Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Thanks Doug

I am so glad Doug has decided to open up the board to new posts, after shutting it down for a month. I really missed reading all the posts from all the trail friends.

There is no place else one can get such good information -- real on-the-trail experiences from Sierra hikers. I am hoping the fools who only post garbage will stay away for a while.

I want to share my photos from a 4-day hike from Onion Valley to Whitney Portal July 22-25. We spent Saturday night on top -- here is the best sunset pic:
<img src='http://stevec.smugmug.com/photos/6622376-S.jpg' border='0'>

Here is our group on Sunday morning (I'm #2 from left, my son (Thinair here) is #3):
<img src='http://stevec.smugmug.com/photos/6622389-S.jpg' border='0'>


<a href="http://stevec.smugmug.com/gallery/175903/5/6622376" target=_new> You can view all the pictures here. </a>

Had a wild bear encounter the first night on the JMT I'll have to tell about later.

Steve Cosner

I would like to know why the board was down. You know, a little communication goes a long way toward creating good-will.

For 30 days I have been reading the same message that the board was down for maintenance. How about some status information next time to let us know when it will be back up?

Bottom line is the folks who operate this board as well as the business folks in Lone Pine also benefit greatly from this board. I cannot count how many times we have mentioned their services to out-of-town visitors.

Thanks for making this board possible, but please keep us informed during the next long term blackout.

Thanks Doug for keeping this forum "on the air".

The site provides incredibly valuable information.

Scotthiker wrote:
> I would like to know why the board was down. You know, a little
> communication goes a long way toward creating good-will.

I spoke to Doug Sr. on the phone during the outage, and he just sounded really frustrated with the garbage that some people post here. I have suggested that he could designate several "moderators" to help filter it out, but that didn't seem to help.

> Bottom line is the folks who operate this board as well as the business
> folks in Lone Pine also benefit greatly from this board. I cannot count
> how many times we have mentioned their services to out-of-town visitors.

In the real world in Lone Pine, even the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce knew nothing about the web board. All they could do was look up the phone number of the WP Store.

Bottom line is, this board is hosted and paid for by Doug, and he can open or close it any time he feels like it.

Thanks again, Doug.

SC

Hooray! Man..I've been checking my link to the WP Message Board for the past month many times a day hoping it would come back. I even e-mailed in my input on how valuable a resource this place is. As someone who is planning a Whitney trip in October this place has been the center of my universe for the past few months. The trip reports, information, suggestions..are not only helpful for trip planning, but can be essential to a successful and SAFE trip up the mountain.

I'm so happy the board is back! Hooray!

BeachAV8R

I wonder what constitutes the "garbage" he was worried about?

Doesn't matter.

The Board is back! Thank goodness ... I can finally come out of withdrawal!

Doug, thank you, thank you, thank you! Hope to see you again on Sep 4 and/or 5 (Richard Piotrowski and I are dayhiking the MR on the 5th and I will be acclimating as much as can be done in only one day in the same general area on the 4th).

CaT

Doc Sarvis wrote:
> I wonder what constitutes the "garbage" he was worried about?

For example, do a search on member number 1363.

A few moderators here could keep stuff like that down to zero.

Great to see this board back!
Bagging Whitney tomorrow via the MR....