1971: Mount Whitney

     Our two-week family backpacking trip of the summer of 1971 ended with a climb to the top of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental U.S. (14,496 feet; see not below).
     The peak is extraordinary. The top is somewhat flat, but the flatness ends in spectacular sheer cliffs such as the one above. As I recall, there are many places from which one could (if one were inclined to) throw a rock that would land thousands of feet below.

     The trail to the peak starts at a very high pass (well, you've got to hike to that, too) and continues along a "sawtooth ridge." As I recall, the ridge is very narrow, and one encounters sheer cliffs on either side. It's a very unusual and unusually dangerous trail. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

         Annie, sitting atop one of the "teeth," I guess, of the sawtooth ridge that leads to the peak.

     Looking west, I think. The weather was mercurial, and sometimes bad, though it could have been worse. At one point, there was a thunder storm. 

     You don't want to be on a high peak during a thunder storm. We got the hell outa there pretty fast.

     The highest point is (or was) marked by this metal plate.

     Not sure about today, but forty years ago, there was a rock structure on the peak, constructed, I believe in 1909. I do believe that it was permitted to exist (most such structures were destroyed by law) as shelter from the typically bad weather on the peak.

     Looking to the east (the Owens Valley)

     Looking down to Guitar Lake, just to the west of the mountain.

     My dad was still using his old Retina camera, which he bought while a teenager in Germany (c. 1948).

     At a camp later on our trip. We look pretty dusty. 

     Shelter from the rain or hail.

     Sun-bathing at some falls along the way.

     Annie takes the plunge. (She met her future husband on this trip.)

     At the beach, down in San Felipe, Mexico, I think

     A contemporary photo of the "Smithsonian hut." Wikipedia explains that, in recent years, the estimated elevation of the mountain has been adjusted to over 14,500 ft.

My dad's Retina camera, purchased c. 1948. He used it exclusively until the mid-1970s. (It has a Schneider-Kreuznach 50 mm lens.)

Dead Man

One of my favorite films. With Johnny Depp and Robert Mitchum (1996)

Glenn Beck establishes his own ivory tower

Introducing Glenn Beck University (Inside Higher Ed)

     Glenn Beck, the controversial broadcaster, has decided to introduce his own education service: Beck University.
     "Beck University is a unique academic experience bringing together experts in the fields of religion, American history and economics," says the announcement on the Beck Web site….
. . .
     There is no tuition for Beck University, but to enroll, you must be an "Insider Extreme" subscriber to a variety of Beck products (for at least $6.26 a month).
     Two of the three original faculty members (all called professors) are not traditional academics, but one is: James. R. Stoner Jr., a professor of political science at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge….
. . .

     The circles in which Beck is popular tend to regularly criticize academe as dominated by the left. Stoner, while not disagreeing, suggested that the ability of the Beck team to identify one of its first scholars from within academe suggested that scholars don't all think alike. "There are a huge number of people who teach, and certain opinions that tend to be dominant in the academy, but there is diversity in the academy," he said.
. . .
     The arrival of Beck University has not gone unnoticed by his critics. …Mother Jones has come out with suggestions for additional courses Beck U. might offer, including "Semiotics of Tricornered Hats," "Wilde, Proust, and Other Homosexual Europeans," "Middle Eastern and Arab Cultures: What's Up With That?" and "Underwater Conspiracy Weaving."

• This morning, the OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano presents parodies of that familiar "watch for people running across the highway" sign. On top is Arellano's fave:

Writes Gustavo: "My all-time favorite parody, the logo of the Orange County Dream Team, the group of undocumented college students and their supporters who successfully hounded Loretta Sanchez into supporting the DREAM Act. This sign encapsulates their cause perfectly, plays off the original's notoriety, and is a divine chinga tu madre to those Know Nothings who say illegals never bother with education."