassion when I pop my last balloon. That’s the way I want to go out.

JohnL

my sentiments exactly!
kmac

 

[chinooktrail]

I had the good fortune to be holding my sister's hand while she took her last breaths, warm in a bed at my parent's house. Had she had the strength, she would have preffered to go either on Bigelow Mt. or at Popham Beach. Sadly, the cancer had progressed to far to allow that. She had just turned 31. In the next few months I hope to be in the same room, holding my father's hand as he makes the same journey from the same culprit. He was born in that room. He would prefer to go on some nameless mountain in Maine, up a small abandoned logging road, but again, not in the cards.
I don't believe dying in the Mountains is romantic, I don't think of dying as romantic regardless of where or how. I see it as part of life...

 

[MichaelJ]

I don't want to die someplace where my loved ones can't find me and have to wonder forever what happened, or where some bushwhacker will find my forgotten bones some number of years hence, or alone.

I will admit, going while watching a sunset from a high peak is tempting, but I think I would still want to make it back down safely under my own power instead of as a "recovery effort".

What I definitely *don't* want to do is die on the highway.

Oh, heck, I just don't want to die, period.